I have never boarded my dog Bae and my parent?s dog, Thurber, has never even set foot in a Kennel. In fact, Thurber is coming to stay with me for a week while my parents go on vacation. But Thurber has terminal cancer so he needs special care right now. But this doesn’t mean that I’m against ‘kenneling’, because I’m not. I’ve sometimes been jealous of people who could leave their dogs. My parents kenneled their first two dogs but when Badger was about 5 they left him at a kennel and found out that he’d been crated in the back of the “facility’ the entire time. Badger was not in good shape and my father, who taught me all about how to be a maniac about your pets, has never used a Kennel again and feels guilty about that event 18 years after it happened.
My Dad would have boarded Thurber at any facility I managed but Thurber really is too sensitive for that experience. He lives the life of a hot house flower and it’s been my observation that dogs who are the center of their parents lives kennel less well than other dogs. Poor Thurber has always been a very conservative boy to the point where moving a chair in the living room makes him unhappy. He spends every night on the couch, between my parents, snoozing and being randomly petted. My mother and father are the center of his existence and he loves all members of my family to distraction. There is a certain honor in being able to protect his world.
Now with Bae, she is a maniac. She doesn’t care about other dogs at all and when I put her in a kennel run for 3 minutes she completely fell apart. Just so you know, I thought her extreme display of emotion was undignified and totally over the top. The barking and twirling made it seem like she was being prepared for slaughter, but it worked pretty well for her because I never did it again. I know from working at Kennels that Border Collies don’t do very well in the kennel environment. They tend to bark reflexively and spend a lot of time twirling.
Labs, Springers and Goldens tend to do really well in the Kennel but again, the hot house flowers have a more difficult time of it. Older dogs tend to look very sad unless and I think that’s because most of them are only kenneled about once a year and they appear to miss their people pretty desperately. If the kennel you use has the option of daycare and you can afford it I would suggest taking that option even if it’s only every other day. Day care breaks up the boarding experience very constructively. My favorite dog in the universe from my first Kennel was a Springer named Annie, or ‘Annie Banannie’. She loved everyone she ever met, human or canine or feline and I’m thinking she loved most bugs as well. Annie was so much fun that she could bring rocks to life If I had a dog like her I’d feel guilty if I didn’t kennel her. Her mother is very blessed to have a dog with so much sunshine.
