When you have that trip planned for a holiday or weekend away there is always the decision to be made of what to do with your dog. It was something that stopped myself and Mike from going away for years. I hated the thought of putting our dog in kennels.
At the time we only had Patch and she hated it. The first time we left her at a kennels I cried as we drove off at the thought of her being locked up for 2 weeks while we lay on a beach. So as a result we rarely went anywhere.
For some people and their pets, boarding kennels are absolutely the right choice. You know your dog better than we ever will.
However here are some of the reason why I didn’t want to put our dogs in Boarding Kennels:
1. It’s not their home. I never liked the environment of a kennel. It seemed like a mini prison to me, rather than a comfy place for them to hangout. Now I know kennels offer a great service and environment – but there wasn’t the sofa for them to lie on, the fire for them to lie in front of and the TV to keep them company.
2. There were too many other dogs. Patch was always quite wary of other dogs, particularly big dogs. So the thought of her being in a cage surrounded by so many other dogs did worry me. I always used to ask them to put her next to the small dogs to make her feel better!
3. She came back smelling really bad! Patch loves the outdoors and loves to roll in anything that smells! But when she came back from the kennels she stank of cleaning products. I know they have to keep everywhere clean, and that’s great, but I hated that smell off her. It just didn’t smell of her.
4. We didn’t know how she was. From the day you left her, to the day you collected her, we never knew how she was from one day to the next. There were no calls or texts to let us know she was fine – we just had to wait until we got back.
5. It was just stressful for everyone! As soon as you got the suitcases out to go anywhere she would know what was coming. She wouldn’t want to get in the car, or get out when we got the kennels. She just didn’t like it and neither did I. it just seemed too much stress and hassle for a few days away.
So that’s how Pet Sitters Ireland came about. It was really to solve our problem..or more mine! It meant that we could get away knowing that Patch was home safe and sound – with no stress.
Now we have Coco, who came from the rescue, I can’t imagine taking her back to a kennel environment. That would just seem like I was abandoning her!
Let us know what you like, or don’t like, about using a boarding kennel.
