Boarding Your Dog Anxiety-Free 

So, you're leaving town for a few days. What ARE you going to do with Fido? Experts agree that the best situation for your dog's health and happiness would be to have someone stay in your home, maintaining the dog's regular diet and exercise, and preserving his comfort and sense of security, but this is not always possible. And while we know people who haven't taken a dog-less vacation for the life of their dogs, we think this is a little extreme.

Only parents who have had to find safe, stimulating daycare for their small children will fully understand what is so difficult about finding a safe, enjoyable boarding kennel for your dog. You worry about abuse, poor hygiene and threat of transmittable disease, and the general stress of the whole situation. If your dog is something like ours - without current vaccinations, on a partly or wholly fresh foods diet, and accustomed to a lot of personal attention and exercise - your requirements for a suitable boarding facility may eliminate most kennels from your list of candidates!

Good news: Boarding kennels that feature enlightened dog care are on the rise. They may be expensive, and fully booked weeks in advance, but they exist. The trick is in weeding out the inferior facilities.
We asked several operators of top-quality facilities to tell us how they would choose a boarding kennel. Each emphasized the importance of taking a complete tour, visiting the facility more than once before your dog proposed stay, and asking a LOT of questions. We discuss each of their suggested questions individually:

How do you keep the place clean?
Good basic hygiene is the first and foremost requirement of any kind of kennel. The operators simply must have a good system and adequate personnel to guarantee that feces is picked up promptly and urine is absorbed or washed away. Also, while it is critical that the facilities look and smell fresh, it's also important that the chemicals used to clean the kennels, crates, or runs are nontoxic. Ask the operators how the facility is kept so clean, and specifically ask about their disinfectants. Look for the use of safe, natural disinfectants, like citrus-based products.

Also, the facility should have a method of disposing the dogsÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ feces on a daily basis, whether it is a well-built and maintained composting system, a septic system, or access to a sewer system. Storage of feces on the property invites flies and other pests.

How safe and secure is the facility?
Every kennel should have a fencing and cross-fencing system, so that a dog who slips out of one enclosure canÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t escape directly to a busy street or a wide-open prairie. The fences should be in good repair.

What accommodations are available?
Kennels vary widely, and you have to choose a place that has the sort of accommodations that your dog will be comfortable in. Some dogs can spend a weekend in a cage, with occasional potty breaks, without much stress or discomfort, while the same environment could practically kill other dogs. Some dogs can cheerfully handle life in a run, while others would have a nervous breakdown in any situation that didn't resemble a home. You have to know your dog, and allow him to sample some different environments, before you commit him to a weekend stay.

Some facilities offer boarding in their own homes.

How many people are on staff? Are the dogs checked after hours?
Some facilities are open only from 9 am until 5 p.m., after which the employees turn out the lights and go home for the night. As every pet parent knows, dogs can get sick at night, and the promptness of medical attention can make the difference between life and death. Choosing a facility that has caretakers within hearing range of the dogs at night is recommended, and a place that provides all night supervision (a caretaker who is awake and who occasionally checks on the dogs) is ideal.

How are your staffers qualified? What sort of training do they have in canine behavior or veterinary care?
It's critical that all the people who have the opportunity to handle your dog be experienced and trained in proper dog handling. A boarding facility located in Valley Ford, California, and her partner are both licensed veterinary technicians, and both have studied with canine behaviorists; Breitner suggests that all kennel operators have these credentials as a minimum.

Your dog can be traumatized by a single incident with an inexperienced person, she warns. Say a cleaner goes into a cage with a pooper-scooper, and the dog has never seen that sort of implement before. He gets scared and nips at the cleaner, who gets scared and shouts and hits the dog. I guarantee you that your dog will now be afraid of anyone with a long stick. The simplest things can cause major problems with dogs that have never been kenneled before.
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