WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN BOARDING YOUR DOG
Sometimes dog parents get nervous when they drop their dog off for boarding so we’ve prepared this list of things that are good to know as well as a few tips on properly preparing your dog to spend a few days and nights with us.
1. Let your dog come to daycare for awhile before boarding.
This doesn’t seem like that big of a deal, but when a dog has regularly visited our daycare, an overnight stay isn’t that big of a deal for them. If they’ve not spent much time here, it can be an adjustment to spend the night in a new environment. We will give them the best care and make sure their needs are met and they’ll feel lots of love from us, but the change to their routine can really throw them off.
2. Make a reservation?
Do you need a reservation? The short answer is yes.
Without planning ahead and making a reservation, we can’t guarantee that we’ll have room for your dog. Yes, we’re in a large building, but in order to accommodate your dog, we need to know they’re coming so we can ensure that we have the adequate number of staff available.
3. Your dog isn’t going hungry.
Most dogs don’t each much when they board - even those that are normally food motivated. We isolate each dog (if they’re from the same family, they’re isolated together) so they’re not distracted or subject to food aggression while they’re eating. As a dog becomes more familiar with how we operate, they tend to settle in and start eating, but it can take a day or even a few days sometimes. This worried us as we board our own dog here a lot, too.
After consulting with a couple of veterinarians as well as some other people in the dog care industry, we learned that this isn’t something about which we need to be alarmed, it’s normal. It’s also good to remember if the dog is really hungry, they’ll eat, they’re not going to starve.
4. Where will my dog sleep?
Practically anywhere they want! It’s true, at night we move all the boarding dogs to our boarding room (there are exceptions, of course, in the event that we have dogs that need their own space, are more comfortable in a closed kennel, etc.) and where they sleep in that room is up to them.
Some dogs love to curl up on the bed with our night staff, some dogs like a dog bed on the floor, some dogs will climb into an open kennel, it all depends on the dogs’ choices. Our goal is to make sure they have a good night with us and part of that is letting them find the comfort that they need.
The bottom line with boarding is that we want your dog to have a pleasant stay and we want you to have an enjoyable time free from worry while your dog is with us.
To achieve that, prepare for the trip with a reservation, prepare your dog with some daycare visits, and know that we’ll take the best care of them.