06/20/2024
Fantastic advice from Cora’s Zone Boarding with Heart on questions to ask when you are considering a boarding facility for your dog!
I absolutely love caring for and getting to know all of your pups! I know how hard it is to leave these little personality-filled, nuanced family members with someone else and I never, ever take the trust you place in me for granted. ❤️
Having said that, I’m very sorry but I am not accepting new customers. I’m just a small place and I want to be able to help the folks already coming to me as much as possible.
Please, please, please thoroughly check-out anyplace you are contemplating for boarding. It is insane, but New Hampshire has zero oversight for boarding places. ZERO. (If you only knew what they put rescues through, you’d know how infuriating it is, too.) There is nobody else checking to make sure a boarding facility is operating to any sort of standards for care, cleanliness, knowledge, experience, etc. The onus is 100% on you as the owner!
A few quick recommendations to avoid heartache or disaster:
1. TOUR. You should be allowed to see any and all spaces where your dog may be spending time. Yes, that probably needs to be by appointment for everyone’s safety and sanity (at least for home-based businesses), but also anytime you drop-off or pick-up your dog. Have people come in my place when bowls are soaking in the sink and a load of laundry is out and about to be folded? Absolutely. But they are 100% always allowed inside, outside, anywhere related to the kennel that they want to see.
2. Ask questions but also know the right questions to ask! Experience of the employees/folks who will be with your dog? (Spoiler alert: ‘owned dogs all my life’ does not equate to the ability to care for groups of dogs, not by a long shot!) Cleaning protocol? Cameras/remote monitoring (temperature, etc)? Maximum period of time dog will be left? Are dogs of different families spending time together? If so, how is that handled? How are dogs introduced? If dogs are walked or need to leave the facility, what equipment is used and what safeguards are in place? (Martingale collars, harnesses, double gating systems, etc.)
3. Look at online reviews but also ask friends and local veterinarians’ offices. Cast that net as wide as you can! Make sure the folks who tell you a place is great not only actually own dogs (I’m not kidding on this one) but also that they have first-hand experience with a place. If it’s not a friend you think of as a great dog owner, maybe take their recommendation with a grain of salt. 🥴
4. Ask about past emergencies, if any. How were they/are they handled? Which emergency vet do they use or would they use if needed?
5. Are vaccine records requested? Behavior information? Are meet-and-greets required or encouraged?
6. Do they carry insurance?
7. What are their hours like? Super strict pick-up and drop-off hours might be a red flag that the dogs are left alone a lot of the time. If they know what they are doing and/or they handle daycare dogs as well as boarding, there might be well thought-out reasons behind the schedule. If that’s the case, they should be able to explain those reasons to you eloquently. (But even then they might be blowing smoke up your you-know-what. Trust your gut!! Or just really grill them. 😬😬😬)
8. Speaking of daycare: that is a whole different level of experience, staffing, education, etc. Ask even more questions! Dog-to-employee ratio? If it’s a small, home-based place that’s mostly a one-person show, what are the emergency/back-up plans? Any employees at all? Daily schedule for the dogs — time outside/playing vs. inside/downtime? Bad weather options?
Do your due diligence and then some. Your pups deserve it. ❤️❤️❤️
Photo for tax and for love: I had the honor of caring for Greta, who is just about the sweetest girl ever. Sadly, her family let me know they had to say goodbye to her last week. Rest easy sweet girl. It was a joy getting to know you.
