I have used a kennel lots of times. I really love the place. The only reason I stopped, was due to my old dogie having to many medical issues, and a house sitter come in.

Not all kennels run the same. If you want a quality kennel, ask if you can visit the facility, inside and out, before you make a decision about using the place. If they say you can't see the area where the animals are kept, keep searching. Some will tell you insurance issues prevent a visit. That's baloney.

A good kennel should take all of the information you deem important, and tell you specifically how they are going to deal with what ever might come up.

In general, if you don't get a nice fuzzy feeling when you first see the kennel, you should keep looking. In short, it should be immaculate, have a vet easily accessible, and they should also work with your vet's etc. for any reason you see fit.

SG

When I kenneled my dogs, they wanted an emergency contact (I gave them my son's tel no) and the name of my vet. I also had to show proof that my dogs' immunizations were up to date.

Some vets have boarding facilities. Both the places I worked did. It was really a good situation because the boss encouraged the kennel people to ask questions and just to bring a dog over if they weren't sure if something was wrong. Plus the techs often filled in for kennel folks and vice versa. We boarded the cats right at the hospital, so they were always seen at least twice a day by techs. We still took an emergency contact. Since the place where I worked closed at night, there were times that I had to drive critical patients to the overnight emergency center or even to the vet school for specialized care. People had the option of "must contact owner before any treatment is done" or "spend up to $XX to treat my pet if you can't reach me" or "do anything you need until I can be reached."

I would caution against leaving a phone number of someone who wouldn't treat your pets the same as you. Also, make sure that person knows they are in charge of your pet's life while you are gone! You'd be surprised how many emergency contacts had no idea that they would have to make expensive life or death emergency decisions should we be unable to reach the owner. I always left several phone numbers, plus my mom's work, home, and cell phone number. She knows that we'd do anything recommended to save our babies.

Check to see if you have PetsHotel by Petsmart in your area. They are staffed 24 hours and have pickup until store closing and of course they also have the Banfield animal hospital running 24/7 on the other side of the store. They are nice clean facilities that looks like a hotel and not like a county shelter. They'll even hold your furbaby up to the phone so you can chat with them without having to leave them a nextel. It's a no brainer. No kennel I have seen have seen comes close or even compares to this facility.

I won't ever board, I was just curious as to how it worked if a health issue arose while your pets are at a facility.

I only know of one friend who boards her Standard Poodle and he is at a place with a red carpet and she pays an incredible amount to send him. He is boarded by the person who trained him. They pick him up and deliver him back home.

We have several "Four Seasons-type" places in my area, but I would never even consider them. I have always used a petsitter, but I do make specific arrangements including life/death scenario, ahead of a trip in order that the petsitter just has to take my guys to the vet and they know what I want done. She's not left to make any decisions - too much pressure in a life or death decision.

Thanks for all the info!

Just to add to the questioning, are you allowed to bring your pet in for a visit prior to boarding?? My old boy's a very good judge of character, and he lets us know if he doesn't feel right about someone. I would hate to check out the kennel and decide I love it, and then take my babes there and have him be a nervous wreck the whole time we were gone, and give the kennel owners their share of stress over him.

Although the one kennel I've looked at, I wasn't a huge fan of. They kept the cats in SPCA sized cages with not much of anything but food and water. And the dogs were in kennels about the size of the spca kennels and they got let out into little outdoor runs by automatic doors to the outside. They said they interacted with each dog alone, too during the day..but I don't know. I'd hate to think my babies would spend a few days or more in a kennel with no real interaction.

We havent found a need for them yet, I just looked just incase we ever do, and there are a few I havent checked out yet, hopefully the others are better than the first.

I have had to board my dogs a few times.

Typically I do board them at my Vets kennel. But that kennel is in such demand, often times they are booked, way in advance, and unavailable on a moments notice. (For those wierd emergency situations.)

I think its a good idea to research kennels and find a couple that you like even when you think you wont need them; so you are not scrambling, in the event of an emergency, to find a place to take your dogs.

And yes, a good kennel will take both your Vets information and your emergency contact information. And you will sign a release that allows them to take your pet to your vet and authorize treatment should be it necessary. However, in the age of cell phones, this is probably less of an issue than it was in the past.

I know one kennel owner who wants you to bring your dog there and spend time with him there a couple times per year, so the dog doesn't not associate the kennel as a place that you always leave him. She's a great dog lady and kenneling your dog there is like a doggie vacation. But she is too far away for it to be practicle for us to use. But If I had to leave my dogs for an extended period of time, for some reason and couldn't get a house sitter, that is the place I would take them.

I have visited a few supposedly reputable kennels that I would not leave my dogs at, so its important to look around.

My vets kennel is not staffed 24 hours, not even 12 hours and decorated with the prison cell motif. Whats worse is they have cleaning crews come in during the night. No thanks.
Petshotel is the same price as the competition unless you want a deluxe room with a tv then its a liitle more.