Trauma

Over the weekend I helped out a mate who regularly helps out at a local boarding kennel and it made me realise a few things. People who own dogs either;

1. Should only go on UK holidays where they can take their dog with them, or
2. Shouldn't go on holiday at all, or
3. Shouldn't own dogs.

Most of the dogs looked very confused at having been dumped at a strange place with strange people and strange dogs, with  number showing signs of trauma. One poor dog simply cowered at the back of its kennel and wouldn't come out at all.

The work involves early morning feeding and kennel cleaning, taking about 5 dogs at a time (of up to 50) and getting them into a bank of individual outdoor runs while their kennels are cleaned. Once this is achieved, the outdoor runs are cleaned.

The dogs are treated very well, so it's no reflection on the operation of the kennels, but their owners really need to have a think about what they're putting their dogs through. The dogs themselves don't know their owners are returning and show all the signs of anxiety, which can make them unpredictable. Even dogs that live together at home sometimes have to be separated, as their anxiety leads them to fighting each other.

Given the number of dogs that are housed, there's no time for getting friendly with them - it's a military-style operation to get them fed and cleaned out before the gates open for people dropping off or collecting their pets. After the gates close, the entire operation is repeated.

One big problem is that a small number of the dogs are incredibly unhealthy and are on medication, which has to be administered by the kennel staff. Getting any animal to take medication is fraught with problems.

A lot of kennels were hit badly during Covid and have decided to either close permanently, or substantially reduce the number of dogs they cater for, resulting in record summer bookings for those which have remained fully open.