Over the weekend I helped out a friend at a local dog boarding kennel - feeding and mucking out some 50 dogs whose owners had gone on their summer holiday without their pooches. I'm doing this every weekend in August while regular staff go on their holiday. Here are just a few of the boarders.
I can't really understand people who leave their pets in boarding kennels. Many of the dogs are traumatised by being dumped and can't understand that their owners are coming back. The traumatised ones refuse to come out for their brief exercise and remain at the back of their cages, cringing from contact and are entirely unpredictable. If you own a dog, for God's sake take it with you on holiday, or just don't go on holiday - you have a responsibility.
Generally, owners provide the food for their dogs with precise (and sometimes anal) instructions for feeding. A number treat their dogs like people and give them 3 meals a day, whereas one is sufficient. They also overfeed their dogs and leave instructions for feeding them the same amount they get when at home, which is a mistake, as they get nowhere near the exercise they get at home - two periods of about 5 to 10 minutes a day in an outside run while their kennels are cleaned out. Taking 50 odd dogs for walks is just not possible at £20 a day, which is the competitive rate, especially when some of the dogs are traumatised and hence unpredictable on a lead - God help you if one got away. You'd need a large army of staff to walk all the dogs within the time available and it's difficult attracting people to this very dirty job anyway.
It's also surprising how many dogs are on medications.
Feeding time is mayhem, with 50 odd dogs barking and howling. Any boarding kennel has to be well away from built up areas, else there would be noise complaints by the dozen. They are generally out in the countryside, well away from any housing, and either purpose built, or ex farms, as this one is.
It's not unusual for a pair of dogs that live quite happily at home to suddenly become aggressive to each other when kennelled, especially when fed. This is because, as pack animals, the top dog (i.e. the owner) has disappeared off the scene and the two remaining dogs revert to type and compete for the position of pack leader. You have to watch out for the signs and move them into separate kennels if this happens.
My current favourite is Shadow, a huge German Shepherd, who I was warned could be aggressive, but is mild as butter with me. There again, I've owned German Shepherds and understand them.
The kennel also has a contract with the council to look after strays while they are rehomed. There's an relatively old, black Labrador among the strays that's simply delightful and has been there for nearly 3 months. The dog warden just can't find the owner. A lot of people don't get the chip updated when the animal is sold, if indeed there is a chip, or simply claim it was sold but they don't have the new owner's details - ergo, they no longer want the dog. The end of Covid restrictions resulted in a lot of strays as dogs that were bought as companions during lockdown were gotten rid of. The cost of living crisis is exacerbating the problem. It's heart breaking.
It used to be quite simple to rehome a stray - the dog warden would have a chat with a prospective new owner and that was that; if you fitted the bill you got to rehome the dog. However, that has all changed and now a prospective owner has to jump through all manner of hoops, resulting in strays having to stay at the kennels for a very long time, which doesn't do the dog any good at all.
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