How to Choose a Boarding Facility

Leaving your pet at a dog boarding facility can be stressful! Here are a few tips to make sure that you’re leaving them at a top notch facility.

Take a Tour

Taking a complete tour of the facilities is an important aspect when deciding where to leave your pet. It will let you see:

1.Where you dog will be staying
You always want to see where your dog is staying before you dropped them off. Misleading pictures online, or a misunderstanding about play areas can quickly be resolved by taking a complete tour of the facility. Except for a quarantine area, there should not be many places off limits to tours, especially the main boarding area. Any facility that does not keep the main area where the dogs are staying up to tour-ready standards, is not a place where you want to leave your pup. Seeing the exact spot where they are staying will help you have peace of mind before while you are away.

2. How the dogs already there are being treated
While taking the tour, check to see how the animals currently there are being treated. See if the tour guide knows each dog by name, if each dog has water in their den, that each den is clean, and the dogs look comfortable.

3. How clean the facility is

It’s hard for a facility to not smell at least somewhat like animals, but it should not be an overpowering smell. It shouldn’t smell like animal waste unless an accident just happened, and an overwhelming smell of bleach is not a good sign as if it’s too much for you it’s definitely too much for the boarders.

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Ask Questions

If there is anything you don’t know or are unsure about, ask questions! The boarding staff should be friendly, helpful, and reassuring. Asking lots of questions is the best way to find out what you don’t know, and to assess the knowledge of the staff. There are no dumb questions!

Look at what others are Saying

Read Reviews! Seeing what others are experiencing is a great way to get a feel for their standard of service before trying them out yourself. Facebook, Yelp!, and Google Reviews are all great popular resources for unbiased reviews. Not every place will get it right 100% of the time, but a standard will be able to be seen through the reviews.

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Take a Test Run
Bringing your dog for a day of daycare or boarding overnight before the big trip can get them adjusted to the atmosphere, and you can see what the usual check-in and check-out process is like. How long it takes, how happy your dog is, and how friendly and knowledgable the staff are.

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