Dog boarding complaints

I am feeling a little ranty about everything that's going on with our plans to board Montana while we are at my parents' house for Thanksgiving next week.

First of all, we always board Montana when we leave town. We don't have any friends here who we are close enough with to ask them to take her in, and plus I'd be nervous about that, what with her tendency to run away if she sees an open door. We don't want to leave her alone in the house all day, especially when she's used to us being there most of the time, so hiring a caretaker is out. And we are definitely not flying across the country with her checked with the rest of the cargo.

So, that leaves boarding. The first two times that we've left town without her, we boarded her at a place that got good reviews about 15 minutes from our house. It's nice enough, both a daycare and a boarding facility, with a webcam so you can check in on the dogs (though it's not very good quality so if you had a black dog, I have no idea how you'd tell which of the 27 little black dots roaming around is yours).

We liked the place OK. They're open on weekends. They have good security and the dogs are well-monitored. The people seemed nice and the application was thorough. Montana went there for a "trial run" before we boarded her there, and came home tired and happy. When we brought her back to board, she approached happily and without anxiety. Same with the second time.

However, I don't LOVE the place. The website makes it sound like the dogs are crated from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., but the reality (as proven by the webcams) is that they're crated from 7 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. That seems like a bit much, and I don't appreciate the duplicity (though they technically aren't LYING, it just isn't clear from the way the info on their site is written). The location and facilities are decent, but not great. There are a lot of dogs there. And while Montana doesn't seem unhappy there, from watching on the webcam we can see that she doesn't do a whole lot of playing while she's there, which is quite unlike her tendencies at the dog park, and from their eating records we can also see that she skips about half her meals.

I don't know how much of this is related to the specific place where we were boarding her (I suspect probably not that much) and how much is related to separation anxiety and not being thrilled about being away from us and away from her home. But still, we aren't in love with this kennel, so we were happy to try something new.

The prison program where we adopted Montana offers a two-week boarding stint for $200. This program is quite popular and needs to be booked months in advance. I booked her in for Thanksgiving back in June, and when I called, I got the second-to-last available spot.

This arrangement is not ideal, because we don't actually NEED her to board for two weeks. If we did, the $200 would be a steal (the other kennel costs $27/night, and that's cheaper than many others we looked at). Since we don't, and that's the minimum, we can (supposedly) arrange to pick her up early, but we still have to pay the full price. Since we're spending a full week in NC, the price difference works out to be minimal. Still, it's annoying.

Also, because it's a prison, their rules are a lot stricter. They don't take credit cards. You can't bring in anything from home to make your dog feel more comfortable, like her crate mat or her favorite toy or a towel that smells like you. You can only bring in food in an unopened bag, and they will not return any leftovers to you. The dropoff and pickup times are very limited. There is certainly no webcam for you to check in on how she's doing while you're gone.

However, the program is great, we're happy to support them, and we know she was happy there. We figure a refresher training course can't hurt. And we won't miss the other kennel. So, we were happy that we were able to reserve a spot for her.

But now I'm frustrated. There are several reasons for this:

1. They KEEP calling to confirm. Like, I've freaking confirmed already! She's boarding there! Stop calling!

2. The most recent time when they called to confirm, it occurred to me to ask what forms of payment they accept. They said only money orders and cashier's checks. This seems strange to me since we paid her original adoption fee with a personal check. However, they were firm about this, and had no answer when I asked why we were able to pay with a personal check last time. USELESS.

3. Since they don't take personal checks, shouldn't it be on them to tell me this? If I hadn't thought to ask, we'd have shown up for her drop-off without the proper form of payment. What then?

4. It's really hard to get a straight answer out of them. Part of the program for inmates seems to involve office duty, so often it's inmates answering the phone, and they don't seem to have very good information and also not very good communication skills. The director of the program doesn't seem to be accessible by phone, and so far has not answered any emails.

5. We were told when we adopted Montana that the two-week boarding fee was $200. I confirmed this when I called to book her slot back in June. Today, when I confirmed this again, I was told that it was $250. The woman I spoke with (who I don't think was an inmate) was quite firm about this. She didn't care that we had twice been quoted a lower price. She says it's $250 and she's sticking to it. I have not been able to get in touch with anyone else to discuss this. So what do we do? Order a cashier's check for $200, or $250? I don't know.

6. We were also told that while they only have certain official days for drop-off and pickup, it's possible to informally arrange an early pickup, which we would like to do so that we don't end up without her for several days after we return to town. However, everyone we have tried to talk to about this has totally stonewalled us and said it's not possible.

7. This all boils down to LACK OF COMMUNICATION OMG.

It's just driving me nuts! $250 for what amounts to a week of boarding is really excessive, but of course it's too late to book her in somewhere else because everyone is booked solid for the holidays, and I don't know where we would even book her anyway. The fact that nobody responds, nobody is in charge, nobody has any communication skills, nobody is receptive, and they are freaking IMPENETRABLE is driving me CRAZY.

It makes me never want to board her with them again, and that's really too bad, because if they could just make their logistics clear and straightforward, we'd never need to board her anywhere else unless it was a last-minute thing. SERIOUSLY. It should NOT be this difficult.

I mean, I know she has a place to board where she'll be happy and safe, and that's the most important thing. But STILL. If we wind up handing over $250 for these people to basically hold our dog hostage for two weeks because NOBODY WILL COMMUNICATE, I will be PISSED. That's all I'm saying.

Sorry. This post isn't very thankful, huh? Not so much in the spirit of the holiday that it's all about.

But still. PISSED.