# Anyone own a Kennel/Dog boarding business?



## GusGus (Oct 24, 2012)

I was considering opening one in the future and would just like to know some ins and outs and pros and cons before making any decisions or planning. 

What do I need to know?
Average price of getting started?
How much do you like it?
Tips/information?

Like I said, I was considering it for the future and would definitely like to do lots of research before anything.

Thanks!


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## 4TheDawgies (Apr 2, 2011)

I do. 

I personally do not agree with people new to dogs running this. I am watching my old manager run his business into the ground and ruin his name because he tried to start a boarding facility thinking he knew enough. 

Now he has kennel cough infections, giardia, coccidia, worms etc. running around his facility on top of dog fights with no real knowledge as to why, or how to separate let alone prevent this. 

Start up cost entirely depends on the type of facility you are doing. How many kennels? Food storage? Grooming room? Play yard(s)? Small supplies.

Cons? Your dogs are more susceptible to getting sick no matter how careful you are. Some idiot WILL bring their sick dog in without a reservation and infect everyone.
Whether your fault or not you get blamed.

People are completely ridiculous in their specifications for their dogs. If you are not used to a customer service job, this will be a big surprise. 

Dogs boarding get stressed, stressed dogs destroy things. You must bite the bullet and get top notch sturdy kennels and walls and floors and bowls and an and. 

Some people try to board their old dog they think is going to die because they can handle it. You might be stuck dealing with dog deaths. 


Pros:
If you do a good job you have repeat customers every year. 
The tax write offs are nice! 
A relatively fun and easy job when you know what you are doing. 


Tips? Do not get skimpy about drainage. This is the biggest thing with kennels. Make sure your drainage and slopes to the drain are immaculate and perfect. You will regret it more than you know. 

Clean clean clean clean clean. Make sure everything ever is easy as cake to sanitize. No room for water to pool or seep under a wall even slightly to risk mold. 
GOOD ventilation!
Sound proof!!

Outdoor kennels are loud an echoey. More sound proofing

Textured concrete is harder to clean poop out of. Smooth concrete is slippery and potentially dangerous but easier to clean. 

Absolutely no wood in any part of the kennel exposed. It WILL get eaten. 
Don't allow the dogs kennels to view roads, driveway, etc. or the barking will never end. 

I'm sure there's more but I gotta go scrub my kennels now lol


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## 4TheDawgies (Apr 2, 2011)

Oh one more thing. I would highly recommend working at one or a few before starting. It's good to see the different ways people run things


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## ponyfarm (Apr 11, 2010)

4TheDawgies said:


> Oh one more thing. I would highly recommend working at one or a few before starting. It's good to see the different ways people run things


 This! And be prepared to the fact that it is a retail job with animals, hours are pretty much 24/7 and 365 days a year.


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## Wolfgeist (Dec 4, 2010)

I agree with all the stuff already posted.

I've worked in a few boarding kennels for a few years, and it is a very complex operation to run. I recommend you first work in a boarding kennel as an attendant for quite some time to get real insight into how it is run. The cleaning routine is ridiculous and hard, physical labour. It HAS to be done, very strictly enforced, for everyone's safety.

I remember one dog that used to board every weekend, we had to let them out in the big runs to potty at night individually before we left at 10pm-11pm. Some dogs make you chase them for seemingly hours until you finally wrangle them back inside. 

I'm definitely done working in that environment, it's not easy. I came home late and exhausted every day, smelling absolutely awful and looking like I ran a marathon in mud (spoiler: some of it wasn't mud). Some days I had big bruises from dogs crashing into me, knocking me over, fighting and hitting me, etc. It was great experience, and I learned so much, but not a job I wanted to keep for more than 5 years.


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## Gharrissc (May 19, 2012)

Unless you have the funds to have staff right away.



ponyfarm said:


> This! And be prepared to the fact that it is a retail job with animals, hours are pretty much 24/7 and 365 days a year.


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## GusGus (Oct 24, 2012)

4TheDawgies said:


> I do.
> 
> I personally do not agree with people new to dogs running this. I am watching my old manager run his business into the ground and ruin his name because he tried to start a boarding facility thinking he knew enough.
> 
> ...


Thank you for all this info! Like you said about being new to dogs..I was planning for the future, I'm not experienced enough for it yet. I wanted to get my Vet Tech license first and foremost. Then plan on a boarding facility. I just wanted to see what other peoples experiences were with owning one. See if it would be something I would be up for later in life!


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

I've never worked at one, but I can tell you what I like about the person I use and what I don't like about others. 

For one, I will not board my dogs anywhere they have to potty in their run. I have indoor dogs, they are naturally very "clean" and will hold it for forever rather than soil their run. This is stressful for them and can even make a dog sick (UTI). Some dogs live in kennels and are used to this so it's no biggy. It's not that I think it's too gross, it's just not how my dogs live. I'll only board at a place that will let my dogs out at least once every 8 hours, but most places around me leave dogs unattended from closing time until they open again in the morning. In MI I haven't seen boarding places that have indoor/outdoor runs, only indoor where the dogs are occasionally let out but basically expected to potty in their run and then it gets hosed down. There is one newer place that has someone at the building 24/7, might check them out.

I currently board my dogs with a friend who has a very small operation. She has a few kennel runs in her basement. Normally I "rent" the two small ones, or one large one and have my dogs share it. Her kennel runs are in a walk-out basement that opens into a large yard that is double-fenced. If the weather is good my dogs get lots of outside time. I like that she lets my dogs out together, but not with her dogs or other boarding dogs. They get let out several times a day. Her dogs go out once at night and she will let mine out if I want. She feeds them whatever food I bring, but also gives them peanut butter stuffed kongs and marrow bones for treats (and she separates them for this even if they are sharing kennels). She has an LLC and is licensed and insured so I know everything is "legit". She is a CPDT (certified trainer) and also certified in canine CPR and first aid. I've trained with her and I know how she treats her own dogs and we use similar techniques for training and managing dogs. She lives on a small farm so my dogs love being able to fence-run with her sheep and llamas. Being a city person I like that they get their occasional week of fresh air and farm living, lol. When I drop off my dogs I sign a document stating how much money she is allowed to spend on emergency vet care before requiring my consent.

I think it's $17 per day for the small kennel and $25 a day for the large kennel. Not sure if I'm getting a "friend" discount. This is not her real job (she has a day job) but since the house is setup with these extra kennels, she offers boarding.


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## Gharrissc (May 19, 2012)

Not to get off track with this thread,but I remember calling a new kennel that just opened to ask if they took their dogs out.The answer I was given was ' we don't let the dogs outside,we have an indoor area that they can run around in.' 

I did repeat the question to make sure I heard right,and I did. Anyway I chose not to go there.


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## Freestep (May 1, 2011)

I was about to say, don't start up your own business until you have a lot of experience working with other people's dogs in a professional setting--sounds like you already know that, and are planning to work as a vet tech to gain that experience. So far, you're going down the right path!

First and foremost, you have to get used to the idea that, unless you have GOOD, trustworthy staff, you can never take holidays off and you can't call in sick. Vacations must be planned months in advance; no last-minute trips to the mountains or the beach when you own this type of business. If business is good, and there is always demand, you'll find it very difficult to even take one day of the week off. It's kind of like being a mother, it's a 24/7 job.

I do grooming for a living, but I will also board my clients' dogs. It's not something I advertise, it's just a convenience I extend to clients only, as I do not have a kennel license. Just with the very limited amount of boarding I do, I've found that major holidays are always the busiest times, so if you want to have a nice Christmas visiting the family, forget it. 

For me, the hardest thing about boarding is dealing with liability issues. Even though I've never had anything bad happen, I always worry and imagine worst-case scenarios. You have to engineer in a lot of redundancy into your safety and security measures.


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## GusGus (Oct 24, 2012)

Gharrissc said:


> Not to get off track with this thread,but I remember calling a new kennel that just opened to ask if they took their dogs out.The answer I was given was ' we don't let the dogs outside,we have an indoor area that they can run around in.'
> 
> I did repeat the question to make sure I heard right,and I did. Anyway I chose not to go there.


...i don't know about other peoples dogs, but i think if my dog had to go more than 12 hours without being outside, he would fall over dead.


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## readaboutdogs (Jul 8, 2001)

The kennel we use has indoor/outdoor runs, I went and asked for a tour before I boarded them, which they were happy to do, showed me the whole place! Where my dogs would be, small dog area, the cat area! They always seemed well taken care of and not stressed out when we picked them up. Also day I went for tour, visited with some people there picking up their dog, said it was only place they used and had for several years. Family ran. I think those are good things that they would give a tour kind of unannounced, I had called a week or before and they said sure come in anytime!


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## gagsd (Apr 24, 2003)

Business license, state kennel license, county kennel license, certificate of occupancy, zoning approval..... And that is before you ever do anything. Must have a grooming area, climate controlled 45F - 85 F, 8ft fencing accesible directly from kennel, drainage, zoning again, non-porous surfaces. The list goes on and on.


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## GSDElsa (Jul 22, 2009)

Man, one of my friends runs a doggies day care. Even with THAT, which closes in the evening I feel like she has NO life. She has good (for the most part) staff, but it always seems like there's something. Sometimes she has things going nicely and she has the life of a normal person, but usually it it seems like mass chaos. Love being able to kennel my dogs when I go out of town, but all you boarders are crazy people )))

I either board at my schutzhund TD's place or another local place. My TD is way more expensive and out of the way, but if it wasn't for the drive to drop them off (who wants to do that before you go out of town and right after you get back??) it would definitely be my first choice every time. The dogs can get exercise on her 50 acres and she usually can't help herself but to do a little doodling with them. But she's the only person that I'd trust to let the dogs out of the kennel eclosure and that sort of set-up is probably not an option for you or most people.

The other place has indoor/outdoor runs and lets the dogs out a few times a day into the large outdoor area (probably about a 1/3 acre enclosure??). My dogs either share a run or are side by side and they get to play together out in the yard. She absolutely under no circumstances will take a dog outside of the outdoor enclosure....which I thought was standard, but I've seen boarding places advertise taking your dog on walks. I don't trust anyone other than my TD to do this so I would definitely not be comfortable with it, but I guess some people probably like it because they think their dog is getting more attention?

I've only ever boarded at those two places...and the second one came on a recommendation of someone else in my SchH club.....and she's had a lot of problems finding good kennels for her dogs. It seems like there are a lot of people out there that open kennels only having dealt with cute, lazy, affectionate, easy dogs and then are horrified if they get clients with dogs that are a little more difficult than your average dog. So if you don't want to limit yourself or push your capabilities, then I would definitely say go out of your way to learn how to handle all kinds of dogs with all kinds of quirks. Of course it's your business and you can pick and choose the clients you take, but why limit yourself?


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## Kyleigh (Oct 16, 2012)

One of my friends runs a doggie day care. She's been doing it for 7 years now, and is ready to sell it. She's done. And it's not because of the dogs! It's because of the people. 

The stories I've heard from her about people make me cringe. 

She gets to the daycare for 5:30 with her two dogs and sometimes people are already there with their dogs - she opens at 6. Pick up time is 6 pm, and there have been many times when the people are late ... with plenty of excuses.

She's had vet papers faked to show vaccines (and she's pretty lax about bordatella, lepto and lymes vaccines). Nothing's happened with the dogs, but it was embarrassing for her to discover that the people had faked the papers - they claimed they went to her vet. 

She's had people simply show up and drop off their dogs - no appointment, and she's booked solid. 

Some people EXPECT her to train the dogs, and groom them too! There have been some scraps between the dogs where a dog got a scratch - she's been yelled and screamed at because she was "inattentive".

She has great staff and unless the weather is horrible, the dogs are pretty much outside all day. This is made known to people from the first phone call ... and yet, some people expect to be able to have their dogs inside all day b/c the weather's a bit "cool" ... 

So for all your love of dogs, just remember ... they all have owners, and some of them can be slightly neurotic!


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## Freestep (May 1, 2011)

GSDElsa said:


> Man, one of my friends runs a doggies day care. Even with THAT, which closes in the evening I feel like she has NO life. She has good (for the most part) staff, but it always seems like there's something. Sometimes she has things going nicely and she has the life of a normal person, but usually it it seems like mass chaos.


Yep. Your life is not your own! One of my clients runs a boarding/playcare/training facility. She constantly burns the candle at both ends and runs herself ragged. She's never on time for her appointments with me, and I can see why!



> So if you don't want to limit yourself or push your capabilities, then I would definitely say go out of your way to learn how to handle all kinds of dogs with all kinds of quirks. Of course it's your business and you can pick and choose the clients you take, but why limit yourself?


This is good advice, but I certainly wouldn't blame you if you just want to take the "easy" dogs! When you're first starting up, though, you don't want to turn business away, so getting experience with the tougher dogs will help you immensely and the owners will be very grateful to have a place they can take their "problem" dogs and feel safe in doing so.



Kyleigh said:


> One of my friends runs a doggie day care. She's been doing it for 7 years now, and is ready to sell it. She's done. And it's not because of the dogs! It's because of the people.


Yep... the dogs, even the "problem" dogs, are way easier to deal with than their owners. Owners can be downright nuts. 



> She gets to the daycare for 5:30 with her two dogs and sometimes people are already there with their dogs - she opens at 6. Pick up time is 6 pm, and there have been many times when the people are late ... with plenty of excuses.
> 
> ...She's had people simply show up and drop off their dogs - no appointment, and she's booked solid.
> 
> ...


Yep--you have to be prepared for all that and more. The people that drive me nuts are the ones who show up early. Late, I can understand and relate to--but who the heck shows up 45 minutes EARLY for an appointment?? Just yesterday I had a client show up 35 minutes before opening time, and freak out because the gates were closed. Never mind that there's a sign on the gate with the hours posted, and the words "These gates will open during business hours". 

Might not be a bad idea to take a basic human psychology course as well, just to prepare you for all the craziness you'll encounter!


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## Gharrissc (May 19, 2012)

My oldest niece said that she wanted to go to school for dog grooming because of her love of dogs,and she doesn't want to work around a bunch of people. I told her that the people are the ones writing the check,so they better learn to love them too!




Freestep said:


> Yep... the dogs, even the "problem" dogs, are way easier to deal with than their owners. Owners can be downright nuts.


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## Freestep (May 1, 2011)

Gharrissc said:


> My oldest niece said that she wanted to go to school for dog grooming because of her love of dogs,and she doesn't want to work around a bunch of people.


If I had a nickel for every time I've heard that, I could retire.

It's true that you spend far more time one-on-one with dogs than people, but I swear, the time it takes to groom a dog flies by while 5 minutes with one client can seem like an eternity.

I get a lot of people wanting a job at my grooming salon because they "love animals".  They have No. Idea.


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## Guardyan (Aug 29, 2005)

> So for all your love of dogs, just remember ... they all have owners, and some of them can be slightly neurotic!.


A good point . . I thought I wanted to train horses until I spent a summer as an apprentice riding colts. The horses were awesome, but some of the people were ignoramuses.


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## thepawspaandresort (Apr 9, 2018)

Yeah! Running a boarding facility can be a lot of work, but I believe it's well worth it. Two of the things that will make your life so much more easier would be to 

1.) hire a staff to take care of most of the work. Having a manager will help mitigate most of the trouble situations with clients or employees. Then, once the manager handles it, they can bring the issue to you and many times the issue is already solved. It saves you a lot of stress! 

2.) get a software specific to boarding facilities and it will save you SO much time! It will help you manage your reservations, clients, medications for pets, feeding schedules, and so much more. I use and highly recommend Pawfinity (https://www.pawfinity.com/kennel-software )

One thing you would definitely want is to have at least one staff member at the facility overnight. Many clients look for boarding facilities that specifically have this and will pay extra knowing their pet is watched for 24/7. There are so many things to consider such as controlling the noise, the outdoor potty area, etc., but there are many groups on Facebook that give great advice on things like this.

Your start up costs really just depend on you and how big you want your facility to be. I would start with a small but decent sized facility, such as something with less than 50 runs, then have room for expansion. The last thing you would want is to have a facility that is too large and unable to fill the spots because the extra utilities it is taking to run the facilities is a loss revenue.

You may want to also consider adding at least one groomer to your facility. It helps bring in money and clients. If you hire a bather, you would be able to offer a bath/clean up to your boarding clients for a small fee. You can generally pay bathers hourly and groomers generally range from 40-60% commission.


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## Sunsilver (Apr 8, 2014)

Okay, here's my experience:

Most customers these days expect their dogs to be able to play all day long with other dogs. The kennel I bought was not set up for this, as it was an older kennel with indoor/outdoor runs and sliding doors separating indoor from outdoor. On top of that, I am a big dog person, and big dogs like GSDs are NOT good candidates for cage-free boarding! I did put in a large outdoor area where the dogs could run together on grass, but then you run into the problem of parasites getting established in the soil, and being spread from dog to dog.

If you are going to do cage-free, you REALLY have to supervise the dogs at ALL TIMES in case fights break out. I know of at least one local cage-free facility that houses the dogs in an old barn, and even at night, they are together, unless the owners left the dog's crate with him/her. There is a camera and audio system that's monitored from the house, but dogs can go an awful lot of damage to one another by the time you get from the house to the barn! Maybe someone would sleep over in the barn: I'm not sure. Anyway, it's a great way to save money on setting up proper indoor kennels with separate runs, and outdoor kennels with chain link fence, and concrete runs that can be hosed down/pressure washed, but it's done at the expense of the health and safety of the dogs.

This is probably the place where I got some of my customers from, the ones who asked me if I did cage-free, then told me about their dogs being ripped up for X number of stitches at a cage free facility. I refused to do cage-free as I didn't have the staff, and didn't want the liability if fights DID break out. However, I DID see to it that dogs got to spend lots of time outdoors in the runs, weather permitting. I left the sliding doors open in the summer, so they could come and go as they pleased. 

Customers will want to bring their 'kids' huge mattress style dog bed with them, that will take up nearly the whole indoor run plus bowls, dog crates, leashes and assorted toys. Inevitably, the beds get torn apart, pooped, peed and vomited on. Ceramic dishes can get broken, and toys often get lost, stolen by other dogs and chewed up. I preferred to use my own stainless steel dishes, as they were easy to clean, and helped control the spread of disease. (I used really hot water and bleach.) I also told the owners to take the crates back home, as they took up to too much room in the indoor kennels, and some dogs would look at the crate as 'personal space' and the rest of the kennel as the place they could poop or pee.

I also told them to take the mattresses home, as these things are expensive, and can't be washed. (Yes, the outer covers can be, but if your dog poops and pees on it, the outer cover is NOT the only thing that's going to smell!) And you will find that a lot of dogs that are properly house-trained at home break house training when under the stress of being kenneled! I had my own bedding that I used in the kennel: old quilts and blankets. Fleece blankets were my favourites, as they are so soft, and easy to wash. If you are going to go this route, you need to become friends with your local thrift store, as these blankets ARE going to get destroyed, and new ones aren't cheap. Do NOT use towels or quilts for bedding, as these can easily obstruct a dog's digestive system if swallowed. Towels tend to form long strings when shed, and strings are VERY dangerous and can actually cut the intestines. 

Here's what my kennel laundry used to look like:

Make sure owners bring the dog's regular food. Being in a strange place is stressful enough, without adding a change of diet to the mix. And the older the dog, the harder they find the change. One couple brought in a 13 year old dachshund to board, and forgot the dog's food. I had to cope with 3 days of non-stop diarrhea, and neither I nor the dog were happy!

If you live in an area that's more rural than urban, you may find it hard to build enough of a customer base to make ends meet. Be prepared to have other ways of bringing in income, such as offering grooming, training, etc. Many breeders I know offer boarding to help them keep their kennels afloat financially.

Finding reliable staff ....I can't stress how important this is!! And sometimes the very ones you think you can trust will let you down. Shortly before I sold the kennel, I went away to visit my mother in Quebec for the first time in a couple of years. I would have liked to have visited her more often, but finding someone I trusted to run the kennel while I was away was sometimes just not possible.

I left my two older dogs at home, as three GSDs in my mom's tiny 2 bedroom house would have been too much, as she was celebrating her 81st birthday. 

One of the dogs I left home was 14 years old, and having difficulty with his hind end. She left him and the other dog outside in an uncovered run the whole day, on a hot day in July. He fell into a hole he'd dug, and couldn't get out. The dogs did have water, but they'd knocked the bowl over and spilled it. When I arrived home, my old guy was so weak, I had to have some one help me carry him upstairs. I have a water bowl that holds about a litre of water. My 2 dogs (German shepherds ) emptied it TWICE and would have kept on drinking, except I was afraid to let them have so much water at one time! (Yes, I know, I probably shouldn't have let them have as much as I did...) 

The next day, I had to take my old guy to the vet, as he was having severe diarrhea. Oh, and he'd pooped in the house, and she'd just left it there, resulting in my hardwood floor being permanently stained.

I sold the kennel not long after. I was in my 60's and could no longer cope with trying to run it on my own, and any of the help I'd hired either hadn't stayed, or hadn't been reliable. And I have to confess, I SUCK at marketing. You had better learn how to do that, if you want to keep the doors open and the lights on! 

One of the big factors no one has mentioned is the upkeep. The kennel buildings, unless new, will need constant upkeep and repairs. Electrical, plumbing, dogs chewing and damaging things, snow removal, grass mowing, fence repair: you name it! I learned how to do it. Snowblower broke? It was either fix it myself, or spend several hundred bucks to have it trailered to a small engine mechanic. Riding lawnmower? Same thing. Dog chews a hole in a fence? Well, unless you want that dog running loose all weekend, and possibly getting lost you'd better find a way to fix it RIGHT NOW!

Kennel Upkeep, or how I spent my 60th birthday, removing insulation impregnated with deer mouse poop from the underside of the garage roof:


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## Sunsilver (Apr 8, 2014)

One thing to beware of: people who are moving will sometimes try to dump their animals at the kennel, and just leave them there. I had this happen several times, and got stuck with either not being paid at all, or only getting a small percentage of what I should have been paid.

After that, I started asking for money up front from those who were moving, or had been told they couldn't keep their dog/cat in their new accommodation.

AFIAK, I never had a problem with diseases spreading, only fleas. All dogs were required to have a full series of vaccinations, including kennel cough. I sometimes waived this if there was a way I could keep the dog from having contact with another dog. This wasn't hard, as the indoor kennels didn't allow nose-to-nose contact, and I could often find an outdoor run where I could keep the dog segregated, too.

Local Animal Control demanded a yearly police check, and inspection. The yearly license fee was only $75. What I thought was a little excessive is that they demanded I keep a WRITTEN record of vaccination certificates. I did have this information recorded on the dog's intake form, which I would then enter in my computer, but they said that wasn't enough: I needed a copy of the actual certificate. What if my computer crashed, and I lost all the information? Well, that's what backups are for... :rolleyes2:

A.C. also insisted that all areas be hard surfaces and easy to clean. I had some older kennel runs that were pea gravel. These runs were very small, and I very rarely used them. One of the inspectors got upset that I hadn't upgraded these runs a year after her initial inspection. As the posts supporting the wire and shade roof were wood that was beginning to rot, the only way to 'upgrade' them would have been to tear them down, and start from scratch! Hate to tell you this - that costs big bucks and the money just wasn't there!


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## Thecowboysgirl (Nov 30, 2006)

Yes every kennel should have a written abandonment policy that follows local law regarding animal abandonment. People will leave their dog for boarding and just not come back.


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## Thecowboysgirl (Nov 30, 2006)

I keep paper copies of vaccines for every dog I board. I won't take anybody's word for it that their dog is vaccinated. People are so full of it


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## Sunsilver (Apr 8, 2014)

I would ask to see the vaccination certificate, then record the info on the intake sheet. This was then transferred to my accounting program under "Notes". The accounting program was backed up on a thumb drive on a regular basis, so should have been no need to keep paper copies after seeing the original.

If they forgot the original, I'd call the vet for conformation.


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