Much has been written about the best ways to select a dog or cat boarding kennel to take care of your pet while you are on vacation. This includes finding the best doggy dare care facility if you take your pets with you while traveling. These steps and tips that you have previously read all have value and some good advice. Unfortunately, most are missing or gloss over the key issue in the selection process, the owner.
The most important ingredient to any boarding kennel is the owner. All the spit and polish, the fancy music, the live TV, and other frills are meaningless without the correct mentality of the staff from the owner on down. It really is the same with any business, but crucial when you are talking about the care of lovely living creatures.
The owner sets the tone in several important areas.
1. Mission Statement (or unwritten philosophy): This is the core statement of the owner as to what his business is to accomplish. It is necessarily general in nature, but large in import. If you can find a mission statement focused on health, comfort and security of the pets, you have a great start. If the kennel mission statement talks about income, numbers or profit, look elsewhere.
2. Employees: The boarding kennel owner is the one who hires those that will be caring for the pets. His selection of those he will entrust the well being of the pets he boards is crucial. Those employees MUST be animal lovers. This is hard to determine unless the potential employee has pets. The interview must uncover those simply looking for a paycheck and let them work in some other line of work.
3. Training: This is where the work starts in earnest for the boarding kennel owner. Longevity of the employment is most helpful. Having to train new employees frequently means that the staff is, on average, less trained. Personal, hands on training by the owner ensures that the new employee knows the correct way to do every task. Working along side the trainee also allows the owner to impart a good bit of his philosophy on the new hire. Additionally, flaws not seen during the interview will probably show up under the working conditions.
4. Quality Control: Once the employees are in place and trained, human nature may kick in. Humans find it easy to drift towards short cuts. Good owners are on top of this before it even happens by instituting hands on observation and regular quality checks. An absent owner is an ineffectual owner. You should frequently see the kennel owner when you check in or check out your dog or cat.
One final check that you can do when selecting your favorite boarding kennel is asking your pet. Does your dog start shaking when coming up to the front door, or do you see his tail wag and start getting pulled towards the kennel office? When you pick up your pets, do they have to say goodbye to the helper that brought them to you before leaving?
I am not saying that the glitz and glamour of all the frills you can find is bad. I am simply saying that without a caring owner in place that puts those in his care first, you should start doing some comparisons.
Author Resource:
Steve travels frequently and visits dog boarding kennels and cat boarding kennels. He most highly recommends Pet Keepers at http://mountpleasantsckennel.com . He also values the veterinarian services of Shuler Veterinary Clinic at http://shulervetclinic.com
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