I will be going on a seven day vacation. I cannot take my chihuahua along. Others times she has stayed with an in-home petsitter, but she no longer does petsitting. I tried others and they were supposed to stay in my home but I found out they only came to let her out. I am thinking of putting her in a kennel for 7 days, she has never been at one, but I have no other choice. What do you think about this?

If you have no other choice, then put her in a kennel. Like you, kennels are my last choice, because your dog doesn’t know that you’re coming back for her, that’s the most stressful part. Also it’s a new environment and new people. However, at least you know she’ll be safe if you put her in a kennel. It’s better than leaving her home by herself all day and all night. Are there kennels in your area that look and feel more like home and allow the dogs to walk around freely and be with the staff all day? That kind of kennel is better than one that puts the dog in a cage all day. It’s also better to find a kennel that has a special area for small dogs, so they won’t get hurt by playing with the big dogs. If your chihuahua is friendly, the staff might even let her stay in the office with them, I’ve heard of many kennels that do that with small breeds.

In any case, you must visit the kennel, take a tour, see all the areas that the dogs have access to, and talk to the owner and caretakers. Your gut will tell you a lot, if something doesn’t feel right then something is probably not right. You are going on vacation to enjoy yourself, you don’t want to spend the whole time worrying about your baby. If the kennel takes good care of her, then she will be fine. When you come back to get her, she will be very happy to see you and she will bounce back with no problem. I’ve never heard of a dog being traumatized for life from kenneling. As you know, dogs are emotionally very resilient. I see that all the time with my rescue dogs.

Did you try calling your vet to see if there’s a petsitter who could stay at your house? Do you have friends, co-workers, neighbors or family who could do it for money or as a favor? Maybe you can reciprocate services with another chi owner in the area? I recently went to Asia for 2 weeks and had to find a petsitter myself. I really didn’t want to board my dogs at a kennel. I ended up emailing all my contacts and asking if anyone knew a dog lover who might consider staying at my house to dogsit. I found a friend of a friend who is a graduate student, she needs the money and loves dogs. Sadly, she is moving in June when she graduates, so I’ll have to begin the search all over again. I’m going to look for someone even before I have a vacation planned, so I will have someone to call when the time comes.

Share

Tags: Kennel, Pet Travel, Petsitting