Hi Karen!
Sorry to hear you're one of the unsuccessful kennel stories!
We use kennels for Charlie-Spud, he's been twice now, 2 weeks & a wkd later and so far so good. He's very clingy for the next few days, but gets back into his normal routine very quickly.
We'd heard/read a mixed review of kennels, have friends who use family or friends to care for their dogs and one who uses kennels, and we did consider the 'look after at home' option because they say the dog is less stressed being in their own environment. But we stuck with trying kennels first which has luckily worked out for us.
I guess it's better to have a kennel recommended and to definately check it out for yourself. We had a couple of suggestions, but after one spot check visit we didn't have a good feeling about it, then 'fortunately' couldn't get booked in! So we found one on our own, no clever method, just out the Yellow Pages, a quick call but after a spot check visit with a full look around & lots of questions we came away with a good gut feeling.
One thing that helped swing it as well was that they pipe music into the kennel area which we liked as CS has a radio in his area at home! :oops:
The kennels are also used as a show/event ground, has a training school and a hydrotherapy pool. So as a bonus, since we've been taking him swimming every other week at the hydrotherapy pool we've got to know some of the staff better, plus they've got to know CS better too! :wink: .