boarding my cocker puppy Jess

[Lindaphills]

Hello all,
Hope everyone had a great christmas  I am in a terrible predicament :cry:  My husband has booked a long weekend in Barcelona for our 10th wedding anniversary on the 22nd January.  Jess cannot stay at my mums because my mum has her litter sister and they do not get on when in each others houses, they are ok on walks but not in our houses.  My mum in law has a 10yr old springer spaniel bitch who does not tolerate Jess jumping all over her and so she can't stay with them either.  I have no-one else to ask so it seems my only option is the kennels.  I have heard glowing reports about the place from other owners but I am breaking my heart.  do you all think she is too young to be put in kennels (20 weeks).  She is quite a nervous puppy as well, not like her sister who is bold and outgoing.  I am worried that she will not cope with the change of environment very well at all.
How do other people manage I wonder.  any opinions or personal experiences would be valued.  
I am seriously considering cancelling the trip, I feel totally miserable at the thought of her going into kennels with strangers.

Has anyone boarded their puppy at this age? please let me know of your experience.

Thanks all
Linda and Jess                    

[Jane S]

Sorry to be negative Linda but I don't feel boarding kennels are the best place for a nervous puppy. Have you thought about asking Jess's breeder to have her back for those few days? Many good breeders will look after "their" puppies for holidays etc & at least you would know she would be in familiar surroundings. Obviously this would not be an option if you weren't 100% happy with the breeder but it's something to consider if you are. Another option would be to pay a pet sitter to come & look after Jess in your own home - there are various reputable pet sitting agencies but they are inevitably more expensive than boarding kennels. Minders Keepers seem to have a good reputation (http://www.minders-keepers.co.uk/) but there are other companies too of course - just do a search on Google.                    

[PennyB]

How about boarding her for a day/overnight to see how she is before you go. Recommendations from other people are always good. A weekend isn't long either so she should be fine.

I replied to 'your reply' on my post re kennels and I think in our cases our circumstances are different.

Its always better to get them used to kennels at an early age if you can so I wouldn't worry about her age.                    

[Jane S]

Penny's idea of a one day stay in a boarding kennel is a good one - you will know then if Jess is likely to find staying there for a longer period too stressful. I see you have had postive responses to this question on another forum so I guess I'm the odd one out :wink:                    

[PennyB]

Funnily enough Jane I was going to suggest the breeder but I wasn't sure whether that was the norm (I know of one friend who boarded her dog recently with her dog's breeder).

Re house sitting. I was quoted about 40 a day (before food for the sitter) from Animal Aunts but that's for 2 dogs and 2 cats and I would rather go with an organisation that is good. Some house sitters charge a lot less but they are on their own and so you have to be careful about who you invite in. Eventually I may go down that route once my house is finished!                    

[Lindaphills]

Its always good to have plenty of different opinions.  I am going to look over the place tomorrow with hubby before I book her in.  I have had personal reccommendations which is always better than choosing blind I suppose.

Anyway, will let you know what happens.
I just wish she could stay round the corner in my mothers with her sister  :cry:  :cry:   is it common for 2 bitches who don't live together not to get on with each other on their respective 'patches'  Abbie just wants to play but Jess bares her teeth and really gets nasty with Abbie.  Although jess is not so outgoing as Abbie, she seems to be the dominant one when they are together.  Is there anything i wonder that we could do to try and get them to stay in the same house together cos my mother doesn't want to see Jess go to the kennel but also she doesn't want her attacking Abbie all the time either?
Any suggestions on this?  Perhaps I should give Jan Fennel a ring eh

Edited to say I'm afraid I can't afford a pet sitter and her breeder would be a definite no no.                    

[PennyB]

Sometimes it looks like Ruby (20 months old now) is being nasty to Wilf, but I just leave them to it and let them sort it out (if Wilf yelps or whatever I don't go and investigate for about 5 min after he's stopped yelping and he always OK). Sometimes it can be difficult for some owners to know what the score is between dogs (I've had a very steep learning curve, thankfully helped by others who know about dog behaviour). I only say this as I have a friend who has a well loved cavvie who she thought was 'trying to kill her new pup'. She cried on the phone for nights saying it wasn't going to work and when I eventually saw the two of them where her 1st dog was 'trying to kill the pup' I had to laugh as it was just play fighting (and the growling was just 'play growling'). Bitches don't always get on as there may be a battle for dominance, which can get out of hand but sometimes I think it can be difficult to know when to back off and let them get on with it. Its been awful sometimes to see Wilf back down all the time and shy away sometimes (Ruby is very bossy), but I'm glad I let them work through it without my interference as they are good for each other. I sometimes leave Ruby with a friend's cocker bitch and while they get on while walking there is a little tension in the house each time until they settle down.

While I've said all this it may never work for your mum's dog and yours .                    

[Jane S]

Penny, yes it is quite common for small hobby breeders to take back pups for holidays etc - we have always done this (in fact we have recently had 2 of "our" Cockers staying for 6 weeks while their family were in New Zealand) & I know plenty of others who do the same so it's always worth asking but only if the breeder is one you like & trust of course :wink:

Linda, don't forget to check the boarding kennels will carry on with the Barf diet you are giving Jess (I think you feed her Barf now?) You don't want her tummy upset by the kennels giving her a complete that doesn't agree with her.                    

[Michele]

Hi Linda,
I was in the same predicament as you last August, we wanted to go away and whilst we felt our daughters could cope with 2 dogs, three would be a bit too much. Although Otis is both older and confident it didn't stop me from worrying as to how he would cope. So I did as has already been suggested and booked him in to a kennels (that I had already inspected and was happy with) for a 24hr stay. He was absolutely fine and has stayed there twice since, straining at the lead to get in whilst I'm trying to get his bits & pieces out of the car  :roll:

Where did we go?.................to Barcelona :!:  don't miss out on going if you can help it, it is such a fantastic city that we went back in November and are looking forward to going again & again & again.......
Good luck
Michele & Otis                    

[english.springer]

By the sounds of it you are in abit of a predicament.
As I understand it you bought the puppy and she came to live at your house about 12 weeks ago. Now your husband has booked a trip abroad at a guess a xmas present. So you want to board the puppy in kennels. With this thought you are very upset.

From my point of view your options are limited

1.Ask the breeder to baby sit the dog but this will cost
2.board the dog and take a chance that she will be okay this costs too
3.Hope your husband took out travel insurance and cancel the holiday
4.give the puppy away so it never gets in the way of a holiday again

Only joking about number 4

Please take some serious thought as what to do with the puppy it has only just settled into your routine

good luck                    

[shonajoy]

I'll admit I'm biased up front, we left our 9 week old puppy overnight, and he was dreadfully behaved for a week after.

I'd be inclined to reschedule the holiday, as she's still very young, but it's obviously up to you - I felt that had we left our boy for longer he'd have been even worse, and we left him with his dog mad granny, and he still reacted badly.

Saying that, you know your own pet best, and I'm sure she'll do fine if you think so. I'm also not an experienced dog owner, so probably don't know what I'm talking about, just wanted to give you the benefit of my limited experience, although negative.

Shona                    

[PennyB]

Also remember that if you use a boarding kennels that you may need the kennel cough vax.                    

[Lindaphills]

Hi everyone and thanks for all your replies.

I do not have to put Jess into kennels now  
My dad is moving in here for the weekend.  Apparently they've been thinking about nothing else either so they have told us to go and enjoy ourselves and leave dad do the dog sitting

Yippee!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know now that I will not worry about her at all cos she sees my mam and dad every day and she loves them both.  She will be in her own familiar surroundings and mam and dad will walk them together every day anyway.

I was so close to cancelling the whole trip.  I'm excited to go now but although I'll miss Jess, she's in her own house with all her own things.
My dad can defrost her barf (prize choice blocks) and give her her chicken wings which incidentally my mother feeds her own pup anyway for one meal, so everythings hunky dory    

TTFN                    

[english.springer]

That's fantastic news

I think that is as good a result as possible as least the dog will be seeing face that are recognisable.

At least you can enjoy yourself with out worrying.

Have a nice break                    

[Michele]

Linda, that is great news  Now you can go away and relax & enjoy your break.
By the way, if you love Barcelona as much as we did, I think your Dad might be doing quite a bit of puppy/dog sitting in the future :wink: