Dog boarding/kennel recommendation. (Bloomington, St. Louis Park: extended stay, daycares, hotel)

[ellysbelly]

Any dog boarding facilities that you'd recommend? We'll need to board our two dogs (they're each 70ish pounds, if it matters) for approximately a week while we finalized our move over the summer.. we'd prefer somewhere where the pups can be boarded together and ideally somewhere where'd they'd get lots of love and attention. Willing to travel up to 45 minutes to an hour from Bloomington for the right facility. Thanks!

[MnMomma]

We have used Woof Central (Penn & Highway 62 in Richfield)--the dogs are in a play area during the day and then kennels at night. Our dog isn't crate trained and flips out when kenneled, so now we go to Fun City Dogs where he plays all day and then sleeps on a couch at night.

[EricS39]

Why board the dogs up instead of hiring a sitter? I hate when dogs are treated like property

A kennel is basically a factory farm for dogs

They are caged, given shouting orders to shut up ....locked in a hot storage room .....squashed into tiniest spaces....and if they cry they get voltage shocks to keep them hushed

That's how a kennel works

Some kennels the dogs will die before the end of the week and this happened to one of my friends

You will get a death certificate when you get back with a "we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but we obviously can't feed every dog...how otherwise would you expect the kennel to generate enough profit for us to stay in business?

One thing I can guarantee you at best...your dogs will never be the same again

At worst, they may be dead by the end of the week. But I agree most people see dogs as property and do use the kennel because it saves a couple bucks.

I won't deny you'll save money, unless the dogs don't survive and you want to buy new dogs (not too likely a scenario)

[Ghengis]

Originally Posted by EricS39

Why board the dogs up instead of hiring a sitter? I hate when dogs are treated like property

A kennel is basically a factory farm for dogs

They are caged, given shouting orders to shut up ....locked in a hot storage room .....squashed into tiniest spaces....and if they cry they get voltage shocks to keep them hushed

That's how a kennel works

Some kennels the dogs will die before the end of the week and this happened to one of my friends

You will get a death certificate when you get back with a "we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but we obviously can't feed every dog...how otherwise would you expect the kennel to generate enough profit for us to stay in business?

One thing I can guarantee you at best...your dogs will never be the same again

At worst, they may be dead by the end of the week. But I agree most people see dogs as property and do use the kennel because it saves a couple bucks.

I won't deny you'll save money, unless the dogs don't survive and you want to buy new dogs (not too likely a scenario)

don't hire a sitter, sitters will only use your house as a meth lab when you're gone, have loud parties, kill your pets and house plants and the toxicity that remains after you return will render your home unlivable for a thousand years...that's the way sitters roll.

[EricS39]

I would say find a trusted sitter. But why not to send your dog to a slaughterhouse factory farm is a no-brainer

I believe in saving money, but not saving money unwisely.
A dog's life is priceless to me I'm sorry.

[ellysbelly]

@EricS: My dogs are both rescues. We've both volunteered with a dog no-kill rescue group for the last six years as well as fostered countless dogs in that time. I am an animal lover, too, so I understand where you're coming from-- but I assure you my dogs are very much FAMILY, and NOT property.

Not that I have to justify my behavior, but if you must know, here's why the dogs will be boarded: We're moving from 1800 miles away and we'll be there this summer while house hunting and staying in a (dog friendly) extended stay hotel. We won't have a home there yet, at least not one that they're at all familiar with nor one with any furniture-- that's why they'll be boarded: we'll be flying home to pack up our home here in FL and move our belongings up to MN. Boarding them prevents us from having to fly with them twice (which, frankly, would be far more traumatic than boarding) AND flying prevents us from having to do yet another 3600 mile roundtrip in the car with our three kids (and the dogs)-- so while boarding them is not optimal, it's really the only solution. So, again, I appreciate your concern but in this case, your assumptions that I believe my animals are 'property' solely because I'm boarding them out of necessity are completely without basis.

If you want to encourage people to treat their dogs better then we're ABSOLUTELY on the same side, but your tactic of assuming and then attacking without any knowledge of the situation doesn't do anything but get the person you attacked on the defensive.. it does nothing to encourage more responsible decision making when it comes to dogs. Your heart is in the right place but your tactics need some refining.

[irootoo]

Originally Posted by EricS39

Why board the dogs up instead of hiring a sitter? I hate when dogs are treated like property

A kennel is basically a factory farm for dogs

They are caged, given shouting orders to shut up ....locked in a hot storage room .....squashed into tiniest spaces....and if they cry they get voltage shocks to keep them hushed

That's how a kennel works

Some kennels the dogs will die before the end of the week and this happened to one of my friends

You will get a death certificate when you get back with a "we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but we obviously can't feed every dog...how otherwise would you expect the kennel to generate enough profit for us to stay in business?

One thing I can guarantee you at best...your dogs will never be the same again

At worst, they may be dead by the end of the week. But I agree most people see dogs as property and do use the kennel because it saves a couple bucks.

I won't deny you'll save money, unless the dogs don't survive and you want to buy new dogs (not too likely a scenario)

I worked at a St. Louis Park MN veterinary clinic that also boarded dogs and cats way back in the primitive times of the 1980s. Although it wasn't fancy by any means, to a person we loved and respected the dogs and cats that boarded there. If they got a postcard from their people while they were away, we went and read it to them. We did our best every day (including weekends and holidays) to take good care of them. Why on earth would it be any different 30+ years later, when there are even more boarding places and doggie daycares to choose from, and people are more aware than ever of what dogs and cats need?

I have had dogs and cats that needed to be boarded while I was out of town. It was not always possible to get a Mary Poppins like person to take the pet or come and live in our home with it. Some of our pets had special needs and needed to have specialized care, not just a regular person who might be nice but hasn't an idea of how to give an insulin injection or take care of a wound. (I apologize that I am a human being who sometimes needs to go away for oh, let's see, something trivial like my mother's funeral.) My feeling has always been that I will do the best for my pets, including finding the best possible care for them when I am unable to do so. Sometimes that includes having to board them.

If someone needs to board their pet, what you have written is in no way helpful or kind, and in fact the worst thing about it is that it is not true. Please do us a favor and provide the names and locations of these Dickensian kennels that are apparently so common in your experience. In my experience, I have in the past boarded my dogs at Auntie Ruth's and Silver Dog Bed & Biscuit. Many newer facilities even provide for the owner to check in on their pet via webcam--I suppose according to your insane paranoia, they must have a back room where they do the awful things.

In a couple of weeks, I will be taking my dogs to Now Boarding. It is run by the Hennepin County Humane Society and has many high rated reviews on Angie's List. Although I will miss my dogs, I will also have absolute confidence that they are being well cared for, just as I used to care for the dogs and cats in the place I worked at. And yes, just as when kids are at camp, sometimes things happen, but things happen to pets at home as well.

P.S. In my earlier days, I was a certified veterinary technician. I also volunteered at the Hennepin County Humane Society. I saw firsthand and from the inside what it is like to take care of dozens of dogs and cats and to do it well and with caring. OP, please do not let these nuts guilt or shame you. It is a perfectly normal, I repeat PERFECTLY NORMAL thing to board one's pets. And frankly, if you other posters are so into saving all the animals, I'm glad your lives are so perfect that you can always choose the one perfect solution for your pets' needs. I hope you are that considerate with the humans in your lives as well. Must be nice.

Personally, if I were unable to occasionally board my dogs, I would not have been able to rescue them, so there would have been four more perfectly healthy greyhounds that had to be euthanized because they had no home to go to. Perfection is the enemy of good, and you negative people who leave no room for anyone else to live their lives in a manner that works for them, actually in the long run work against saving the animals you say you are trying save. Go find another soapbox from which to torment nice people.

[ellysbelly]

^^agreed. 5000000%

[golfgal]

There is a place on Cedar Ave about 4 miles or so south of the MOA, Four Paw's Resort I think it's called. I don't know anything about it but it's close to where you will be staying.

Four Paws Pet Resort

[StilltheSame]

Quite a few people i know ( I dont have dogs) use Pampered Pooch in St. Louis Park. Im surprised some of them commute so far from their homes, but they seem to really like it.