Going on Vacation? ...and can't take your dogs?

What to look for in a Boarding Kennel

Whenever possible our dogs come with us on vacation. In Europe it is easy to do because dogs are readily accepted in hotels and holiday accommodation, particularly in France. Every couple of years though, we head home to New Zealand for a month to catch up with family and to enjoy all the wonderful things about the country we love.

Blue on Day 3 of his holiday

In the past this has not been a problem for the early years of our time in Switzerland we were dog free. This year however, we have a new family and the dilemma before us was one many dog owners face – what to do with our dogs while we were away.

Our home leave is a well-orchestrated affair – it has to be. When you are travelling nearly 20,000 km to the other side of the world you really want everything to go as smoothly as possible or else where is the R & R element to the adventure? So I start planning our trip three or four months out and this year I had the added task of looking for appropriate accommodation for our two rascals.

Because I work a lot with dogs in kennel situations I had a very good idea of what I did not want for our two. My first task then was to define as clearly as possible what it was that I did want. This is an excellent training exercise for a clicker trainer – shifting the focus from what you don’t want, to what you do. Here is what I came up with:

From: I don’t want my dogs…		To: I want my dogs…
	…to be separated.		…to stay together.
	… to be caged or put behind bars.		…to be in a safe and secure indoor environment.
	…left on their own.		…to be in the company of humans.
	…exercised with dogs they don’t know.		…to be exercised with other dogs that play well.
	…to be isolated in any way.		…to always be in a social environment (unless they are sleeping).
	…left to their own devices.		…to be stimulated and challenged.
	…to be fed unknown food.		…to continue their raw food diet.
	…to develop bad habits.		…to continue to be reinforced for behaving well.
	…to be exposed to incessant barking.		…to be in a place that encourages quiet times.
	…punished for things they do wrong.		…to be rewarded for what they do right.

Okay, even I had to admit that my list was just a little fanciful but the truth was that these really were the things I wanted the boarding kennel to provide for my dogs. And so the search began.  I started with Switzerland, it seemed logical, that’s where we live. I followed up a score of different kennels, and I could find none that satisfied half of my criteria.

The first thing that struck me was how large many of these kennels were and how many dogs were housed there. I felt compelled to add more to my list.

I don’t want my dogs…		I want my dogs…
	…to be lost in the crowd.		…to get the same sort of attention they get at home.
	…to be fed with strange dogs present.		…to be fed on their own as they are at home.

The more I looked the more concerned I became. Statements like: “First shock upon arrival: the barking welcome! Your friend may be a little upset by such noisy activity! Don’t take too much notice. Soon he will be part of the fun and follow his pals!” Oh dear, here was a place that thought it was all right for dogs to be constantly barking!

And then there was this one: “Why may your dog lose weight while staying with us? above all for two reasons. First every change of environment is stressful; second when in kennels no dog will leave all the “works” to the others! As soon as one dog barks, all of them listen, get up and… join the fun!”

With new friends on Day 12 

Another suggested that we leave the dogs at the gate and not enter the compound (is it just me or does that sound like a prison sentence?), others insisted that we bring nothing the dog could associate with home (excuse me?) I felt more and more disheartened. All I could think of was my little poodle reverting back to his reserved former self and all the good work over the last year or so becoming completely undone.

I widened my search to include France. The more I looked, the more despair I felt – was there nothing out there? It was my husband that came to the rescue. I had sent him a link to the dog::links website to pass onto a friend who was looking to adopt a dog. He sent me back a link to a place in France that had been advertised on the site – why had I not seen it? Who knows, but I was so glad that he had.

Saint Pardoux Pension Pour Chiens was the perfect place for what I was after. First of all it was a small concern situated in a tranquil rural community in the Deux Sevres region. I had no idea where that was, but I didn’t care. That word “tranquil” had captured my attention and I wanted to read more.

The site offered “a 4-star holiday experience in a warm and friendly environment”. I was more intrigued, this sounded so like the perfect place for my dogs. What really impressed me was that there were only 3 “kennels” but they were more like little apartments, with tiled floors and real doors. Ambient music was played in each room and dogs could have heating or television if required – these were the comforts of home my dogs were used to. It sounded idyllic, the sort of place I’d love to be if I were a dog. 

As I read the customer comments I got more excited and wasted no time in sending off an email to make enquiries.  Here was a place that seemed to tick all the boxes on my list – was it too good to be true?

Day 17 - Beau finds a quiet spot under the desk in the office

That was in February. We went on home leave in April and picked up our dogs two weeks ago. They couldn’t have been in better condition. It was obvious from the looks on their faces that they had had a ball of a time – and Blue, my supposedly anorexic poodle, had put on weight!

Saint Pardoux Pension Pour Chiens is an 8 hour drive from where we live in Switzerland, a fact that had little influence at all on our decision. The quality of care our dogs received was well worth the effort, one we would gladly do over again. Not only did Suzette Jeapes, the proprietor, keep us informed with weekly updates on how our boys were doing and the friendships they had formed with the other dogs in residence, she also took photos and video of them throughout their stay. Now we have this wonderful record of their holiday so we too can share in their experience.

Had I not come up with my list of criteria, and been determined to seek out the ideal place for my dogs to stay, I might never have found Saint Pardoux Pension Pour Chiens and our holiday experience would have been all the less as a result. Focusing on what it is you do want – in all things – really is worth the effort and can be the difference between accepting the mediocre and going for gold every time!