By Carrie Hyde | November 6, 2021

As much as you may want to, you can’t take your dog everywhere with you. Whether you’re traveling for work, pleasure, or something in between, there will be times when you’ll have to leave your dog behind.

When those occasions arise, you have a few choices of what to do with your pet. One of the most popular options is to leave them at a boarding facility. Unfortunately, this is not always the safest option for your dog.

I have spent most of my life working at boarding facilities. From the rural kennel I worked at part-time in high school to the dog boarding and daycare facility I managed in college, I have learned quite a few things about what can go wrong in boarding facilities and how hard it is to get things right.

Below are the many dangers I have witnessed throughout my career that may be putting your dog in danger when you board them. I’ll also discuss what you need to know to find a quality boarder that has what it takes to keep your dog safe.

Hidden Dangers of Boarding Facilities

Every boarding kennel out there has to deal with the inherent dangers that come with caring for living, breathing, thinking animals. Some work extra hard to mitigate these risks. Some only put in enough effort to make things look good on the outside so they can get your money. And some don’t even go that far.

In any case, these dangers are still likely to be present in one degree or another.

Overcrowding

Every dog a boarding facility takes in is another payment toward their bottom line. So, it should come as no surprise that these businesses will do everything they can to maximize how many dogs they can care for at a time.

Some facilities up their “max capacity” by putting in smaller kennels so they can fit more dogs. Others resort to filling every last space, from the storage room in the back to that random yard off the front office.

However they do it, overcrowding is never a good thing for your pet.

More dogs mean more noise, more mess, and more germs. But most importantly, it means more stress for your dog.

Just like you feel uncomfortable and anxious when stuffed onto an overcrowded flight, your dog feels anxious when they are placed in a cage surrounded by dozens of other dogs that they can’t properly greet or socialize with.

If your dog isn’t a fan of other dogs, their anxiety is going to be even worse in these situations.

When dogs feel stressed, their immune system takes a hit. And since overcrowding also means a higher chance of being exposed to illness, the odds of them getting sick while boarding are incredibly high.

Lack of Trained Staff

Whether the facility is overcrowded or not, there is a good chance your boarding facility is going to have to deal with staffing issues.

Working with dogs sounds like a great time until you realize how much work goes into caring for and cleaning up after those dogs. Every kennel I have ever worked at has struggled to maintain staff due to the amount of work required by the staff and the pay rates available.

When staff turns over constantly, it is impossible to keep the staff that is there well trained.

A veteran staff that is educated in caring for dogs and has the experience necessary to spot illness and issues before they become emergent is paramount to keeping your dog safe. If staff turnover is high, this type of knowledge won’t be there even if training protocols are in place.

Worse still are situations where not enough training is offered, even to veteran staff.

Many boarding facilities train their staff in only the basics, such as how to clean kennels, where to walk dogs, and how to do certain maintenance tasks. Often, the staff is given little to no training on how to work with dogs, how to read their body language, and how to spot signs of illness, distress, or other issues.

Vaccine Requirements

Because illness transmission is common in crowded boarding facilities, many businesses try to overcompensate by requiring more than the state-required vaccinations.

Vaccinations required by boarding facilities vary, but typically include:

• Rabies
• Distemper
• Parvo
• Bordetella
• Leptospirosis
• Canine influenza

The vaccines required by the facility must be up to date in order for each dog to board. For dogs who board frequently, this can mean an unnecessary and dangerous amount of shots each year.

Commercial rabies, distemper, and parvo vaccinations have all been found to provide immunity for at least 3 years, with rabies showing immunity for at least 6 years in healthy dogs. Despite this evidence, many states require annual rabies vaccinations and the vast majority of vets give distemper and parvo vaccinations annually.

Bordetella, the vaccine that is meant to protect against kennel cough, is given even more frequently. Both oral and nasal methods are given every six months. The revaccination period for the injectable form varies based on the veterinarian from every six months to annually.

Considering the efficacy of Bordetella vaccinations, the high price of these frequent vaccinations hardly seems worth it.

Despite requiring all dogs to be vaccinated against Bordetella, kennel cough outbreaks are incredibly common in boarding facilities because the vaccinations do not provide adequate immunity in these crowded, stressful situations. Additionally, like the human flu vaccination, they only protect against some of the agents that cause the disease.

All vaccinations carry a risk of side effects and can negatively impact the immune system. The more frequently vaccinations are given, the more likely these issues are to affect your dog.

Vaccine Timing

Keeping up with the rigorous vaccination schedule required by many boarding facilities can be difficult. For this reason, it is not at all uncommon for dogs to receive vaccinations immediately before boarding. This practice comes with two very real concerns.

First, when a dog is given a vaccine and then brought to the facility immediately after, their body has no time to build an immune response to the disease.

Intranasal Bordetella vaccines are not required to be administered by a vet and are often given in-house at many boarding facilities. This is true despite multiple studies showing that it can take up to 6 days for a dog to create the antibodies necessary to become immune to Bordetella after receiving this type of vaccine.

Many other canine vaccinations show a similar delay in immunity onset after vaccination. If your dog receives a vaccine right before boarding and is exposed to the disease soon after, they are very likely to become sick.

The second issue with giving vaccines immediately before boarding has to do with the problem of vaccine shedding.

All live attenuated vaccines have the propensity to shed, meaning the vaccine vector can leave the vaccinated animal through bodily secretions. In canines, the most likely live attenuated vaccines to shed are the parvo vaccine and the oral and intranasal forms of the Bordetella vaccine.

Studies have shown that about 23% of dogs will shed parvovirus after vaccination. This shedding period can last up to 28 days after the vaccine is administered.

Viruses shed after vaccines are much less virulent than wild forms of the disease. However, these shed viruses can still pose a threat to immunocompromised dogs and those who are not vaccinated. Because of the stressful environment of boarding facilities, even normally healthy dogs may become ill due to the effects of shed vaccine viruses.

Dr. Jean Dodds, world-renowned veterinarian, and vaccine expert states that the most shedding vaccine is parvo with Bordetella (kennel cough)  being a close second.

Unsanitary Conditions and Lack of Ventilation

Taking care of one dog can be a messy endeavor. Taking care of dozens or even hundreds can quickly become unsanitary if the right cleaning protocols are not in place.

In many boarding situations, dogs are expected to urinate and defecate in their kennel because they are not given enough opportunities to go outside. Even in situations where dogs are given adequate time outside, such as open play facilities, there are guaranteed to be a lot of messes to clean up inside and outside the kennels.

In order to reduce disease transmission, play yards, exercise yards, kennels, and hallways need to be disinfected multiple times per day. Unfortunately, this kind of deep cleaning requires extra staff that most boarding facilities don’t have on hand.

Amplifying the problem of unsanitary surfaces is a lack of ventilation.

There is a reason the vast majority of boarding kennels stink. You cannot keep that many dogs in one area and not have it stink—even with adequate cleaning—without installing an advanced ventilation system.

Simple fans and vents are not adequate for replenishing the air in a boarding facility, especially during cold weather. For this, you need a highly specialized and expensive ventilation system that can exchange inside and outside air without changing the indoor temperature.

Facilities with poor ventilation put your dog at risk for upper respiratory infection and other diseases.

Lack of Regulation

Compounding all problems listed above is a lack of regulation of boarding facilities.

In most states, regulating boarding facilities is the job of the department of agriculture. A branch of this department is in charge of doing random inspections of licensed facilities and responding to public complaints.

Unfortunately, there are no federal regulations concerning the licensing of boarding facilities. Depending on local and state laws, the boarding facility you take your dog to may or may not be licensed. Unlicensed facilities are not inspected or regulated in any way.

Even licensed facilities are unlikely to be inspected frequently.

At the rural boarding kennel, I worked at in high school, which could house up to 100 dogs, we never once received an inspection during my time there. At the larger facility I managed in college, which was part of a very popular franchise chain, we received inspections only every 2 years on average.

When facilities aren’t well-regulated, they often adopt unsafe practices such as allowing too many dogs for the number of staff on-site, not abiding by state-mandated cleaning standards, and not upkeeping the facility to maintain a safe environment for the dogs.

What Can You Do to Help Keep Your Pet Safe?

Given all the hidden dangers that may be lurking behind the doors of your local boarding facilities, it may seem like finding a safe place for your dog to board is an impossible task.

While there is an unfortunate number of unsafe and unsanitary boarding kennels out there, not all hope is lost. By being diligent with your search and raising your expectations, it is possible to find a boarding kennel you can feel good leaving your dog at.

Here are some things you should do and ask questions about when researching boarding facilities:

• Take a tour – The best way to get a feel for any facility is to put your eyes on it. If a kennel will not allow you access to the boarding area, that is a red flag. Some facilities limit where guests can go as a means to keep the people and the dogs safe, but you should at least be allowed to see the kennels and run areas from a safe distance.
• Dog numbers – Find out what the facility’s capacity is, how many kennels they have, and if they ever have unrelated dogs share a kennel or house dogs in crates. Your dog should be guaranteed their own permanent kennel of adequate size.
• Emergency protocols – Does your boarding facility have a plan in place in case an evacuation is needed for imminent natural disasters or in-house emergencies? Is there someone watching the facility at night or a monitoring system that includes protection against carbon monoxide and fire?
• Staff numbers and training protocols – How many employees are present each shift? Does this number change based on capacity? Are new employees put through any kind of training program and what does that involve? How long have most of the employees worked there?
• Vaccine requirements – Be sure to ask about what vaccines are required and if they allow exemptions on repeat vaccinations. Facilities that have mandatory waiting periods after vaccines are administered are much less likely to encounter issues with vaccine shedding.
• Sick/injured dog protocol – If your dog gets sick or injured, where will they take them? Do they have a vet on-site or one they work with nearby for emergencies? If a dog becomes contagious, do they have the means to isolate it?
• Cleaning protocols – How often are kennels and yards cleaned? What kind of chemicals are used for cleaning and are they safe to be used around dogs? How and where are these chemicals stored? What kind of ventilation system is used and does it run continuously?
• Kennel licensing – Is the kennel licensed and when was their last state inspection completed? Are there other types of inspections they are subjected to (corporate, city, etc.).

If you are struggling to find a safe,  clean, and well-run boarding facility for your dog, you may want to consider looking into an alternative care option.

Home pet sitting is a great alternative to boarding, especially for dogs who get stressed when around other dogs or when away from home, and those with compromised immune systems. This option generally comes with a higher price tag and a few safety precautions of its own, but overall, tends to be a safer choice for many dogs.

By Carrie Hyde, The Spaw Pet Life Coach | November 6, 2021

Written for The Spaw by Sara Seitz, Professional Freelance Writer and Novelist with Pen and Post

Carrie Hyde is the founder, owner, and Pet Life Coach of The Spaw in Tustin, CA. Carrie’s extensive experience and understanding of pet nutrition and coaching enabled her to create The Spawdcast, a podcast dedicated to educating pet parents and pet industry professionals on ALL the options available to their pet. Her mission is to open pet-owner’s eyes to the questions they may not even know to ask, to shine light on the many myths that have been part of pet care for decades and to offer whole solutions for their pets. Carrie Hyde is a certified pet nutritionists with the goal of helping pet parents & pet professionals with a new understanding about how to care for pets in a “whole and natural” way.