Alright, I apologize for this long post but if you are a dog or cat owner that occasionally or regularly boards your pet, I have some suggestions for you.
I haven’t been in the industry long, so I don’t have a lot of hard data or anything for you, just my experience of the last 4 months.
1. If you’re not using the hotel’s food, which is perfectly fine, make sure you bring enough food for your dog/cat to last their entire stay.
It’s amazing how many dogs/cats come and run out of their food several days before they leave.
2. If you pre-bag your pet’s food, everyone will love you, especially the night shift. If you put their name on every bag- holy crap, marry us.
3. I get it. You want to make sure your dog or cat is comfortable; make sure it has something from home to remember you by, and maybe not hate you for dropping them off. But if it’s for one night-don’t bother. We won’t put it out because we always wash bedding, and washable toys the night before they leave. We always give them beds.
4. Two toys. Max. We aren’t putting all 7 toys in little Fido’s room.
5. No rope toys. Too much of a choking hazard.
6. Back to food: if your dog doesn’t regularly eat wet food, please do not experiment with it here. It 9/10 times causes the dog to have diarrhea and at night- I can’t clean it up because I’m alone in the hotel and can’t go into the pet rooms until someone else is in the building. They have to sleep in it, and it sucks. If your dog won’t eat, yes we may add a little wet food to entice them. But please don’t ask us to give them a whole can.
7. I understand, you’re on vacation. Having fun on the beach, relaxing, not a care in the world. But when you have 3 missed phone calls from the hotel- please call back. We only call in emergencies.
8. Be aware that with a lot of dogs together-dog fights can break out. We are trained to handle them, but very occasionally, a dog can get hurt. So I reiterate-please answer the phone.
9. If your dog is an asshole- we bitch to each other. We do Rock Paper Scissors to decide who has to take them out, or deal with them. If you have a dog- spend the time and money to get it trained.
10. If you have to leave your pet longer than your reservation- call. Please. Just let us know so we can figure out accommodations for it.
11. If you are rude to anyone at the front desk: we bitch about you. A lot.
12. Put their name on everything you bring. I have 140 dogs and 20 cats in here tonight, and there are bags with no names in the wrong cubbies. I didn’t check your dog in, so I don’t know that the plaid blanket is Spot’s.
13. If it takes a while to get your dog when you come pick it up- there may just be one person in the back- who’s cleaning rooms, doing walks, filling water, giving out food, and doing check outs. Also- when dogs realize they are leaving, many get very excited and it becomes much harder to put their leash on. Please be patient.
14. Stop buying stupid confusing harnesses.
15. Lastly, We love your dog. Even if they are an asshole to deal with, we will spend as much time with it as possible. We wouldn’t work back here if we didn’t love pets. But please. Don’t use boarding as an all the time thing. It kills me when I see a dog stay here for a week, leave for two days, then is back for another week and then that stay gets extended. Don’t let living in 6x4 room be its life.
Okay, post done. It was a very tiring and long night shift tonight. I may have left stuff off, but these are my major points.
