Golden Girls - Sunshine, Angel, Spirit        Angel, Yaz, Uma (back), Corky & Lea (front)

We provide limited boarding and daycare services at our home for local dogs that meet all the boarding requirements below and are able to have a successful daycare test with us prior to their boarding dates.  Non-local dogs may board or daycare if able to provide a letter of recommendation from another boarding facility and vaccine records.  Boarding is offered 7 days a week based on availability, while Daycare is offered only weekdays based on space availability.   During the course of their stay, each dog camper participates in our daily activities and reinforcement of doggie manners.  More intensive one-on-one training is available at extra cost.  Meals, playtime, & nap time incorporate home manners just like our dogs have learned. Dogs learn to sit and wait at doors/gates and before beginning to eat, walk without pulling on the leash, not to jump all over people, and barking does not get attention.

Most of our campers stay in a heated or air-conditioned out-building next to the main house with an individual kennel area & raised Kuranda bed & bowls.  Sometimes smaller campers or lone boarders that we know get along nicely with our 2 cats and 6 dogs and will "just hang out," are allowed in our home.  When we are away from the house or unable to supervise interactions, all dogs are kenneled or crated for their safety. They can see & hear each other but not physically interact until we let them out.  They're usually tired and ready to nap from playing or hanging out in our fenced yards anyway. Our smaller yard has fake grass and our second yard has natural grass & weeds & bushes for them to explore.  During the summertime we provide a wading pool for cooling off!

BOARDING REQUIREMENTS

Any dogs that come to stay with us for boarding or daycare, must not be aggressive to people or other dogs; they must be dog-friendly or neutral.  Though we monitor all dog interactions and put dogs with like play-styles together, we are not set up to isolate aggressive dogs from our other campers unless Jon is working with you and your dog on this issue and there is an extra charge.  If your dog resource-guards toys (will fight over them), this will not be an appropriate place since we have rubber Chuck-It balls & rubber tug toys in the play yard.

Dogs boarding with us must be housetrained.  We cannot have dogs that are used to eliminating in their kennels or unable to hold their business overnight (8 hours).   We do take puppies 6 months or older once you have them trained to make it through the night.

If your dog has never boarded anywhere before or has separation issues (has never been away from you or barks/howls/whines incessantly when left alone), panics with thunder/lightening sounds during the summer months, or needs doggie downers to deal with stress, this will not be the correct place to board him/her.  We recommend that you get a pet sitter to stay at your home.  It is less stressful for your dog to be in a familiar environment rather than be without you in a new place.  In addition, the other dog campers need to rest without loud whining or barking, as do we since we hear everything from our house.  A little fussing when first kenneled is to be expected, but hours of non-stop barking/howling/whining will not work at our home & extra charges are added for dogs that wake us up at night with those antics. Other kennels may not care, but we want your dog to enjoy its stay here, not be stressed out.

We are unable board fence-jumpers, diggers, and gravel-eaters for the safety of all the dogs.  The dogs that come and fit in well here, love to play with other dogs and look forward to their rest times rather than look for ways to escape our yards or take apart fencing.  We have both 5-foot high cedar and wire fencing with buried chicken wire under the gravel to discourage digging.  If you know this height will not work to contain your dog, this boarding site will not be safe for your dog.  We do not want fence-jumpers demonstrating that skill to our non-fence-jumpers. 

To stay with us for boarding or daycare, dogs must be healthy (not having diarrhea or vomiting) and the owner must provide written documentation from a vet that the dog is current on vaccines (rabies, distemper/parvo, &  the bordetella/kennel cough), is neutered/spayed if over 6 months old, and be free of external and internal parasites (fleas, ticks, intestinal worms).  We will not accept self-administered vaccines as we want your pet checked over by a vet within the past 3-6 months plus there is no guarantee that a feed store will have handled the vaccine appropriately upon arrival (all vaccines must be immediately refrigerated not sitting on a loading dock in the sun).  We have tried having dogs board that are not fixed, but it requires extra supervision during playtimes to prevent humping activities (even when all other dogs are fixed).  Plus we believe there are far too many unwanted dogs (even purebreds) languishing or being euthanised in shelters.  Check out Petfinder.com to see how many need homes.  Lastly, we do not have fleas over here and prefer to keep it that way.  So if you come from a locale that has fleas, please have your dog treated with a spot-on flea preventative from a vet before you come.

Camper Checklist: dog, collar with ID tags, copy of vaccination records sent by email or text prior to visit and approved by us, enough food and treats for the stay (a gallon Ziploc bag holds about 14 cups of food - enough to feed 1 cup in am and pm for a week), any medications in original packaging with vet prescription, a favorite toy or blanket if needed and your dog won't chew them and ingest, and coat (if needed in cold weather). Make sure to let us know if your dog has a sensitive stomach or allergies (i.e. can't have any food or treats besides what he's used to eating). Please do not switch foods prior to boarding as this can cause diarrhea & incur a vet visit to get it stopped.  Leave bowls behind as we have stainless steel bowls we wash between meals.