Nero had his first ever kennel stay last week (20th Jan to 23rd Jan).
Normally, when we go out for a few days, we leave him with my mom. He loves their place and is well settled there. But this time, we were all travelling together and poor Nero had nowhere to go :( So we decided to explore other options.
As I had written in my September post, we had explored 3 options then, Kennel, his trainer and my mum. We finally went for the last option which worked out well. However, this time it would have to be one of the other two. A fourth option got added when the owner of the Pet shop we frequent mentioned he boards dogs as well. However on further discussion we realised that he lives in a small flat and normally keeps the dogs chained. We never chain Nero, and the thought of him chained wasn't acceptable at all, even though the owner said the dogs are usually fine with it. Well it wasn't fine with us!!
Finally, we decided to go with the Kennel option. It would also give an opportunity for him to socialise with other dogs under professional supervision. I talked with the Kennel owner and he was quite helpful. But before we made our decision, we decided to visit the place first...with Nero of course.
So one fine Sunday, we set off to have a look at the Kennel. It wasn't easy to find, in fact we had to be guided to it. It was indeed a big farmhouse set deep within a farms/industrial area. Sufficiently far from the industrial area to be a healthy green place, but not too far from the main road. The people there were very helpful. They have a daytime manager, a cook and about 10-15 handlers, of which about 6-7 actually live there. The place was big and clean. There were 3 enclosures with dogs in them, the really aggressive ones were isolated. Some of the friendlier dogs were running around outside the pen in the lawn and in and out of the house! It was a lovely lawn, and there was separate sidewalk away from the pens and house, and at a far corner of the lawn for pooping and peeing.
The house inside was clean. There were pens and sleeping areas in the basement, as well as a room on the ground floor with blankets for dogs left open. The handlers seemed very dog loving and the dogs looked happy and frisky.
Overall the visit was a success. All they needed was for us to fill a form and furnish Nero's medical records to ensure all his shots were updated. They even had a pick up and drop service for dogs! We came away convinced that it was an option worth trying out. Since we were only going out for a couple of days...we figured it was a good chance to try the Kennel out without a long disruption in Nero's routine. If it worked out, then we had a place apart from mum's where we could leave him when we went for a long vacation!
So the decision was made and D-day approached. It was a workday, so we realised we couldnt drop him off till evening. But the Kennel owner suggested they pick up Nero earlier in the day as he would find it easier to settle in during daylight than at night-time, and it would give them some time to introduce him to a few friendlier dogs and supervise it. So we decided we would get him picked up, and I would ride along with him; then hubby would come to pick me up in the evening. That way, I would be with him for the ride, the inital settling in and hubby would also get to see how well he was settling in.
With all plans in place, we were completely on track. Except that I was a wreck the night before. I felt like a mother hen whose chick is leaving the nest unsupervised. Would he adjust? Would he miss us? Would he be scared of the new place? Would other dogs terrorise him? Would he get enough to eat? Would he eat? Would he be comfortable? Would he get lonely and depressed? Anxious thoughts kept me up all night, while he slept the sleep of the innocent. Oh my god...what are we doing!!!! Why can't he come with us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Next morning dawned nice and sunny. He was to be picked up in the afternoon. We had no arrangements to make. He was not supposed to bring any of his own stuff. All I had to do was take the form and his medical records. They even brought their own leash! 4pm and the car was here. It was starting....
Nero and I got into the back seat. The car was clean but had an overwhelming doggy smell...and not a nice smell. I felt sick. Nero didnt seem to be doing too good either. First, he wouldn't go with the handler till he saw me walking. Then he wouldnt get in the car till he saw me sit in and call him. Throughout the ride, he sat in a crouched position, his tail lower than low, his shoulders hunched...unable to relax. I sat next to him and stroked him, murmuring encouragingly. His hind legs kept trembling, whether from fear, or simple stress of staying in a crouched position. For the first few minutes his heart was beating really fast, but with my stroking that seemed to calm down. But his hind legs kept trembling all the way. And he panted. A lot. All over me. I had to cover my lap with spare papers to prevent being totally drenched. The papers were a goner by the time we reached the Kennel. It was a pretty harrowing ride, and the car's strong smell did nothing for my stomach or Nero's sense of well being.
When we reached the Kennel, we were immediately surrounded by 3 dogs roaming free, a daschund and a couple of golden retreivers. As Nero jumped off, he stuck close to my legs. The dogs started sniffing him, especially the daschund and Nero turned round and round his tail firmly down within his legs. We reached in a tangle of dogs and 1 human to the porch near the pens where the other dogs in the pens started a tremendous barking. Nero was now doing some doggy butt sniffing of his own, but firmly close to my legs. I asked one of the handlers to give him some water and then throw a ball to play some fetch with him. The 'fetching' instinct won out and within a couple of throws, his tail..if not wagging, at least wasnt stiffly held down either. Over the next few minutes, he sniffed around with the few open dogs, played a bit of fetch, drank a lot of water. He seemed to be getting a little more comfortable. I went inside to finish the formalities. He stayed outside playing with the dogs! It was working!!
Formalities over, I gave them instructions for his food and checked the place he would be sleeping in. Since he wasn't socialised with other dogs yet and was in a new place, they planned to keep him in the ground floor room with another dog. Some of the handlers apparently also slept in the room sometimes. By now it was getting dark and all the dogs were taken inside. I asked one of the handlers to bring a leash and take Nero to the place where he could relieve himself. I decided to come along too so I could encourage him on what he needed to do. Not that he needed much encouragement...a couple of sniffs around and he found a place to do his job. He was taking to this place really well!!
Back to the house, we checked out the place where he would sleep. Though he is used to sleeping in a closed room with us, I wondered if he would stay there on his own without us. So we took him into the room with blankets and closed the door. I reminded them about putting another dog with him, and they put one of the golden retrievers with him. I went out into the office and generally chatted. Hubby was coming in another 15 mins or so. It would be enough time for us to see how he would do. And he did fine! No whimpers or barks. When hubby came, we peeped into the room. Both dogs were near the door. We patted Nero, told him to be a good boy and then left quickly as advised by the staff.
Back home, it felt really weird without him. Very very weird. Next morning, we flew off for our trip. Througout the 3 days we were out, there was a HUUUUGE temptation to keep calling the kennel to check on him. But I hung back. They already had our numbers and would call if there was any problem. Flying back on 23rd, we dumped our bags in the hall, took out the car and went to get him immediately! We didn't call in advance coz we wanted to see how he would be at the Kennel without alerting anyone. Not that it worked much. The gate was locked and we did have to call them to open the gate!
From through the cracks of the gate, we could see a big black dog inside a pen, standing upright as if waiting for something. Turned out later that it was Nero, I guess he had heard the car locking system and was standing alert! As we came in, one of the staff took him behind the house as we had warned them about his tendency to run out of gates. He was happily playing with the handler and didn't even immediately notice us! Then hubby whistled his special whistle and he saw us and came tearing towards us! Awwwww!!
He seemed well adjusted and happy. I was sooo relieved!! We had a chat with the staff about his behavior. They were very positive about him. Apparently he didnt cause any trouble, got along with the other dogs, and got specially attached to Ramesh, one of the handlers, whom apparently he had even followed when he went for his shower! He had slept in the ground floor room, and had had company there of the handler (and prolly some other dogs though they didnt mention it specifically). He seemed perfectly happy to play fetch and went to the designated sidewalk to poop before getting into the car! Gosh it worked! Massive, Massive relief (pun unintended)!!!
Once back, he mostly slept for almost 2 days. The owner had warned us about this. They tend to play a lot and get tired, especially apartment dogs, and Nero was just happy to sleep the tired sleep of the deserving for the next couple of days, before getting back to his usual routine.
Overall, a fun experience for him, a harrowing 3 days for me, a lot of relief in the end and a new door unlocked in Nero's life! :)
