We've been boarding our Rudy here for over a year, but we are going to have to find a new place.
The set-up is good, actually, with individual spaces with indoor and outdoor parts. The facility is clean and well-maintained. The prices are fair as well. Rudy seemed okay except for smelling kind of bad when we get him home too.
Because of this, we bore with the attitude of the kennel owner/ operator, Bernie. He has always had this way of making us feel we are bugging him whenever we talk to him. Mind you, we're not the type to call in to check on our dog constantly while we are away. In fact, we've never done that at all. We have a very well-behaved, low maintenance dog.
The thing we do though is occasionally forget his complex hours of operation. We leave our dog 2-3x/ year so it really is not something we have committed to memory. He also neither have his hours on his card (which we have on the ref constantly nor does he have it on his webpage) At any rate, we always called ahead of time to make reservations or when we end up coming back early and want to claim our dog sooner.
This last time was last week. We back a day early. We called up from the road that morning asking if we could pick Rudy up later that day at around 1 pm. He was all huffy about our proposed time of of pick-up does not work with his hours. We immediately apologized and said it was fine, we will pick him up at 5 pm instead. Mind you, this was not a back and forth conversation where we insisted on the time we wanted. We just said it once, and like any sane person would have done, he could have just reminded us about his hours without the attitude.
Pick up time comes, my husband got there and was then attacked by bad-mood Bernie immediately. He pointed to the 48 hour cancellation notice in the wall and told him he was lucky he is not charging him the extra day. My husband was ready to apologize and pay for the extra day anyway, but Bernie just went on and on about our "mistakes". At any rate, my husband gave him some choice words about his poor attitude as a business owner, paid him in full, IN CASH, like we always do, and took our Rudy home.
At home, I immediately noted how emaciated our dog looked. Sure enough, he went down from his usual vet recommended weight of 17 lbs to a little less than 15 - in 10 days! He has lost a lot of chest and leg muscles and was shivering even in our warm house. It has been horribly cold the past week, I am willing to bet that the heat was not turned on so that Rudy had to shiver away some two lbs to keep warm.
We will never go back to this place EVER! read more
