This was the second time I used their services. The first time, it seemed mostly successful, except for the time I happened to watch and saw my dog pee on her bed. I called, they explained it had been raining all day and they closed all the gates to the personal patios, promised to keep the gate open for her at my request, and they cleaned her kennel. Their explanation seemed reasonable, so I accepted it. Fast forward 2 months later and I made arrangements for an overnight. When dropping her off I remembered what happened previously and requested that her gate be left open, so she could go out to her patio and pee whenever. She's getting up there in age. They said no, but said they could open her door to her patio twice in the night. I asked if I could speak to the owner, hoping to explain and get an exception. They said sorry, they couldn't give her number out. And this seemed the end of it. I did request they not feed her the extra meal I brought, (one of the attendants had already spirited it away) because I didn't want to set her up for failure. She was just to have a little bit of water.
When I picked her up this morning she was trembling. They put her bed in the car. Told me it was wet. And gave me back the empty food container. My girl wouldn't look at me. She wasn't her normal self. She was occupying a much smaller space than she usually does. And she wouldn't stop trembling. I have not seen her like this since the day I rescued her 10 year ago, when she was skin and bones, no hair, with open sores on her legs.
I called and their kennel master came out to speak with me. I asked if it was cold in the kennel as a possible reason for her trembling and he said that it wasn't cold in there and that she wasn't trembling from cold. I was trying to find a non-ugly reason for her trembling. I didn't want to automatically think abuse. Perhaps it was medical. I told him, that this didn't happen before when I boarded her there. That if it had, I wouldn't have used them again. The kennel master promised to look at the footage, but said I wasn't allowed to see it. I pointed out the problematic nature of this, but accepted it and we went home. When I got home, I made an appointment with the vet. I wondered if my girl had a UTI. They did say she peed a little on her bed. And I was worried about how she was behaving. It took her about 1/2 hour at home to decompress. But she was okay, I thought.
Two hours later I loaded her up in the car to go to the vet and she started trembling again! This is not normal for her. She is usually curious, wanting all the sights and smells and not fearful. Even when I've had to take her to the vet's before when she's been ill. She's never trembled. I cracked the window, trying to distract her with the smells as I do. As soon as we went in another direction (not towards the dog kennel) she started to calm down...
The vet did a workup. Results are pending. They were sweet with her; she was relaxed. We discussed the trembling, and I asked if that meant anything. Dr. Z at MSAH said, not necessarily. He said he would only nix the kennel if it happened again and again. Ok.
We go home. I then see that I had a call from Canine Connection. I returned the call and spoke with the kennel master again. He was rude, rude, rude. He said he looked at the footage and didn't see anything other than my dog sleeping on the floor, and his overnight person spending too much time looking after my dog. (I never thought they would tell me the truth, even if there had been mistreatment.) He was irate that I voiced reasonable questions. He then accused me of all kinds of horrible, untrue things. He used my concerns the previous day against me. Suggested I was trying to make something happen. Claimed I asked to speak to the owner twice. (I only remember asking the day before. But okay.) I suppose he was afraid of a lawsuit. My family is not litigious. He even tried twisting the things I spoke with him earlier in the day saying why I would suggest it was cold and then want the gate open at night. I explained my logic. He then said that he had 12 years in the industry and said that Canine Connection would not be doing business with me anymore. His voice trembled and cracked. I felt sorry for him. But, I am responsible for and love my four-legged family member and cannot let natural sympathy erase what I'm seeing.
My girl hasn't behaved like this since the day I rescued her. Terrified. I don't know what happened. I only hope there is some not-horrible reason. I'm still waiting on results from the vets.
Take this as you will. Needless to say, even if I were allowed, I would not use Canine Connection again. How could I in good conscience? They have great ratings. It's one of the reasons I picked them. But, the only thing I think of now when I think of them, is how they gave my girl back to me. Terrified. read more