If you want to keep your dogs healthy...DO NOT use Pierson Creek kennel:…read more
We left our two dogs with Pierson Creek Kennel while we were away on our summer vacation. This was our first visit. We were initially wowed by the communication with the owner, the facility, the protocols - on paper and on the web it looked amazing.
Three days before our scheduled pick up (while we were still far away on vacation) we received a call from the owner stating that they had boarded a dog with kennel cough, our dogs had been exposed, were now showing symptoms and we needed to come pick them up.
This was difficult news to digest on many levels:
1. We dropped off healthy, happy, robust dogs.
2. We were more than 500 miles away - still on vacation. This became a big stress and worry for us.
3. We needed to scramble to find friends and neighbors to go pick up our dogs (folks who don't have dogs, as kennel cough is extremely contagious).
4. We needed to find alternative care until we could make it back home.
5. We needed to consult our vet and seek treatment through phone calls (our dogs were very sick and required two different medications which we just finished 12 days later).
I paid our $1,000.00 kennel bill over the phone with the owner so our neighbor could retrieve our dogs. After 24 hours I contacted the kennel again through email with specific questions about the dog who came in sick, the cleaning protocols, was a vet involved with diagnosing our dogs or the initial infected dog, and I did ask for some reimbursement for our bill - even partial reimbursement to help cover the cost of our new, unexpected vet bill. I was very calm, understanding, gracious, and just needed some answers so I could best update our vet. This is where it fell apart for me:
I was told by the kennel owner that this was stressful for them and they took a financial hit as well (not what I needed to hear at that time). They would not refund us, not even partially. There wasn't any remorse for the situation or putting us out financially, impacting the health of our dogs, or cutting our vacation short.
We have been home now for 12 days. We came home a day early from our vacation to be with our very sick dogs - continuous coughing, spitting up milky phlegm everywhere, lethargic, and both have labored breathing when they try to be active. The kennel has not followed up to check on us, the customer, or the health of our dogs, They have not extended the olive branch - no apology, no refunds, no discount to try to entice us to use them again - nothing to mend this very broken relationeship.
What we did hear, is this is the 3rd time in 30 years they have had to close for kennel cough - that's 10% of the time if I'm correct.
If you want to drop off healthy happy dogs and pick up healthy happy dogs - DO NOT use Pierson Creek kennel. If you want to form a long lasting relationship with the people that are caring for your precious pets - DO NOT use Pierson Creek kennel. If you value customer service and want to work with someone who values you - DO NOT use Pierson Creek kennel.
Shame on Pierson Creek kennel for taking in a coughing dog. And shame on the owner of the sick dog who spoiled this experience for many. You know who you are. YOU should be held liable as well.
