How can I prepare my dog for boarding?

With the summer season in full swing and vacations approaching— you may be wondering how you can prepare your dog for boarding! Or maybe your dog is going to a board and train program and you want to help prepare them. Either way, these tips should help you and your dog feel a little bit better about your time apart from each other.

Now, boarding with us looks very different than boarding at a kennel. So a lot of the information you’ll find here will be based on an “in home” boarding situation. But, I’ll try and weave some tips for those that are using a kennel facility for boarding. And to be clear, some dogs really don’t need much preparation at all. Some dogs are super adaptable and handle transitions well. And other dogs aren’t, and don’t. Most people know their dog, but if you’re not sure if this would be helpful for your dog or how much or which aspect of this could be helpful, let’s talk about it! Send us a message and we can set up a consult with one of our trainers to help you figure out a plan to best support your dogs’ needs in preparing for boarding!

The first thing I would recommend would be finding out where the dog is kept when they’re not “active” and when the person watching them isn’t home. In our program, we utilize crates as a way to keep all the dogs safely managed. When boarding dogs of various sizes, ages, and temperaments— it’s imperative to the safety of the dogs that they are not able to interact while someone isn’t present to monitor and control interactions. So - if your boarding situation is going to be utilizing a crate, do a little crate refresher with your dog if they don’t typically use one at this stage in their life. Start with just asking them to go in, and if thats going well, close the door and leave them in there for short periods while you’re home, and maybe eventually working toward a short crate session when you leave for a quick errand. By familiarizing your dog with the crate, that’s one less unfamiliar thing they’ll experience while boarding, which could lower their stress! If your dog is left unattended in a kennel run, you can simulate this by practicing having them in a small room or a gated off area in the home.

Depending on where you’re boarding, your dog may or may not be offered the opportunity to be off leash. Each of our locations have fenced in yards, and we do allow dogs to be off-leash in our yards. However, until we can reliably recall that dog and we develop trust in them, we keep them on leash in the back yard for your dogs safety. Some dogs have a hard time going to the bathroom on a leash if they’re used to being off-leash in the back yard. So, practice getting your dog to go to the bathroom on a leash! Clip them up, walk outside, walk around the yard with them. Try not to engage with the dog and keep them moving and sniffing. When the dog does eliminate, you can unclip their leash and allow them to roam and explore. You’d be surprised how many dogs struggle with going to the bathroom when in boarding. Or maybe you wouldn’t, if you prefer to use your own bathroom at home as well! But, this can be really helpful for those dogs that are a little more nervous and fearful, and isn’t a bad skill to make sure your dog can do regardless of their temperament and behavior. You never know when your dog may need leash restrictions due to a medical event or something!

Find out from your dogs’ boarding provider what their rules are. This more so applies to dogs being boarded in someone’s home, as most boarding facilities are pretty lenient when it comes to things like jumping, barking, and high excitement. For instance, in our boarding program we don’t allow dogs to blast through thresholds and doorways. And I’d say 90% of the dogs that return to us for boarding are very pushy at doorways. The less familiar the rules are somewhere, the more opportunity for conflict and stress. To minimize this, start reinforcing similar boundaries that your boarding facility may use while your dog is with them. Familiarize your dog with their place command, refresh those door way boundaries, and stop rewarding that jumping!

And finally, grooming! If you have a doodley grooming dog— shave that dog down!!! This is more so for a long term stay, like a 3 week board and train or a long vacation boarding. Getting your dog groomed short prior to a long term stay allows your dogs time to be spent doing things that are more fun than having knots brushed out! It’s much easier to keep your dog clean and easier to inspect for things like ticks and potential injuries with a well maintained coat. So try and schedule your dogs grooming in coordination with your next long term boarding to make your dogs stay less… hairy.

If I was boarding my dog, these are some of the things I’d do to make that easier on him! Depending on your dog, you may need to start this process months before your trip, and other dogs maybe a few weeks is enough time to prepare. If you need help creating a plan to prepare for your dogs’ next long term stay— set up a virtual consult with us and let’s help you and your dog enjoy your next vacation!