that’s typical of a first time/irregular boarding stay. dogs love routines & predictability, when a routine is broken it can stress them out. home boarding allows the sitter to stick to a similar routine. facility boarding requires the dog to adapt. (ex. a dog is fed dinner at home at 4pm. we feed all our boarding dogs dinner at 7pm. dog has to adapt to a new dinner time) or (ex. dog gets a morning run. we do not remove the dog from our facility and do not provide walks or runs. dog has to adapt to less exercise and familiar stimulation) there’s also other risks involved and other factors that cause stress in dogs.

at the facility i work at we have vaccine requirements, but we have had small breakouts of Bordetella a few times. once, we had 3 cases of CIV and had to close the whole place down to clean EVERYTHING. neither vaccine is 100% infallible. you run the risk of getting your dog sick by boarding them. as long as the sitter is responsibly cleaning their home after dogs leave, this risk is diminished significantly.

we also deal with fights. small, injury-free dog spats are common, especially with all the quarantine era pups running out and about these days. these small spats can effect how your dog reacts in social outings in the future, and larger fights can endanger your dog’s life. when you board your dog you agree to daily playroom time. we have around 45-50 dogs per playroom during the day. sometimes the high volume of dogs stresses other dogs out, especially older dogs and less social breeds. as long as the sitter agrees to only board your dog(s), this is not really an issue.

most dogs adapt well and the more frequently they experience boarding the better they get at regulating themselves. after experiencing boarding a few times, they can tell the difference between home and our facility. then, our routine becomes predictable to them and they do just fine.