[mariab60]

Hi all -- I have been browsing this wonderful forum for the last weeks now before and since Emily got home. Tips you all provided have been very very valuable and I always look forward to all new posts and comments. Emily is my first puppy since I was a teenager (long long time ago ) and she has been a delight to have around (including extra pounds I lost with all the housebreaking). My question is the following: I will spend the Christmas holiday with my family in Brazil (13 days) and I was wondering what the best option is fo Emily:

(1) take her with me -- 10 hour flight!!! but she will be with me and very well cared for
(2) leave her in a kennel/camp -- she will be almost 5 months old, but I hate to think about her locked up for longer period of times in small spaces even with 3 walks a day....

Any suggestions/comments from experienced doodle owners are appreciated. Also does any one know nice camps/kennels in CT/NY area?


First time doodle owner

 

[Raleighsmom]

Welcome to the forum Maria and Emily!!! bondoso! This is a hard question to answer...a 10 hr.flight is going to be tough on little Emily, but so is a 13 day separation from you! Do you have any friends or family in the area that you trust that could house-sit for you while you're gone? I know there are a lot of pet-sitting business's that are bonded and will go into your home and walk and feed her 3 times a day..that way she's in her own environment...not sure what they charge, and we've never used them...any good neighbors you can trust that might be willing to walk her and play with her? We too are planning to travel to Brazil next summer to visit friends and will have the same dilemma...only with two dogs. :shock: :shock: (hence the 'bondoso'...I'm trying my best to learn Portugese before we go..hahaha)...anyway, if what I just mentioned doesn't work out, then I guess I would lean toward leaving her at a daycare/camp if you can find one...Good luck!! And remember..it's harder on us than it is on them!!!! :wink: And keep us posted!

 

[sandy]

Welcome to the forum, Maria and Emily!

If you decide to take Emily with you to Brazil there are certain rules and regulations you must follow. First you need to know what the Brazilian government requires before bringing a dog into the country. Then, you must know what the rules are here in the United States for entry back into the USA! You don't want to end up with Emily quarantined somewhere because she didn't have some vaccination or because you didn't have the proper paperwork!

Good luck with your decision, whether Emily goes to Brazil with you or not.

 

[MaxandMe]

HI...i'd say its a tough decision in one way but thik of Health requirements, laws, being on a 10hour flight along with travel time etc

leaving her boarded at a kennel or a friend/family or even the vets may be a better option?

 

[mariab60]

Kathie, I see you are also in CT... What are you going to do in Brazil? Where are you going? Portuguese is not that bad, close to spanish or french if you speak any of these languages.

Requirements to Brazil are not too bad. Need a vet certificate that all is in order all vaccines are up to date. I am leaning towards leaving her here, but need to find somewhere where where she will receive attention and have lots of play time... I heard there are services where people will actually stay at home, but I am not quite sure. She will be only 5 months old!!!

Thanks for the comments, I will see what is available around here..

Annmarie your housebreaking blog (parts 1 and 2) have been a real inspiration!!!

 

[Raleighsmom]

Maria, I just pm's you....go to the top of this forum and you'll see 'You have 1 message' and click that on for a long winded explanation!!! hahahahaha

 

[DebBrown]

My vote is to leave her home. I don't like the idea of shipping a dog if you can help it. It can be traumatic and things can go wrong - flight delays, etc.

Hopefully, you'll find someone to keep her at your or their house. Ask your friends, neighbors, dog owners you meet on walks. It's possible that someone you know does in-home boarding or has a recommendation.

I personally would not want to kennel a puppy and most kennels in our area don't want to take young puppies.

Good luck! It's good that your starting your search now.

Deb

 

[zemily]

hey
tough decision. i live in connecticut and we bring out dog guinness to candle wick kennel in glasonbury. it is a very nice kenel and they can get walks daily. we have found that this kenel has worked out more for us and guinness then any other kenel that we have used. here is the link if you want to check it out http://www.candlewickkennels.com/. i recomend it! let us know what you decide.

 

[lmtoth2]

Hi

We are going on vacation next month and are taking Dex and Kirby to Camp Bow Wow (national chain) for 7 days. Maybe there is one near you? I agree it's a tough decision, but I don't think I would take the puppy - I would either find a boarding place or a friend to watch her.

 

[jumpinjacuzzijoe]

I would leave Emily at home. Staying in a kennel will be good for her socialization.

 

[blueteal]

Welcome to Doodleland
That is a very tough question, but if you can stand to be
away from her then I would go with the kennel or a babysitter
as suggested...........

 

[Guest]

Hi Maria and Emily:
I have boarded Maya at the vet's and I felt bad as she is in a kennel most of the time. They are opening a new kennel here in Wilmington that has daycare during the day and then they sleep in thier own kennel at night. It's just like camp Bow Wow. I would see if there is a Camp Bow Wow by you. Maya loves going to daycare there and she is so tired after playing all day she could care less where she slept. Plus Camp Bow Wow has webcams so you could possibly check in on her too!!!

 

[mariab60]

Thanks very much for all the suggestions. I will check the options in my area. I do feel very sorry for her in a flight for 10+ hous plus all the wait at the airport. She had to go through this once already when she came to me all the way from Oregon...

I will post pictures as soon as I figure out how.

 

[Guest]

Hi Maria,
I checked camp BowWow for you, they are opening one right near you, but are still trying to locate the exact spot. I agree that this type of kennel would be the best way to go, or having someone you trust actually living in your home and taking care of your puppy. Traditional kennels keep the dog in his fenced kennel and they are walked or played with a few times a day. I did this with Bella at an exclusive pet resort and she came home very stressed. I realize now that with how social she is, that it was probably pure torture to hear and smell the other dogs all day and NEVER get a chance to play WITH them. (Play time was one on one with an attendant for "safety reasons.') We tried PetSmart and placed her in doggie daycare every day for her stay. She loved it! It was a little extra for day care daily, but well worth it. I am going to try camp BowWow next time and see how that goes. (At petSmart they never take the dogs outside, again for safety reasons...this was the only thing I did not like. The dogs are taken to a special room to go potty.)
So, finding a home petsitter to stay IN your home, or finding a daycare kennel would be my two choices. Good Luck, there does not seem to be many choices yet in CT...where are you flying out of?

 

[annabelles mom]

Hi and Welcome !!

Either way is going to be hard on Emily - being couped up in a kennel on a plane by herself, waiting in airports - I'd be petrified she would get lost or miss a flight - too much risk for me. Then you take her to a strange home, with lots of excitement going on for the holidays, then repeat to go back home

For me, as much as I"d miss my sweet girl, I do think I would be finding someone to take care of her or a good kennel to take her too.

Good luck on your decision

 

[mariab60]

Maybe what I do is drive her to New Jersey. There seems to be Camp Bow Wow about 40 miles from here in Midland Park and Elmwood Park. TAnybody used these camps? There also seems to be a PetSmart Hotel in NY. I also found something in Norwalk called PetGoneSmart. where dogs only stay crated in the eve. I will visit that this week to see how it looks like.

I will keep you posted on how search goes... Thanks again for all the suggestions

 

[Sheila]

Hi Maria,

We are facing the same issue, although we are not traveling as far as you. We're going to Chicago for a week at Christmas, and our pup Pixie will be 5 months. I looked into taking her with us, but she's too big now to fit under the seat, and anyway it would be stressful on all of us to be dragging her around in Chicago. I am looking into kennels here in NYC now. There is one near us in Tribeca called The Paw Stop. I am in there a lot to pick up food/supplies. They do overnight boarding and doggy day care. There are two large rooms for the dogs, one for smaller dogs and one for larger dogs, and they spend the day together in that room. You pay $2 extra per walk, if you want an employee to walk your dog. There are individual kennels they stay in at night. It's very clean there, the people are all very friendly adn seem to love the dogs. They have webcams, too.

I have two reservations - one is that nobody stays there overnight with the dogs. I don't know if that's common, but it makes me a little nervous; what if a dog was sick? The other is that on weekends, they are in their crates for 12 hours overnight. There's no way Pixie could make it that long. I'm sure they would wash her off if she peed or pooped in her crate, but I'm still not crazy about it.

I've heard about a couple of others places not far away and will check into them. I don't know if you want to bring your pup into the city for boarding, but if you do, I'll post what I find out.

 

[River Rat]

We had the same dilemma with Chouette: we got her in mid-June when she was ten weeks old, but already had made plans to go to France for two and a half weeks at the end of September/beginning of October. I too didn't want to leave her at a vet's, or any place where she'd be kenneled all the time. Luckily our neighbor told us about her husband's receptionist, who dogsits in her home. She has two other dogs of her own in the house and does work during the day, but her husband is in and out all the time so they're not crated for long periods, and they get plenty of time to play. Except that Chouette came home with a very smelly ear I was really pleased with her. Chou was very happy to see us but seemed just fine and I could see how comfortable she was there. And she only charged $10 a day!

In fact, I told my vet's office about her because I know she'd like more "customers."

If you could find something like that for Emily it would be perfect.

On the other hand I have an artist friend in New Hampshire who goes to France a lot and usually takes her standard poodle with her. She says Bisous does fine with it, but I do wonder. I've thought of taking Chou with us if we go next year but seven hours is a long time, too.

Leslie

 

[mariab60]

I thought about taking her to the city, but wanted to try to find something with more space. I would be concerned if there was nobody there overnight or for Emily to stay 12 hrs straight in a kennel. She was fairly stressed last time she came from the vet even though she loves the staff over there (nowhere to spend all that energy ). I am doing some research and found a place in NJ (http://www.morrisanimalinn.com/puppy_steps.asp) which looks interesting. A bit far away, but I might take the drive. There is another one in Westchester County which sounds nice too (http://www.caninekindergarten.com/sleepovers.htm(.

Leslie, problem with flights is that most airlines require you to bring puppy in 4 hrs before flight, which adds even more time to whole thing. I might do it once she grows up a bit. My cousin took her Lab to Brazil and after the trip she never wanted to go into her crate again...

 

[River Rat]

When Chouette was shipped to us from Denver there was no need to bring her to the airport that far ahead; we used Continental to get her here. And Bisous seems to be fine with the flights; every dog is different. Who knows how an individual will react!

I still think leaving her here is the best plan if you can find a place you're comfortable with. What fun to be going to Brazil!

Leslie