My dogs acted like they didnt know me after collecting from kennels

pulliptears

There are those on here who say dogs don't sulk, but on collecting mine from the kennels Jack will be invariably nutty for half an hour because I'm back, Bob is always aloof. He will walk in the house and pee on the kitchen floor, even if the doors are wide open, whilst staring at me with a look that simply says "You left me you cow!!". Takes him a good few hours (and a few treats) before he'll have anything to do with any of us!

westy22

My daughter is much the same whenever I pick her up from boarding school!

krlyr

If it was at a distance then maybe they just didn't recognise you. With the cold weather, were you wearing a jumper or coat they might not recognise that well? I imagine scent doesn't travel so well in colder air too - dogs rely on smell more than sight. They've been dropped off at a strange place seeing many people who are new to them so they didn't automatically assume it was you - but were very excited when they realised it was, I would take that as a compliment rather than feel upset!

dizziblonde

Leaving the cat when we go away is worth at least a good couple of hours of feline sulks when we return - going rate seems to be an hour's grovelling required per day of holiday.

The dogs... clocked us as the car pulled up and were going utterly ballistic - till they got let out of the kennel, at which point they couldn't have given a stuff again!

Someone also told me some dogs don't generalise well at all - so it's you, but it's you in a place that smells and sounds different with loads going on... so is it really you? Could explain the 10 second wait.

pawsies

I prefer pet sitters, give more attention and the dog actually does something all day and is generally less stressed as he's still in a home environment.

I've always vowed to never go near kennels. I've worked in them before, the dogs get little attention and sometimes not walked (both ones I worked in they never got walked) so had no sort of fun

Pet sitters are the same price so to me it's a no brainer

elsien

pawsies wrote: »

Pet sitters are the same price so to me it's a no brainer

If only that were true!
I agree that pet sitters are a better option and give more individual care but in our area the petsitter costs are also a heck of a sight more. Kennels can start from £8 a day, my petsitter is £20 a day.

pulliptears

pawsies wrote: »

I prefer pet sitters, give more attention and the dog actually does something all day and is generally less stressed as he's still in a home environment.

I've always vowed to never go near kennels. I've worked in them before, the dogs get little attention and sometimes not walked (both ones I worked in they never got walked) so had no sort of fun

Pet sitters are the same price so to me it's a no brainer

I guess it depends on the kennels. Moot point for me now really as Jack can never be left as I wouldnt trust anyone else with all his pills etc, but the old man that runs the kennels we have always used is a fabulous man. I'd trust him implicitly with them and they always come back healthy and happy (In Jack's case he always came back a bit fatter from all the treats!!).

pawsies

elsien wrote: »

If only that were true!
I agree that pet sitters are a better option and give more individual care but in our area the petsitter costs are also a heck of a sight more. Kennels can start from £8 a day, my petsitter is £20 a day.

Must be area specific as around my area it's £11-12 for both.

pawsies

pulliptears wrote: »

I guess it depends on the kennels. Moot point for me now really as Jack can never be left as I wouldnt trust anyone else with all his pills etc, but the old man that runs the kennels we have always used is a fabulous man. I'd trust him implicitly with them and they always come back healthy and happy (In Jack's case he always came back a bit fatter from all the treats!!).

I realise that the ones I worked in were money grabbing thieves! lol. But the attitudes of the kennel owners were appalling. Owners would bring food/toys etc to make the dogs happier and they'd get totally ignored, put to one side and fed on something we had.

I tried playing with some of the dogs in an exercise area we had designated for them but there was no toys around at all so had to compromise and buy a tennis ball launcher for the dogs.
Next week it went missing...hrm.

eamon

Cats are grand masters at sulking and aloofness, dogs are amateurs.