If she belongs to any type of association of boarding kennels lodge a complaint with them. I work at a boarding kennel and if the owner has any special considerations for the dog it's written on their service card which is right on a dog's kennel so everybody sees it, signs off on food etc. Training a dog is not acceptable except in a group playtime where a dog is being taught that things like mounting or growling are not acceptable(safety issues). A dog in individual playtimes is pretty much allowed to do whatever they want unless the owner specifies no jumping on people or something like that. If a dog is pulling too hard for it to be safe I put the slip lead right up behind their ears, only give them about 3 inches of slack, and lock my hands beside my hips. That's the only thing that could really be considered training.

What was the name of this kennel?

I'd have her job. She'd be looking for work next week.

I'm with Jennifer on kenneling my animal.

Love me.........Love my dog.......Or forget it.
Randy

I know of a woman who had a legit complaint about her vet. She went online to sites like this and let rip with her story:

http://www.complaints.com/
http://www.yelp.com/charleston-sc

She also recounted her story wherever she could find a place to review the hospital.

The great thing is when you Google the name of this hospital all you see is her story...over and over again.

I'm so sorry about your dog, give it time, hopefully she'll get back to her old self with a little prompting. I'm with Randy, I'd raise holy hell and demand my money back at the very least and demand that person's job at the max.
I'd also sit down with the manager/owner of that place and explain what the damages are and how much work it takes to correct these damages so it NEVER happens again to anyone else. Depending on the manager's reaction go from there.

This woman is the daughter of the owner. Best I can hope for is for them to lose business.
I have never left my girl with ANYONE for this reason, the only reason I did this time is because I was confident it would be fine. If I had any red flags or hesitations, I would not have left my dog. I have no problems hurting someone's feelings on this - if I don't feel comfortable, I either make arrangements to take my dog with me, or I don't go. I did get my money refunded today, and I am very happy to report that during the day my dog seemed to get a little more bounce in her step. At dinner she was a bit playful (grabbed my sleeve while I was fixing dinner for her lol) so it seems that she is starting to come back. I'll update as we make progress ;-)

Cameron, if she doesn't or has a set back or you want her to feel more comfortable go back to a flirt pole or rag. The conflict is with the human aspect (being corrected for going for her prey item), not the prey item itself. Remove the human farther away and re-ignite the interest and fire and comfort with the prey item. Just my 2 cents for what its worth.

You'll bring her back, she's your girl and your her human.

I used a towel rolled up earlier (I stole it from my roommate, actually... shhhh!) that really got her interest going. She's been pretty "clingy" all day with me, and the only time that she really ducks down is when I was holding the ball earlier. Brought out a stuffed toy, she was interested even when I was holding it. The towel after dinner got her going pretty good, and she is asleep on my foot at the moment. Doing pretty well so far. ;-)

Cameron,

I don't blame you for being furious!! However; on a positive note, it is not at all unusual for a dog to be lethargic and non responsive for a couple of days after being kenneled. I wouldn't automatically assume she has permanently lost her drive.

I write what I say next, knowing it is MUCH easier said than done: LET IT GO!

I am surmising from your post that you have a dog who is sensitive to your emotions and whether or not you are pleased and she strives to make you happy.

Consider this as a possible scenario. She had a bad experience with someone she is not bonded with (stress), she is in a strange place surrounded by the smells of strange dogs (stress) and she is away from you (stress), She comes home and she collapses with exhaustion and isn't interested in anything but sleep and recharging (normal response). You initiate play she is not up for it. You become worried and after speaking to the kennel you become panicked, frustrated and angry. She reads you like a book but can only decipher the emotion not the reason for it. You attempt to work with her again and when she is not immediately responsive your feelings of anger come back and she starts to behave submissively, working instinctually to try to please you. Of course I know as does everyone here that you are not angry with her...but she doesn't know that. My thought is; the chance she is feeding off of you is at least equal to the chance that she has lost her drive due to poor handling.

In either situation get rid of your emotions and assumptions about what might or might not be going on with her. The here and now is what is important. Make every day as routine as ever, initiate play and if she responds positively play for a minute or less and put her toy away, baby steps, to build back her drive by leaving her wanting more. If she doesn't want to play put her toy away and ignore her no affection or coddling. No emotion either just behave in a neutral manner. Do not initiate contact with her again until you would on any other day.

Walk her, groom her and do obedience with her and correct as you would for non compliance. Cameron you've put too much work in with her for it to be gone overnight. Don't beat yourself up over it. She takes her cues from you so the sooner you let it go; the sooner she can too. Goodluck and keep us posted.

I just read some posts written while I was raiding the fridge. She is going to be fine! Also, if you have to leave her again, do you like and trust your vet and does your dog. In an emergency when my dog has needed to be boarded that has worked well for us. It is not very glamorous but the care has been great with no side effects.


Edited by Sheila Buckley (05/13/2008 10:52 PM)
Edit reason: To Update

 Quote: sheila buckley

Cameron,

I don't blame you for being furious!! However; on a positive note, it is not at all unusual for a dog to be lethargic and non responsive for a couple of days after being kenneled. I wouldn't automatically assume she has permanently lost her drive.

The woman told me in person today when I demanded to see the videos they have of the kennels that she "trained" my dog out of an "aggression/resource guarding" "ISSUE"
I am well aware that dogs are perceptive to emotion, and (despite my posts ;-) ) I haven't been storming around the house lol. Since you don't really know a lot about me, I appreciate the advice for sure ;-) But I work as a dog trainer, and I always go out of my way to clear my own stresses before working with the dogs. If I am stressed, I put the dogs up and do something to calm down so it doesn't filter down leash. I work almost exclusively with aggressive and handler aggressive dogs, so I have learned ways to put my stuff aside when I have the leash. It is a necessity to keep my focus. AND I picked her up yesterday. She had the whole day off yesterday, and she was reserved, but not overly. The thing to understand is that this is a high throttle dog. Pick up a ball and she will sell her doggy soul. To get no response after she had a full 24 hour break was odd. I wasn't expecting her to be at 100% but for her to cower was the biggest clue that something had happened to her. I put her away and that was when I started my phone calls. My first thought was she was sick. It is VERY out of character for her. To then have this woman describing to me how she punished my dog for staring at the ball by forcing her into a down and yelling "NO" every time she looked at the ball left me little room for why my dog is afraid to engage into drive and engage the ball. I don't think it is permanately gone, for sure. I do think that this event will have an impact. I just don't know how long or how big. Oh, and since I mentioned it earlier, this woman also told me how she involved her kids in the "training" by having THEM hold a ball and correcting my dog (with a GENTLE LEADER no less!) for staring or reaching for the ball. One of her kids also was the one who walked my dog (even though I paid for a private exercise pen so she was handled as minimally as possible) The woman did this because she felt my dog needed more socialization. All in all, there were many things that were done that had NO business being done. I haven't decided what I (if anythign) will do about this other than the refund that I got today.

Edited by Cameron Feathers (05/13/2008 11:08 PM)
Edit reason: spelling