Daily grooming unreasonable for boarding kennels?

Just had an unpleasant experience with a boarding kennels I've been using for years.

I don't often put Esau in kennels but we were visiting a friend who is allergic to him. He has usually just had a clip or puppy cut before going in, but this time he was in full coat. I asked the kennels to give him a daily brush through with a pin brush, and they didn't make any comment so I assumed this was fine.

We picked him up 9 days later, and noticed immediately he was matted. My groomer saw him the following day and said that he'd been bathed whilst matted the day before we collected him, and as a result, the mats had felted and he'd have to be shaved. I was upset but things got worse when they discovered his skin was starting to look sore in places as they took of the hair.

I emailed the kennels and told them what had happened; their reply was to say they didn't include daily grooming as part of the basic boarding fee, that they didn't know of any boarding kennels that did, that they had 75 other dogs to care for and it was impossible to groom all of them every day. Finally they said they found it 'difficult to understand' how he'd got so matted in 9 days.

I am so angry with them - the fact they either didn't notice how bad he was, or did notice but ignored it, has distressed me, but the inference I'm exaggerating how bad he was has infuriated me!

So . . Am I being unreasonable in believing a daily brush whilst in boarding kennels should be a basic daily necessity of care, especially for double-coated/long coated breeds?

if they couldn't do what you asked of them they should have told you immediately, if they couldn't do what you asked of them included in their fee they should have pointed that out and told you the extra cost would be xxx pounds
i don't blame you for being upset, i would be furious.

Thanks Griff, this is what I think, too.
We would have happily paid extra if we'd known, but we didn't - they never mentioned it might be any kind of issue at all.

My husband says they know they are culpable so they are blustering.

Kennels should hand back a dog at least in the same condition it was brought in as. That should be standard practise . To me as ex Kennel owner it looks like neglect.Not having time is no excuse they should have sufficient staff to look after the dogs. One of the staff should also be able to groom a dog at the very least.
Your best course of action is to put your complaint about the kennels to the local environmental health officer who issues their license. you should say the boarding date how the dog was presented to the kennels and how it was returned ,with photos if possible and in extreme cases a vet report as well.

They are required to investigate and report back to you. So many times did we have clients saying they would never go back to xyz kennels because****, but when asked if they had complained to the licensing officer they had not so nothing was ever done to put the situation right. They complain to friends -relatives-other dog owners etc etc but never to the person who can do something about it

Coats can matt a lot in 9 days, but an a little concerned your groomer thought they warranted a full shave, I would have thought with a matt spliter (or similar) and patience, you would have gotten them out, same with the reddening of the skin, those sort of matts would take longer than a 9 days to start irritating the skin, maybe it was the shampoo they used.

I have the same problem, if you dont groom out the coat every day or other day, it will matt, thankfully the kennels I use provide a grooming service (you have to pay for it) but even with them grooming every other day and him only being in for a week, it still took me some intense grooming to get ALL the matts out,

I understand you are angry and the lesson here is to make sure the kennels you use in future do provide this service .

His coat will grow back that`s one good thing though.

If it were me I think I would ask to see their insurance and make them give you some money back.

I don't think that would get me anywhere - it's my word against theirs. They are 'hinting' that Esau was already matted when he went in - which he wasn't, but I can't prove that.

The groomer said the problem was that after 8 days of not brushing, the kennels then bathed him (of their own volition - I wasn't asked if I wanted him bathed, and if I had been, I would have said no, because he was due at the groomers the day after we collected him!). This is what did the real damage - the bath effectively turned the mats into felt, making it impossible for even a mat-splitter to get into them, and starting to pull on Esau's skin.

His skin wasn't raw or red, thank goodness - just pink and starting to look sore where he'd 'worried' at the mats.

I suppose I just never thought for one moment that they wouldn't do it - I'd asked them to, after all; they hadn't said they couldn't, or even that it would incur an extra charge. Nor did I think they'd ignore a dog who was getting into that state - they had our mobile-phone numbers, why didn't they call us?

Ah well . . I'm going to view a different kennels on Saturday; a daily brush is part of the boarding rate (unless you specifically ask for it not to be done, ie, if your dog hates being brushed by strangers).

Hopefully it will be more suitable for Esau's needs.

I understand what you're saying, but its not quite that simple - this kennels is large, well-known locally and has an otherwise excellent reputation. When I rang my vets to ask if there was a kennels they recommended, they immediately gave me this kennel's name! They were quite shocked and I could hear the disbelief in their voice when I told them what had happened

My groomer might possibly be willing to back me up; she does charity-grooms for local rehoming organizations, so its likely she's done reports before - but this would be a much bigger deal than just a report against a single bad owner, and she might not be willing to risk her business reputation.

I don't have proof Esau wasn't matted before he went into kennels and that's going to be my downfall. I KNOW he wasn't, but I can't prove it.

IMO I believe they should have informed you at the time, either it would cost this much extra, or NO with the current amount of pets being boarded, it would be to much of a stretch to promise you that they would be able to comply with you request.

At that time you could have chosen not to board there, or board there and inform them not to bath do to the issue it will cause with the matting.

Good luck with the course of action you chose from here.

In the future I would find another kennel that suits your needs, and get in writing that they will groom daily and any extra cost for this.

Pretty much anything these days needs to be in writing, and even then you catch hell, when they agreement is not honored with taking action.