your views on Boarding kennels?

Hello we have a 2 and a half year old German pointer and a 4 month old Japanese Shiba inu.
The problem is my mum and dad are going away in January for a month to visit relatives in Australia, and there will be no-one to look after the dogs. (as I leave for australia for 3 months at the end of Nov).
My parents wants to put them in kennels but I really do believe it will have a bad effect on Meg, the gsp as shes very emotional and doesn't like not being around us. A month will be too long. A lady we know mentioned a few weeks ago that she might look after her (experienced gsp owner), but I haven't seen her recently. I think in the end my parents will just put them kennels. (they do love are dogs very much, andwill try and put them in a home environment before hand). A couple of weeks ago I see an ad for a company which puts your dogs with other people, in home environments, Does any one have any info about them? I can't remember the website
does anyone put there dogs in kennels? how do they cope?
I'm worried for the dogs!

I've never used kennels as I worry about it too so I'm interested to see the replies here... I've never heard of the home environment thing before but I'm not sure I'd like to leave my boys with strangers... i worry too much!!

I work in a kennels, and we show all owners round, answer their questions, and try to reassure them on their worries.

The best thing to do is visit some kennels, tell them your worries, and go from there

thanks Yorkie and Hevvur. Also I've just found the website of the company is is here
http://www.barkingmad.uk.com/ what does everyone think about it

I just had a quick look at the site and I think it comes across really well. I reckon that if I did it I would want to view the host families home first though... Is it expensive?? Couldn't find anywhere with prices on...

I felt the same about putting Tyson in kennels for 2 weeks while we went to Portugal. He was 4 months old at the time. I looked around loads of kennels until i found one that i was happy with. Then i took tyson out for a few visits so that he could have a look around. I still felt very worried about leaving him so OH had to drop him off. I even phoned them from Portugal to check how he was doing. Well......when we got home, OH went straight out to the kennels to collect him. He had changed completely!!! Was acting like a different dog! He smelt very bad and was just not himself. He was completely housetrained before we left him and when we got him back he started coming in from playing outside, to do a wee in his bed!! We had to start from scratch with the toilet training. It only took a few days to sort out, but i was amazed at how quickly he had changed!!! I had gone to so much trouble to check out the kennels beforehand. I even typed up a VERY detailled care sheet for him. I dont think he was treated badly.....but it definatley changed him. (he was back to normal within a week or 2) The whole experience has put me off sending him to kennels in the future (although it was our only option at that time). I dont think all dogs will react this way.....but i thought i would share my story just so you know what can happen in such a short time.

I did put Tam & Jas in kennels once. They were only there for a day and over night and they loved it. We collected them on our way home and they were out in the fields having a run about and were absolutely covered head to toe in mud but they were happy.

They had been treated very well and everyone at the kennels had fallen in love with them.

I used to work in Boarding Kennels so this is an opinion from seeing different dogs and different reactions. Firstly, the dog in boarding kennels cant possibly get the same attention and care that they are used to. Staff are very busy looking after many dogs and cats so dont always have the time for fun and loving. I'm not saying that they dont get attention but definitely lesss than home life.This lack of attention can have detrimental effects on some dogs while others seem to just take it in their stride. I have seen laid back, easy dogs change because of the stress of kennel life and listening to lots of dogs barking etc. I have also seen nervous, unsettled dogs become more open and friendly due to being socialized around other dogs and different poeple.
I would suggest looking around for a highly reputable boarding kennels and trying the dog there maybe for a couple of days at a time to see how he gets on. It might be good to see how the dog reacts to the situation and will also give him the chance to get used to the surroundings and noises before you decide whether its the right thing for the dog.
I am not in any way saying that boarding your dog is a bad thing but it is definitely something you need to think through thoroughly first.

I have worked in several boarding kennels now, and my parents/grandparents did used to run one (I asked them about it too) Basically, our toughts are that some are good some are bad, you need ot do some real scouting around. I wouldn't leave my dog in a boarding kennel having seen some of what I've seen - however, I did work in some fairly pap places. I am convinced there are good ones out there but you need to be very careful.

Perhaps, I have found, small home based family run kennels are a lot nicer and more personal.

hth
xx

Thanks everyone for the replies,
looks like my mum is just going to put them in kennels though.
she said the dogs arent mine to worry about and that she wants to go on holiday and they are going in kennels. thats the end of it. she said it doesnt concern me