11-13-2019, 10:03 PM
(11-13-2019, 05:07 PM)Catherine Wrote: What a weekend. You must be exhausted. It was your worst nightmare times two. Your dog got injured by a boarder and then the boarder turned out to be seriously ill. Boarding can be a scary business.
I am glad that you were fast enough to keep Graham from worse injuries. I wonder if Dolly had a history of aggression that they didn't warn you about. She did get in a fight with Jazz too. I hope Graham makes a full recovery.
That was strange about Dolly having something similar to Mia. It is not a common condition is it? Of course you recognized there was a problem because you are in tune with animals and you have seen it before. Dolly was sick when she came to you. She might not have been diagnosed if it hadn't been you caring for her. Maybe you saved her life.
We know now that when people say they had a bad experience with a sitter there could be another side to the story. Their dog attacked your dog and their dog was not in good health when she came to you. Those two things were not your fault and you handled them very well.
I hope the rest of your week, the rest of the month and the rest of the year go well for you.
I hope both dogs recover well. Try and relax. You deserve a rest after all that.
Dolly had been attacked when she was younger and since then she has been different. She's actually originally from Thailand. Owners found her as a puppy in a trash can. During the meet and greets she did fine. She would bark at the dogs if they got a little too rowdy and she would pin them but there was no biting. It's pretty typical play behavior what I saw. The last meet and greet was a week before the stay. They brought the dogs over and left the dogs for an hour. I spent half inside and half outside. However Friday when she went for Jazz it was completely different. She had totally changed. The vet said she had an infection causing the throbocytopenia, which is a fancy way to say internal bleeding. When I dropped the dogs off the wife's mom hugged me because she was so thankful and apologetic.
We are taking a boarding break until Graham heals. We are also looking into buying a house. I found one in Kentucky south of Bowling Green that has 35 acres that's on our price range. It would give us tons of room to build a "kennel". I use quotes because I don't want a traditional kennel.
I'm not mad or upset about the situation. It's more a learning experience. I'm just glad I was there and able to stop it. I never allow the boarding dogs to be left alone for this very reason. Even if I step outside for a second or go to the bathroom I crate them or have my husband watch them. We have dog gates as well. Dogs are not themselves in new environments. They can be nervous and on edge causing stress. Most dogs aren't used to being around this many different dogs so I allow for timeouts as well to lessen the stress. Everyone needs a break now and then. I encourage multiple meet and greets as well to allow the visiting dogs to get used to my house, smells, and me.
