Boarding And Beyond — Local services in Aurora

Unfortunately I had to go out of town for a funeral and did not have the appropriate time to research my out of state plans for my chihuahua mix to be boarded. From the beginning Boarding and Beyond was timely in getting back to me with what the proper requirements were for boarding and the steps that I could take to ease my anxiety in boarding my dog so out of the blue. It was easy to schedule a "meet and greet" for my dog which was explained as standard policy. There was a slight hiccup that my first "meet and greet" was 10am and my dog was getting the necessary vaccines at 5pm, but it was easy to reschedule once that was sorted out. I appreciate their attention to detail when it comes to vaccines and making sure the dogs have vaccines. Once at the meet and greet I gave them my concerns. I toured the facility and though it first looked very much like a doggy daycare and not like a boarding facility they made it very clear that I could write down anything I was concerned about on my boarding agreement form and they would address it. It must be such a popular doggy daycare destination because all the huge energetic dogs who walked in looked so happy to be there and the staff rushed to greet their "regulars." I love the labeled hook system with the leashes as well and some of the leashes have a very specific play yard listed too! This is great attention to detail in knowing their clients and their puppy parents. The facilities are huge. I was shown where my puppy would sleep, how they would clean up her potty messes and other puppy potty messes and where she would have a soft start to a playgroup. They showed me their food organization system and warned me ahead of time that any personal items I bring in such as a very specific blanket or snuggie is best left at home, which I completely understand. That didn't mean they wouldn't give her something. The dogs were not outside when I did my tour and even though they were in the kennels for down time the staff still stopped and petted and greeted them and the dogs looked pretty relaxed in their kennels. I explained I wasn't sure about germs, socialization, or even my puppy escaping because she is sneaky and fast and they said it all was common worries they heard before and they had solutions for them. They walked me step by step about what they would do with her anxiety towards big dogs and said she could be in a size appropriate play group to start. They showed me the webcams and ALL PRICES are listed on the board behind the desk. I asked what to do if they run out of room for a spot as I made my decision in case I needed at Plan B and they said that when near holidays they ask for a 100.00 deposit, but I was no where near that time yet having contacted them well before Thanksgiving and Christmas. They said they had plenty of room and that they had enough staff to watch play groups and clean up to 100 dogs or more. That certainly made me feel better. Every staff member who approached us gently introduced themselves to my dog and let her sniff them before they pet and cuddled her. When the day came to drop off my pooch I had my food clearly labeled in a container with the scoop, leash, and some bones from home (since I didn't pay extra for their treats). All of my items were labeled by them too and returned to me. I settled on buying some snuggle time and a staff member told me that was the best part of their day!  I felt completely at ease leaving her there with her belongings labeled with her info and my info in case of an emergency. You put an emergency contact who isn't traveling too. They said call whenever I wanted to get an update. While I was gone the LIVE Webcams were absolutely the coolest part. I loved seeing her play with other dogs. My dog had a blast! I only wonder why all her treats came back with her and were not given to her (oh well). But at the end of it all she was healthy and I loved watching her play with the staff supervising her. They also clean A LOT. You can see them cleaning on the webcams. Thanks for the help during this...

KENNEL COUGH DISASTER

Our puppy developed watery eyes after 2 days of daycare. We took her to the vet who provided a medication that gave short term relief before her symptoms returned. She was diagnosed with allergies and retuned to daycare. She continued to have watery eyes. 1 month later she developed a cough which progressed rapidly throughout the night to the point where she was coughing and vomiting every 15 minutes for approximately 9 hours. We had concern for severe dehydration so we took her to the vet where she was diagnosed with kennel cough.

I called Boarding and Beyond to share this information. I spoke with a very ditzy receptionist who disclosed that they had several known cases that had been in the facility recently. When I asked how many cases they needed before they shared that information with other customers she transferred me to the manager, David. He refused to answer this question and said they cleaned the facility every time a case was reported. He also said that they can’t force an owner to take the dog to the vet, but if the owner chooses to do so and share that information, then they could launch an investigation. If this does not happen, then they have the animal stay out of the facility for 2 weeks or until symptoms subside. Since we took our dog to the vet, we shared her medical records with David. He said there was no information to share with other customers, because the diagnosis was “suspected kennel cough” which was not definitive. He later recanted this statement admitting this was a “nit picky” approach and he would share this information with the owners of the facility. He disclosed that in the 1.5 years he has worked there he has never seen the owners disclose an outbreak or exposure to customers. I asked multiple times to speak directly with the owner, but David refused.

Just to clarify, we are not upset that our puppy got sick. We are upset with how sick she got, and that this could have been avoided. We have since concluded that her watery eyes for 1+ month was due to kennel cough. Allergies are not contagious, so we continued to send her to daycare. Every time she went, she contaminated the facility and exposed other dogs. I know other facilities will share exposures with their clients to protect immunocompromised and puppy/geriatric dogs from developing severe illness. We tried many times to communicate our exposure to help protect other animals, but were met with resistance and hair-splitting verbiage that prevented our message from being shared. We have since reached an amicable resolution with Boarding and Beyond and have gone our separate ways. If you choose to use this facility, just know there will be no communication about illness and outbreaks within the daycare. You will not be informed that your dog has been exposed, and your attempts to protect other dogs from your own dog’s exposure will be actively...

I used to feel great about leaving my dog here. The last three times I’ve come to pick up my dog, no one has any idea where his bedding is. Most recently, none of his bedding was returned to me when I picked him up. The self-proclaimed manager on duty, Kevin, told me it must be in the wash and he’ll call me when he finds it. I left detailed information about his blanket and soft mat for Kevin to follow up on.

Two days later Kevin called me to triumphantly proclaim he had found my dog’s blanket. He had forgotten about the mat and still has no idea where it is. He seemed upset that I didn’t praise him for taking two days to find 50% of two items. Kevin provided suppositional information such as that my dog probably urinated on his bedding, and that’s why it was taken to be washed. My dog hasn’t urinated indoors since I adopted him 4 years ago. This is when I become concerned. My dog has held his urine to the point of freaking out the few unfortunate times I spent way longer away than intended. My dude wouldn’t urinate indoors, let alone on his bedding, unless made to wait an extraordinary amount of time to go to the bathroom. I am now awaiting a call back from the GM.

My take from this call with Kevin and the lack of information available as to anything that happened with my dog during his stay has me hesitant to go back. I got the impression that the dogs are poorly monitored, cared for only intermittently, and any bedding sent with them is shuttled off for use by other dogs. No one could explain to me at what point during his stay my dog lost use of his bedding. We all send our dogs with their bedding for a reason - it is comfortable and safe to them, and it smells familiar.

Additionally, last night I took my dog with me for a drive in the direction of B&B and he started to whine and shake like a leaf in the back seat. He tried to jump into the front seat so I could pet him. My dog’s most recent experience here has not left me optimistic about future experiences. Pending a solidly explanatory conversation with the GM, we’re done with this place. I need to know my dog is well cared for and...