So I picked up marley today and I am disgusted. I posted " I am sad" about not wanting to take her to the kennel. I should have listened to my gut. We were gone from the 1st thru the 6th. I called on the 3rd to see how she was doing and to ease my mind. NO ANSWER! I called all day and finally left a message. NO CALL BACK. I continued to call everyday until this morning when we went to pick her up. We got there at 9:57. They open at 10. The lady opened to door because it was locked and my DH was banging on it. She told us that she would have to charge us $35 for an early pick up if we did not wait 3 more minutes. Are you kidding me!! So we waited of course. When marley saw us she went nuts and barking and jumping. I ran to her cage and thats when I became highly pissed. She was covered in urine and her eyes were all crusty. Her cage smelled like urine and fecal matter and a mess. Her food bowels from home were missing and replaced with big ones for like a lab or another dog of that size. When I got her out of the cage she kept wanting to bolt for the door to leave. Red Flag! I asked where my food bowls were and the lady acted like she didnt know what i was talking about. I had to go look for MY bowls!!
She handed me all the supplies i had left ( urine covered bed and blanket!!! ) all her treats were still there( they had not given her any!!! ) and her food was almost untouched!! I asked her why no one returned my calls and she said that she didnt work that weekend and she would have someone call me about it. I got my baby home and poured 1/2 cup of kibble and she gobbled it all down!! she never did that before! Then to spoil her I cooked a 1/4 size chix breast and she ate all that too!! To top that off she was slurping water down like no tomorrow!! They must have starved my baby!! After she ate all that I thought surely she would puke it up but she didnt. Then the kennel manager called. My DH wanted to talk to the lady but he was so pissed I thought that was a bad idea. I can be more tactful. So I asked my questions and she told me that they are closed on the 3rd to observe the holiday but someone was there to take care of the animals. Yeah so why didn't they call me back I asked. So the lady tells me they were two new people in training and they don't know how to check the messages. I called everyday like every 30 minutes. You mean to tell me they dont know how to answer a phone?... no answer to that one....I said what about saturday and sunday. well we are closed sunday and the same people were working saturday. Good lord, how hard is it to listen to an answering machine.
So anyways.. needless to say I will not be taking any vacations that I can not take my baby with me or find someone who i trust and is responsible enough to watch her. I pay good money for you to take care of my dog and leave her with what are supposed to be professionals and come back to find her in a mess and starving. Now I think the reason they gave her such big food bowls is for the days they were closed that someone "supposedly" came in to take care of the dogs. Makes me think they just threw in some food to last a couple days and said screw it. Sorry for rambling but I can't believe what all my baby might have gone through. She is home and bathed and has a fully tummy now though
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"No man can be condemed for owning a dog. As long as he has a dog, he has a friend;
and the poorer he gets, the better friend he has."