Home boarder versus kennels

[Cocobananas]

I would appreciate some advice/ opinion on this. My now 11 month pup has stayed with a home boarder intermittently usually a 24 hour stay, the longest for four days so far. Pup loves the boarder, gets on well with other dogs that come and go and apparently is no trouble. I have two concerns...pup comes home totally exhausted, she will play all day with another dog if allowed, last time she stayed with an eight month old cocker spaniel. I suggested to boarder that I was perfectly ok with my pup to be timed out when she felt she needed some rest but I don't think she did. The stairgated utility room is used to separate any dogs that are not getting on, if they are playing then that's fine. Am I being a bit precious here, pup comes home exhausted but returns to her usual routine easily. Other concern is that I have worked very hard on recall over past months, boarder takes dogs in her care to large open safe space to walk but doesn't recall my pup when she zooms off to greet other dogs saying she always comes back anyway. Result is that recall goes back a step every time she goes. I am wondering whether a good kennels may be better where pup is with other dogs but not a free for all, BUT I also really like that pup is in a home environment and presumably as she gets older will settle down more there. What do you think?

I think I would stick with what u have been doing, there are bound to be some repercussions from kennels as well and they could be worse. I think if ur dog is happy and comfortable with this person and it's not that often, I would personally put up with those things!!! Sounds like he has a wonderful time :)

Home boarder every time
Our dog comes back tired and his behaviour is usually a bit worse for a day or 2 but I'm sure he would hate kennels.
The homeboarder we mostly use has 1 elderly dog ( although she does do walking as well) so at least I know ddog gets to chill out when the daycare ones have gone home.
You could look for a home boarder with a calmer environment

Maybe find another home boarder who takes only one or two other dogs at a time and who is open to continuing/reinforcing your training schedule/methods? My furry comes back tired but better behaved from our boarder! (Btw, we found ours through our vet who often get to hear about the good ones.). Wouldn't ever consider a kennel for ours because of his difficult background and the fact that he would be too nervous in a non domestic setting.

Mine came back from his holiday tired and a bit subdued but this was because he does way more there than with me. Personally I see that as a good thing as he is busy rather than sat wondering where I am. If yours was a very young puppy I might be concerned but at 11 months then they can probably play all day even though they aren't used to it

As for the recall you might find it is just the same in a kennel. My thinking behind this is at 11 months I would expect to have to reinforce training for my dog all the time so kind of expect him to regress a little when back due to change in routine and structure etc.

I was going to put my dog in kennels when I originally got him but now avoiding that at all costs. I think the familiarity and 1-1 attention from a home boarder is so much better because despite how great kennels are I can't see how they can compare with someone in their own home with a couple of dogs and I accept this is why they cost more

If you really aren't sure could you afford to put him in a kennel for a couple of nights and see how he fares when he returns?

Oh and we have actually said that if our boarder can't take our dog and the only other option is kennels we won't go on holiday as he loves it there and we can relax knowing he is looked after so well. The fact that your dog loves the boarder and likes the other dogs would be enough for me to put up with extra training when they returned.

Thanks guys, good advice re kennels maybe having other repercussions, she is happy to trot through the door and I can deal with upping the training afterwards. Made me think a bit about a boarder with only one or two other dogs, mine often has four or five...but will consider. She is only booked in for 24 hour stays over the summer and then we are taking her on holiday with us in October.