Hi everyone

Ace - am back. I was away on holiday for a while (it is summer here is Australia) and we were off to the pacific islands for a sun filled holiday.

This was the first time we left Max in Kennels. We had done all of the inspections, got recommendations and paid the maximum care to have him walked twice a day and out for play time with other big dogs.  Max is a rescue GSP and I was concerned to have in put in a kennel as I did not want him to think that he was back in a rescue. (Do you think they can figure that out?). So it was a test, he was there for 8 days and he had visited the kennel previously.

The owners of the kennels are breeders of a very rare large dogs so with all the recommendations et all I felt confident. Well we got him back yesterday, and he has lost 2 kilos (lots of an already slim GSP) was weak and has lost his muscle tone. My fiance' and I were pretty devastated. He is not injured or anything, but we left him an athletic very fit dog, as he runs twice a day for an hour at least. Yesterday the wind would have keeled him over.

Today he is better - a bit friendlier with us and he ran like nuts at the beach so has got some of his energy back, he also for the first time ever responded to other dogs grouling with a groul, and is famished, can't eat enough.

Any thoughts/previous epxerience?? Am I been overprotective? Can't say I would ever leave him in a kennel again

Ace and Moose what news from your recent adventures?

Claudia - Max' owner

Glad to hear you are ok. We had some sun here the other day but no holiday!28 degrees here and over a foot of snow.

I think Max will be ok. Mocha went through that when I kenneled her for a week while we flew to Mass a couple years back. He probably missed you and wouldn't eat. I am sure he will bounce back quickly. Just love the heck out of him! Not a problem I'm sure.

I always feel like a dirt bag when I have to leave my babies too. Atleast they aren't alone in the kennel. I think that would've been harder on him than having other dogs.

Not much new really as of now. Spoiled dogs and no injuries so I am happy. I rescued a beautiful female GSP from going to the pound and my friend Gary (Hogan) off the site took her home to live in Wisconsin. I miss her but she will be very happy with them. My wife said my son was crying when she left. He'll be fine. I was glad that I wasn't the only one who was getting attached to her. There are some pics of her under my name on the rescue if you'd like to see her.

Well I'll talk to you again later, Glad you are back. Hope you had a Great Warm christmas and have a Happy New Year!!

Post some more pics of Max when you can ok?

Wow--that sounds like a fabulous holiday!  Hope you had a wonderful time.

As far as Max goes, we have the very same issue with Otto.  We have left him with our trainer on two separate occasions now--once for six weeks, the other for three.  In both instances, he lost quite a bit of weight.  That said, I felt supremely confident in the care he was receiving with our trainer.  When I picked him up the first time, he explained all of the steps he took to keep him in good weight,  but the fact was that Otto hated being a kennel dog.  He was stressed about being away from home, missed his cozy spot in front of the fireplace, and would voice his opposition by launching hunger strikes.  While we did leave him at a kennel for 1-2 days a few times before he left for "camp", it didn't seem to ease the transition much.

If you have good references for this kennel and your gut instinct says it's a good place, it could just have been the stress of having been left behind.  Especially if he was a rescue.

What did the kennel say?  Did they voice any concerns?  If he lost as much weight as you suggest, I would have expected some sort of explaination from them.  If they seemed unconcerned about the dramatic weight loss, that might be a bad sign.

The first time I boarded Trudy was for 2 weeks with a trainer at 16 weeks.  She ended up catching pnemonia and lost probably 5 pounds (and was only 20 pounds when I dropped her off).  After a trip to MY vet she rebounded quickly and turned back into my bundle of energy.

I boarded her for 8 nights over Christmas when I went to Colorado.  The guy I boarded her with is an old family friend that runs a kennel (and is a GSP guy to boot).  I think she came out of it well, but boy was she glad to see me.  Knowing that he was going to be gone when I came to pick her up, he put her in one of the outside kennels.  When she saw me walk up she started doing laps in her kennel.  When I let her out she continued to run around in circles and was so excited she was peeing as she ran.  She was super tired when I picked her up and she pretty much slept for 90% of the next 18 hours.

I boarded her at my local petsmart for new years eve (yeah, I know, bad parenting but she needed a bath anyways and I don't like to bathe her outside when it is this cold).  I'm a little worried because when I got her back I'm worried she's in heat as I noticed a couple of little blood spots on her towel in her crate and a little blodd on my comforter from when I let her sleep on my bed the next night.  I sure hope that while she was in there some dog didn't get ahold of her.

When I can not find friends to watch my dog... I have that pet sitting services work best.  I have them come by 3- 4times a day and even though they are cratyed a lot they get more one on one attention and are in their own home.  This works really well!  The sitters usually take them for walks and play with them too.  They would call me too after each visit if I found it necessary. It did not cost me much more than the boarding kennel either.  We have several places like this in FL...and I imagine there are places like this everywhere.  The sitter we used actually stopped by at XMas to drop off treats for our babies even though we have only used her a few times around my wedding and honeymoon.