The Benefits of Boarding Your Dog When You Travel

As tempting as it may seem to pack your dog into the car with you for a road trip or tote him in a carrier onto a plane, few dogs enjoy confined spaces for long periods. Boarding your dog while you travel can provide a vacation for both of you. Let’s consider the many benefits of dog boarding at a pet care facility or veterinary clinic while you travel.

Why Choose Dog Boarding While Traveling?

Guaranteed Professional Care

When you choose a pet care facility, you pay for professional care. Instead of relying on a buddy or neighbor to check in on your pet, your dog receives consistent, daily attention and feeding. If your pet falls ill or has a standing diagnosis of a disease, some of these pet boarding facilities provide veterinary care. Your dog maintains a schedule of regular feedings and snacks, plus exercise time in the boarding facility’s play yard.

Daily Exercise

Your puppy or dog benefits from a daily exercise and play routine when staying overnight at a high-quality boarding facility. Your dog’s vacation might include more exercise and playtime than they typically enjoy with you. This exercise can provide serious fun for your canine while you’re on a business trip or vacation.

More Dependable Than a Neighbor

Although many friends pet sit or plant sit for one another for overnight trips, asking a friend or neighbor to watch your animal for a long time can weigh on the relationship. Boarding your dog at a kennel also solves the problem of what to do if something happens to the friend watching your dog. Emergencies happen, and things come up, but by boarding your dog, if one canine attendant misses work, you can still count on the rest of the staff at the kennel to care for your beloved dog.

Your Dog Makes New Friends

Boarding kennels, such as The Wags Club, essentially organize their facilities like a summer camp for animals. Unless you tell the staff that your dog does not do well with other dogs, your beloved pet will get to make lots of new friends during their time at the doggie condo. These friends include new humans and new dogs.

A Solution for Special Needs Dogs

Some canines require a higher level of care, such as those who have undergone surgery to remove a paw or who developed parvo. Older dogs may need more frequent feedings or have to take medication. Boarding your dog at a professional kennel ensures that trained professionals take care of these medical needs.

Some Facilities Provide More Than Boarding

You might need a place to board your dog this week, but next month, you might need to find the best dog daycare in Los Angeles. A bonus of finding a trustworthy kennel comes from the fact that many kennels also provide daycare programs. In the case of The Wags Club, its 12,000-square-foot facility offers daycare, boarding, grooming, and canine transportation to and from vet appointments and other needs. When you board your dog, you may discover a facility that offers you much more than just kenneling.

Check-In on Your Dog

Many professional dog boarding facilities offer check-in services, so you can see how your pet likes vacationing at the facility. This service may consist of a phone call, photos, or videos of your pet. Some facilities offer Zoom contact with your dog. These services let the dog’s human parent know how they acclimated to vacationing and can ease the animal’s stress from being separated from their human.

More Travel Flexibility

When you board your pet, you get to choose your travel and hotel accommodations freely, rather than having to choose pet-friendly options. This flexibility can reduce travel costs and make trip planning easier. You won’t need to pack their carrier, leash, food, medication, and toys, which reduces the baggage you must carry through travel terminals and onto planes and trains.

Kennels Offer Facilities Tours

Regardless of the benefits, before you board your dog, tour the facility. You don’t have to wonder what their care will entail or where they’ll sleep because most kennels provide these tours daily. Ask to see the dog runs, meal preparation area, sleeping area, and any indoor play facilities, too. If the kennel employs a veterinarian, ask to see the medical facility. Boarding your dog allows you to know the environment they’ll spend time in before you leave on your trip.

Give Your Dog a Vacation

Whether you need the best dog daycare in Los Angeles or dog boarding Los Angeles pet parents can trust, you can find it at The Wags Club. If you reside outside the Los Angeles area, here’s what to look for in a high-quality, caring kennel or boarding facility.

• • Experienced staff: The assistants, kennel owner, and veterinarian should maintain up-to-date certification and business licensing as required by your state of residence.
    Ample Play Areas: Look for kennels with large dog runs, swimming pools or ponds, and an indoor play area that lets dogs enjoy exercise in inclement weather.

• • Large Sleeping Areas: Some facilities use an open-air environment for canines, but even these facilities provide cages or enclosed kennels for dogs that need some privacy.

• • Medical Facilities or Vet Partnership: Unlike your neighborhood dog sitter, a professional kennel typically maintains a medical facility on-site or partners with a local veterinarian to provide emergency care. If a dog falls ill, you’ll know ahead of time who will care for your canine.

Before boarding your dog, tour the kennel and meet its staff. Take your dog for a visit there, too.

Enjoying the Benefits of Dog Boarding

Although you may miss your dog and your dog might miss you, boarding your dog offers both of you many benefits. Choosing a well-thought-out, comprehensive facility like The Wags Club can provide you with benefits beyond boarding. Your canine friend can luxuriate in fun while you travel, meeting new dogs and humans. Boarding provides them with playtime, exercise, meals, and a safe place to sleep. Tour a kennel before placing your dog there and enjoy your dog’s added happiness when both of your vacations end.