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Homes for our best friends

Last Updated 24 November 2014, 13:07 IST

It’s time to get rid of the dust bunnies from your suitcases and start packing. But do you feel a nagging sense of guilt at the pit of your stomach when you think of leaving without your pet? In the recent years, pet boarding facilities have become more popular in the City and among pet-lovers, so you might just be able to go on that holiday after all.

Pet-boarding has become a profession that animal-lovers cherish. Nelson Abraham, who owns ‘Nelson’s Grooming Spa and Pet Services’, says he started boarding facilities, along with grooming, because he had some space to spare. He can currently accommodate seven dogs. “It’s not a posh place but they get all that they need. It’s a small compound but there is a playground, and we take them out on regular walks, feed them, brush them and treat them as our own. If it’s a small dog, I take it back home with me. My motto is to please people, not to fleece them,” says Nelson.

Yashodhara Hemchandra, who owns ‘Yashbans Kennels/Fuzzy Wuzzy Pet Styling Studio and Spa’, says, “I decided to start boarding pets professionally after the desperate plea of a Japanese woman who had to leave India for a month on an emergency. She owned two dogs, one was vicious and the other was disabled. She told me that she would rather euthanise them than leave them with someone who may ill-treat them!”

 How do the boarders manage to maintain so many dogs at a time? Nelson says the peak season is vacation time, and that’s when it gets hectic. Otherwise, not all the kennels are filled up at once. Yashodhara adds, “I offer limited boarding services and hence have boardings regularly throughout the year. I constantly have pets that require nursing after surgeries or suffer from dermatitic and health issues because the owners cannot cope up on their own, and dogs that need that extra maintenance for pet shows.” 

But not all pet-lovers are happy with the idea of boarding. Amogh says he tries to avoid sending his labrador, Tucker, to a boarding facility as much as possible. “We used to leave him every time we went out of town, maybe once every month or so.

Not so much now. Dogs don’t like it, plain and simple. Dogs hate it when their owner leaves them even to go to the grocery store, let alone for a few nights.” He adds, “If it’s a short trip, my dad’s friend comes over now, or else we send him to a pet resort. It has a nice yard, a small pool and he gets to interact with other dogs. I’d rather pay a little extra and leave him at a resort than a kennel, since we are off having fun.”

Nelson agrees that not all dogs enjoy being boarded. “At first, most dogs don’t like being away from their owners. But then they get used to it. It depends on how you treat them. But we have a policy not to take violent dogs because they could hurt the others.”

Yashodhara adds, “Most of the pets have either been brought up like spoilt children or are terribly vicious or nervous. It takes a lot of effort to understand their mentality and interact with them accordingly. We ensure that the pets do not go into separation anxiety or depression.”

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(Published 24 November 2014, 13:07 IST)

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