The Ins & Outs of Boarding Kennels - and my purse!

The downside of owning pets is having to make two holiday bookings if you can’t take them with you! The next human excursion won’t exactly be a ‘holiday’ but a necessary long weekend away from home. I doubt whether Bella will think being away from us, being fed by strangers, having many noisy house-mates and no home comforts, will be a holiday!

An earlier seaside holiday!

Choosing a home-from-home for man’s best friend is not easy. In South Africa, in the interests of ‘home security’, one pays a house-sitter who will also feed, walk and clean up after your animals, in the comfort of the animal’s own home.  In the UK the security risk is a little lower in many areas, so we need to look at kennels.

Nothing like a bit of love!

Three of us set off to two local kennels to check them out!  It was a Thursday during an entire week of rain, but the morning had stayed dry. We walked into reception to be hit by that characteristic doggy smell, not a good start! (Vet surgeries don’t smell doggy and not even the Rescue centre smelled doggy!) Before the usual question of breed came up, one lady came straight out with, “I’d say there’s some Shiba Inu there!”  

For a complete stranger, who knows her dogs, this was quite a surprise to us and at the same time a confirmation of what we thought. So for the next five minutes we talked Shiba Inu characteristics – just enough time for the rain to gather so that when we toured the kennels we managed to get soaked!  Bella was left with a dog-sitter while we walked round and she did us proud by not growling or crying as we walked away leaving her leash in the hands of a complete stranger!

Got to climb!

By the time we got to the second kennels, she remembered the drill and once again sat quietly with a dog-sitter while we were taken around – still in the rain. These kennels have infra-red lamps for heating (although it probably won’t be necessary in summer!), and “hammock beds” – not that they hang from trees, and I’m not too sure how Bella will feel sleeping a little elevated, although she does like to climb!

The fees for both kennels were about the same, except that the second one had a half-day charge, which was a plus.  The first kennels didn’t insist on the dogs having the Kennel Cough vaccine, which was a little worrying.  The second was also closer to home (and the golf driving range!), so with the score 3-0 to the Second Kennels, it was decided.  This decision was celebrated by one human hitting 30 little white balls across a piece of grass with distance markers scattered down the centre!  Bella tried to shake the rain off numerous times from the car to the undercover driving range ‘kennels’. She doesn't usually bother with rain, however, the reverberating ‘clonk’ of several golf clubs against white balls sent her scampering under the bench behind my legs. It was time to swim back to the car and wait patiently while listening to the soothing sounds of BBC Radio Suffolk!

At home I made the vet appointment for her Kennel Cough vaccine and (stupidly) asked how much it would cost! £36?!  Bella’s ‘holiday’ is going to cost more than ours at this rate!  Her appointment is next week – I have a few days to plan a ‘discount attack’!!

(http://www.bournehill.co.uk/press/kennel-cattery.jpg  November/December issue of the Kennels and Cattery Management Magazine.)

14. Identity Crisis

So while I was out at a Charity Training course, hubby got a bee in his bonnet that Bella was not who we thought she was! 

      When we picked her up from the Rescue Centre in October 2011, they couldn’t give us any info on her because she had just been handed over (with a broken leg, see earlier posts), but because of her blue tongue they guessed she had some Chow in her and from her build possibly staffie. So she was classed as a Chow x Staffie.

      Her breeding didn’t matter to us; she was a gorgeous, quiet, cute, lovable, nine month old who stole our hearts, nearly broke our hearts and lives in our hearts!!  Everybody loves her! Everybody we meet stops and admires her, probably because she’s not a pedigree like many of the dogs around here! But they are genuine when they say she’s beautiful, and she is – and just like children she behaves impeccably (well, almost) when around other people, but this walking thing ………….!!

      So hubby did some investigating and when I got home presented me with our new breed of dog : a Shiba Inu, a Japanese breed! http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/shiba.htm has quite a bit of info on the breed:

- The Shiba is a small compact dog - √ 

- The head is in proportion with the body - √

- The round muzzle has a moderate stop and tapers slightly towards the nose – I suppose it does!

- The tight lips and nose are black - √ (very tight-lipped!)  

- The teeth meet in a scissors bite – well, uhm….

- The deep-set eyes are triangular in shape and dark in colour – well they look like the other pictures of Shibas!

- The eye rims are black - √

- The erect ears are triangular in shape and small in proportion to the rest of the body – well yes, except for the fold-over one!

- the high-set tail is thick at the base, curled and carried over the back, either in a ring or with a sickle curve - √ absolutely!  

- the coat is double with a soft thick undercoat and a stiff straight over coat – if that’s how it’s described, yes!

- Coat colours come in red, or red with a little black overlay, black with tan markings, sesame with red markings, all with a cream, buff or grey undercoat – from looking at pictures of the Shibas on the website, Bella is a Sesame!!

- Markings should appear on the cheeks and sides of the muzzle, throat, underside and chest - √

- There may be white on the legs, tip of the tail and above the eyes - √

- The Shiba is alert - √ confident - √ - courageous - √ (going off on her own for an entire day or climbing over the fence into the school playing ground counts as courageous!), and bold – I suppose one could say yes to this too!

- Loving - √√√  kind - √ - trainable - √ indoors! She sits and lies down on command, has learnt to wait until we say she can eat, has learnt not to dash out the door first but we go first, - very trainable … inside!!

- Brave – Not afraid of any dog bigger than her!

- They are clean – uhm unless you’ve taken her through muddy fields!

- most try to avoid puddles – she used to but the x bit kicked in and she gave up trying to walk around the puddle taking up the entire pathway!

- relatively easy to housebreak - √ She seemed to be housetrained when we brought her home, but she’s only messed inside twice – once on day one or two, and once in the holiday cottage!!!

- They bark little - √

- bond closely with their handler - √

- Playful - √√

- Delightful - √√

- well-adjusted - √√

- good with kids – not had much exposure as yet

- good with other dogs - √ mainly, she just wants to play with them!

-  and cats – well uhm?!!!  Maybe she just wants to play with the ginger cat!

-  active - √

- Lively - √

- Agile - √√ climbing fences! I wonder how she’d do at Dog Agility?!

- Fast - √√√√

- can be reserved with strangers - √ after four months she came and sat at my feet in a room full of people who’d been coming to our home every Tuesday evening, but she didn’t interact with them.

- If the Shiba is not completely convinced that its handler can handle the pack leader position and regards herself as stronger minded, they will become a bit stubborn as they will believe they need to make up their own rules - √√ That explains everything!!

- a natural hunting dog - √

- be careful when taking them off leash as they like to chase - √√√ :D

- adapts well to travelling - √ she eventually lay down on the back seat and didn’t whine for an hour’s journey!

- Height: Bitches 13-15 inches (33-38cm) - √

- Weight: Bitches 15-20 pounds (6.8-9kg) – x oops this is maybe where the x breed kicks in again. Last weight check she was 20kg!

- Health problems – prone to hip dysplasia, PRA and patellar luxation (slipped kneecap) – she already has a pin and plate in her leg! But at least fore-warned is good.

- It is moderately active - √

- The Shiba’s waterproof all-weather coat protects it in both cold and hot conditions – √ well that explains why she enjoyed the snow and never looks like a wet rag!

- The Shiba Inu is an undemanding dog – √ except when she really needs to go!

- That will adapt to your circumstances so long as it gets a daily walk - √ I think the experiment of taking her on holiday with us proved that.

- This breed can walk for hours on end as it has tremendous endurance - √√√√√√ yes, but human doesn’t!  

and lastly

- the Shiba was bred to hunt small wild game, bear, boar and to flush birds - √ that explains the fascination with the local country pheasants, the intense pounce on what might have been a mouse, and while inside the staring competition with the birds at the bird feeder, and when outside the sudden jerk at the silly blackbird tottering about on the path in front of us!   

 At first I thought these characteristics could be attributed to any dog, but I'm not too sure! Add to that the blue/black tongue also appearing in the Shiba Inu and that fact that she ticks so many of these boxes, I think we've found ourselves the owners of a very cute, beautiful, adorable, stubborn, willful - Shiba Inu called Bella!

13. Disciplining Bella

 Once upon a time, in the middle of winter, a beautiful baby girl was born. Her hair was fair as the fairest baby in all the country and she was the happiest little girl in the world!  Her perfect heart shaped lips puckered gently as she slept and in her waking hours she laughed and smiled bringing smiles to all she met.  As she grew and learnt mischievous ways, just like other children she needed to be disciplined. Her loving father would sit her on his knee and before he’d said a word, her perfect little chin would drop to her chest, her red heart lips would hide between her pearly white baby teeth and her big, beautiful big brown eyes would stay steadfastly on her father’s sad face, through a curtain of blonde gentle curls. Sad at his daughter’s mischievous, naughty ways, father struggled to control his urge to smile and put aside the discipline she needed. He bit his lip to stop the smile and often had to avoid her appealing eyes.

       Many years later the more experienced father and his wife adopted a young dog from a rescue centre. It had been nearly five years since they’d left their own dogs behind in a different country and having a playful, obedient juvenile chow x staffie in the house gave them both many smiles, many happy hours, many frustrations, and many discipline opportunities.

       Bella came into the lounge with her ears back, alert and playful, darting from one to the other. She nudged Mum and looked appealingly into her eyes.  Mum knew that look! Yes, once again Bella had ‘played’ with her cosy warm bed, pulling out the foam pieces from the padded side. As Mum swept the foam pieces together, Dad called the mischievous pup to sit at his feet. After a few calls she slinked right up to him, her ears flattened out to the sides and obediently sat as close to him as she possibly could. She looked up with big, brown, guilty eyes waiting to hear the verdict. Mum stood with the broom and the evidence between them, but not a word was said. Bella looked from one to the other, shuffled a little uncomfortably, still waiting for sentence to be pronounced.

 

       What Bella did not know was that Mum was not crying because Bella had once again treated her bed as a toy, but Mum had her hands over her face to hide the uncontrollable smile and was shaking with irrepressible laughter until the tears rolled down her cheeks!  She looked at Dad and saw him trying to stifle his laughter and her tail began to wag! How can a parent administer discipline when faced with those pleading eyes?! How can they rebuke when the perpetrator says I'm sorry with the look only a dog can produce?!

 

       As Dr James Dobson rightly says, Parenting isn’t for Cowards!

  Go to bed naughty Bella! (Mumble: good dog!)!!