Dog Boarding Kennels

I wouldn’t recommend Best Friend in Macgregor – numerous bad experiences over the years. They’re very difficult to deal with, especially if you have to go away at short notice.

Couldn’t disagree more! Incidentially, if you had a bad experience why go back ‘over the years’?

When I was living in Canberra I was often away on business for a few days to a few weeks at a time when interstate or overseas – often leaving at short notice. The guys at Best Friends always accommodated my dog and were comfortable giving her the insulin injections twice a day (bet you didn’t know dogs can get diabetes).

For one, I’m happy to recommend Best Friends.

As a former long-time employee of a kennel and cattery, I am in a position to give you a run-down on what goes on.

We had three hours each day to do the following for hundreds of dogs:

1. Remove faeces and take it to the back of the property;
2. Hose the floor of up to 6 buildings;
3. Hose the bedding for each dog;
3. Prepare the food and give each dog the same thing – unless of course they were on a special diet;
4. Place water into their bowls. River water was used.
5. Medicate them as needed.

I never walked or played with a dog in the time I was there – time just didn’t allow it on weekends especially, but I did give them loads of comfort cuddles when the ‘boss’ wasn’t watching.

The cats have pretty much the same routine, with more attention paid to scrubbing the walls of their cubicles. Beware though, if the staff member uses too much chemical, it can burn the cat’s feet, so ask questions about this. We had up to 100 cats at any one time.

Please, ask a LOT of questions when you decide to pay for added extras such as “walking” or “playtime”, or “washing”. Also, please ask a LOT of questions relating to the 1st class accommodation you think you are getting. The number of times I was asked to move dogs to the standard accommodation after they were booked into 1st class accommodation was disturbing.

Also, if more people demanded to actually see where the dogs live, it would open some eyes to the reality of kennels. IF you see any green grass/yard area, but are refused entry to the other areas, please demand to go down there – nobody is allowed down there but staff, animals, and maintenance people. Ever wondered why?

The ‘ambiance’ of the kennels includes heavy metal doors, plastic dog beds, darkness, loud air conditioning units that have seen better days, wetness, stink, faeces, barking, urine, and a lot of very sad dogs.

I am not saying they are all like this, but the one where I worked certainly was although in general they were pretty good. Next time you choose to leave your dog at the kennels, DEMAND to see EVERY AREA, even if you bring your own gumboots. If they say no, ask for reasons as to why.

It’s tough, back-breaking work, but the time limits that are placed on staff actually performing their jobs was a little ridiculous. Christmas time, when the place was full, we would only get three hours on a weekend to do all the above. Paying the staff more, and allowing them to work up to 4 or 5 hours was not an option. I worked 7 days a week most weeks, and managed to lose 12 kilos. I am sure that these time limits do not apply to every kennels or cattery out there – they are all different.

If you can – please, please please, get a reliable friend or neighbour to look after your animal – in the comfort of their own surroundings.

DSV_Twig, it looks like you had some legal dealings with Tara about your lost pet. Am i right?

LG said :

Helen said :

I wouldn’t recommend Best Friend in Macgregor – numerous bad experiences over the years. They’re very difficult to deal with, especially if you have to go away at short notice.

I disagree. We’ve only ever had great experienced with best friends since we started using 4+ years ago. Very friendly and helpful. More importantly, the dog loves it there.

My parents started using Best Friend over 20 years ago when they first moved into the Belconnen area. We have used them on and off since then. The last time we used their services was in 2008 when a family member died and we had to travel interstate at short notice. Best Friend were the only kennels in the area that could take our dog. We had to drop the dog off outside of opening hours and happily paid the extra fee that entailed. Our problem was that although we had organised the dropoff time the day beforehand, when I arrived at the kennels I had to wait for half an hour for someone to come to the door and take the dog. I was ringing the doorbell, calling the phone and getting no answer for 25mins – the person who finally answered had no idea what was happening. As I had a plane to catch this was very frustrating.

I agree that it is very important that your dog likes the kennels – and obviously different dogs and different people are going to have different experiences. But if you don’t get “good vibes” (for lack of a better term) from the people who run the kennel, would you really trust them to look after your dog?

I would stay away from Tara. Far, far away.

Unfortunately, for legal reasons I cannot go into detail, however they also “lost” our pet.

There’s Sonza Kennels & Cattery (5893 Kings Hwy via, Queanbeyan – (02) 6238 1132) just near the Defence site this side of Bungendore. Had my bundle of joy desexed there for a good price and facilities looked fine, although I’ve no experience with the kennels. Convenient for the coast though in any event.

If you like the idea of getting your dog looked after in a house, and are happy to put in a little extra effort, you can’t go past Don’t Fret Pet.

Normally the registered sitters have other pets, so it’s almost a holiday as much for your dog as it is for you. It’s not cheap by comparison, but I think well worth it!

We have friends who have used Reedy Creek (Canberra side of Braidwood) many times and on their recommendation we used it ourselves for our 2 dogs. People pay thousands for a farm-stay experience – our dogs got it for a fraction of a fraction of that price! The dogs get sorted into suitable groups for runs around the secure paddocks. The enclosures are spacious with heated cement pads. Suggest though you take old doggie bedding with you rather than any expensive bedding as it (and the dogs) may show signs of the enjoyment had in all the farm dirt and farm smells.

Most of all our extremely prec(oc)ious dogs were very happy and healthy when we picked them up. The owners are genuinely friendly and clearly care for their charges.

We used to use Canberra Boarding Kennels but for our last trip north we check our two into Rovers Retreat (http://www.roversretreat.com.au/). We were very impressed with them. They accomodation is a good as if not better than the ‘executive’ suites at Canberra Boarding Kennels (minus the TV) and it’s half the price. There is no additional fees for activities either. It’s a fair way out but they do have a collection service. We’ll definitely be taking them back there.

It’s pretty clear that some people’s experiences (and expectations) are different to others. Perhaps we sometimes forget that they are animals after all.

Like CK, I’ve used both Tara and Bendora without too many problems and would go back to either of them again. I think that’s one of the few times I’ve agreed with CK’s opinion – perhaps I need to review!

…you know…you could try making friends with your neighbours…they make the best pet-sitters. Your pet knows them and they stay in a familiar surrounding.

Helen said :

I wouldn’t recommend Best Friend in Macgregor – numerous bad experiences over the years. They’re very difficult to deal with, especially if you have to go away at short notice.

I disagree. We’ve only ever had great experienced with best friends since we started using 4+ years ago. Very friendly and helpful. More importantly, the dog loves it there.

We’ve taken the dogs to Tara once and they seemed fine – very busy though.

We’re about to try Canberra Boarding Kennels out on the Federal Hwy near Bywong. We’ve heard heaps of good things about them from friends and the lady taking the bookings was lovely – seemed to be a real dog person. They’re also a lot cheaper than other places in Canberra.

I wouldn’t recommend Best Friend in Macgregor – numerous bad experiences over the years. They’re very difficult to deal with, especially if you have to go away at short notice.

I also wouldn’t recommend the Barton Hwy Dog’otel & Cattery – they were excellent for years but went down in quality pretty quickly. They’d hose out the runs while the dogs were in there, cornering them in the concrete run with nowhere to go. Our dog developed a fairly major water phobia thanks to that. Plus we’d leave instructions about what the dog couldn’t eat (a health matter, not just a fussy dog) and they wouldn’t follow them – luckily for our dog it wasn’t a big problem but I know many dogs that get very sick very quickly if fed the wrong food.
The worst experience happened to a friend though – they’d left their two cats there for a week and came back to only find one. Apparently somebody else who had also left their cat there sent a friend to pick up their cat, and the friend took the wrong cat. It wasn’t like it was simple case of all black cats looking alike – the person took a black cat instead of a tabby! The management didn’t even notice (despite the fact that they note down what each cat looks like when you book in), and when the person got home and realised it was the wrong cat, they just let it go! The management wanted our friend to pay the full boarding costs for the two cats and denied any wrongdoing. It was altogether rather sad because we’d all been loyal customers for years, but their attitudes towards the incident just ruined it.

there used to be one on the federal highway, on the left heading north just past the antill st roundabout/service station. i cant stress how much you should NOT use it. charlie of the back yard was so freaked out after spending 2 nights there we were shocked. in comparison the one out on the way to murrembateman was so nice she didnt really want to leave.

Used Tara in the past and was very unimpressed.

Now use Sonza’s on the coast road (between Queanbeyan and Bungendore), and they are fantastic.

++1 for Canberra Pet Care! We left our dog there for the first time over Christmas.. they were fantastic! We even got a photo of our dog at ‘Play time’ which was a nice personal touch.

Our dog is very spoilt and I was worried about leaving… but he survived… and so did I! 🙂 The staff are great, I can’t speak highly enough of them!

Good Luck!!

I’ve used Tara (Pialligo) and Bendora (Watson?) in recent times for both short (2-3 days) and longer (4-5 weeks)and have been happy with the service provided. The best kennels I have used are at Berridale (on the Dalgety Road about 8km off the Snowy Mountains Highway) – Very nice.

We had a bad experience at Wickerslack Lane some years ago.

When you decide where to take your pet, ask for a tour of the facilities. Ask to see where, or approximately where, your pet will be sleeping. Check out what food they will get. Don’t be blinded by glossy brochures and expensive advertising.

If you are not satisfied with what you see or hear, go elsewhere. There are plenty of choices in, and around, the nation’s capital.

I use Best Friend at Macgregor. The mutts seem to have a great time there, always arrive back looking healthy and well fed, and have not ever contracted any disease.

Reedy Creek Kennels on the Kings Highway at Doughboy (about 20K’s NE of Braidwood). It’s clean, heated and friendly. Owen and Linda have allways done a good job of looking after our dogs – they’re pretty good with humans too!

Tara, 20 years ago used to shoot a shotgun in the air to quieten the dogs. I heard them do it more than once.

I have been using Tara for over 5 years now and my dogs have been there for lengthy stays at times. Nothing was too much problem and whilst I was traveling they would send me a weekly update along with a couple of pictures. Sorry to hear Thumpers comments about losing their cat.

well, that’s about as mixed reviews for tara’s (that’s the place!) at piallago as you’re likely to get!

😉

+1 for Canberra Pet Care at Wickerslack Lane

I can highly recommend Tara Pet Boarding in Pialigo.

canberra pet care at wickerslack lane, qbyn is excellent – they have long walks, swimming, socialising, other excercising, grooming and other facilities – the care is great and they seem to engage with the animals. and being at qbyn – albeit up the googong dam road way – it is on the way to the coast!

also used a place at piallago (forget name – clara’s? something like that) a few weeks back – it was ok, and my girl seemed to have enjoyed the experience, so can recommend (qbyn was booked out, hence the change) but would try cpc first.