The most serious consideration when picking a boarding kennel is safety for your dog. Nothing could be further from the truth. We are talking about safety from climactic extremes, other dogs, self- injury, illness, escape, intentional injury and theft. All the conditions you provide at home to safeguard your dog are required also of a boarding kennel. Safety is a combination of staff training, properly designed runs, operating procedures and common sense.
Safety probably starts with health.
Inoculations and preventatives - do not trust your dog to a kennel that does not require proof of inoculation. At a minimum they should require, rabies, parvo, distemper and bordatella. Lyme disease has become prominent in some areas of the country, and it is possible that other dogs boarded at the facility might be infected and could serve as a reservoir from which ticks may vector the disease to your dog. We recommend you vaccinate against Lyme disease before taking your dog to a kennel. Some of the heartworm preventatives also do an admirable job on various other worms.