With several California trips on the horizon and a vacation in Vancouver and Whistler planned for the end of July, I had to scramble to book a kennel for our Bichon, Roxy. I’m not sure what the price per day is in your area, but it has gotten expensive here in Boulder. My husband, Danny, didn’t grow up with pets, but I know deep down he loves Roxy. Today, his love must have been buried just a little deeper.
After catching up with other blogs, I chatted with Danny about our vacation plans:
ME: I can’t believe how expensive the kennel has gotten.
Danny looks up from reading the newspaper and we lock eyes.
ME: It’s going to cost $33.00 a day to board Roxy and that’s with a 25% discount for booking her for more than five days and another percentage off for being a frequent boarder.
DANNY: That seems like a lot of money.
ME: I gotta believe it’s like fifty bucks a day to board a dog. That’s super expensive.
Danny stared at me while pondering. I imagined him calculating the cost of boarding Roxy over the next year.
DANNY: We should leave her at the kennel and get a new dog when we come back from vacation.
I laughed until my cheeks hurt.
Don’t worry, Roxy. He was kidding.
Will you be boarding a pet this summer? Is it expensive where you live? Are you going on any vacations? Want to board Roxy for us?
Susie Lindau's Wild Ride 
We used to have two cats who needed to be boarded when we travelled. My husband, like yours, didn’t grow up with pets and he balked about the cost. I eventually decided to not use a credit card to pay the kennel, instead using cash. Once husband didn’t see the charge on a statement, he liked the cats so much better. Just a thought…
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That’s a great idea! Danny really likes Roxy and I don’t think he minds the cost. I found it hilarious that he used his “assessment skills” and came up with that solution! Funny thing about it is we’d still have a dog. Ha!
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Wow, that has gotten expensive. I think I used to pay somewhere around 15 a night, but then again, that was several years ago. Looking forward to hearing all about your up coming travels.
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Thanks Ingrid! I’m looking forward to a few wild adventures too.
It’s $15 for my mom’s collie back in Wisconsin. It’s outrageous here. I’ve researched prices and they’re all about the same. Crazy!
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I know you can board at our vet, but it’s not on the site, so I can’t tell you how much it costs.
Looking at the first local result on google, though, it would cost $19/day for Roxie (or $21 for a bigger breed). I guess things are just more expensive in Colorado!
(We’ve never boarded our cats, by the way–friends or neighbors always looked in on them during childhood trips, and my dad and I never leave more than a few hours at a time nowadays, so it’s not a problem.)
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I like the care this kennel gives Roxy and I’ve tried a few others, but the cost blows my mind! What state are you in, Days?
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Michigan. And yes, you can ski here, my beloved snowbunny. xD
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I have at Indianhead! Very fun place to ski.
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Oh my goodness–that’s pretty far north! I’m in the lower peninsula, so when I think of skiing, I think of Boyne…or Mount Holly…or Bittersweet…
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I haven’t heard of them, but haven’t lived in Wisconsin for twenty-eight years. 🙂
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If you lived in WI, that would explain traveling over to the UP for skiing!
Boyne Mountain/Boyne Highlands is 352 mi SE of Indianhead (if you measure from Wakefield to Boyne City). Mount Holly is 84 mi NE of me (I live near the capital) and Bittersweet is 62 mi to my SW. (The latter is where the high school’s ski club went.)
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It’s $22/day here. If you were coming to Vancouver WA instead of BC, I could board her. My pup loves to have visitors.
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Awww! That’s so sweet! Thanks Maggie! $22 sounds so reasonable! I think they could use some competition to drive prices down.
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We usually try to trick a family member into house/pet sitting.
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That is the best idea! I wish I had that option.
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Pets can be expensive and definitely make travel a challenge..
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I remember taking our dog with us to Wisconsin a long time ago. What a mistake!!! She was a good dog, but I had to focus so much attention on keeping her INSIDE my parents’ house. Not fun at all.
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Yup. Around here it costs an arm and a leg and a tail.
We take Duncan with us. Since we bought a vacation house, we can’t afford to board him anywhere else!
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How cool that you have a vacation house! We have a house in Breck and she always goes with us there. I posted this on Facebook today. Maybe one of my friends knows of a cheaper place. 🙂 Fingers crossed…
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We boarded our black lab with our vet a couple months ago at $25/day in North Texas.
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That’s what the price should be! I asked my vet and he doesn’t board, but recommended another place with the same $33 price in a nearby town, but it wasn’t as nice.
Great to “see” you, Rich!
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Have you looked into Dog Vacay? It is a website where you can find people in your area who will watch your dog at their home. You can arrange for a meet and greet so you can check out the place and the dog sitter can check out you and your dog. You cal also read reviews of the dog sitters. It is great to have your dog stay in a home rather than in a kennel. The prices are reasonable and often much less than a kennel. I use Dog Vacay all the time!
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That sounds like the coolest idea! I will check them out. Thanks for the tip!
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I hear ya! We’re going to UK for 3 weeks. Kaching!
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Thing is, you get to a point where the dog’s stay rivals the cost of our air fare. Have fun on your vacation, Catherine!
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That’s a different problem than my roommate always wanting to bring home another dog she saw up for adoption even though she already had two.
I’m glad, overall, you’ve persuaded your husband that dogs are great.
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Me too! He’s a softy at heart and has a great sense of humor. My daughter just bought a dog and had volunteered at an adoption program. I hope she keeps it at one!!!
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It’s about $22 to $25 a day here and that’s Cdn $$. Your kennel is way out of line by comparison. Have you tried others? Wow! That’s an expensive doggie hotel. I hope they supply caviar for that price.
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Caviar, massages, hot tubs… Ha! They have a great location and lots of animals like peacocks and chickens, but I am going to continue to look around. It is outrageous!!!
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Sure sounds a bit high to me.
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Wow, that does seem expensive. I usually just got my Dad or another family member to come and babysit 🙂
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That would be a great solution! I don’t really have that option and don’t want a house-sitter. After these comments, I’m going to keep checking around town for a cheaper place.
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We just got back from our camping trip. Kya LOVED it. Didn’t hurt that one of the biggest features at this campground is a giant dog park with a lake in it for swimming (she’s a lab!!) We’re going to some cabins in southern Ohio that are dog friendly in October. We just can’t leaver her behind!!
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That’s great! I need to get out camping this summer too. I bet Roxy would LOVE it! Sounds like a great vacation. 🙂
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And if Danny does that, trust me Roxy is going to return the favour in another life! (Just puppying— out here we believe in reincarnation and rotation of the soul through various species.)
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She would have the last laugh! Good thing Danny was kidding. Whew!
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On behalf of Roxy I’m going to say that if Danny finds a few chewed shoes in the future …. he deserves it! Roxy has ears ya know.
It is very expensive here as well. That industry plays on our big hearts, that do not match our wallets by the way, as we book our stay.
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She does hear everything! Right after I wrote and blogged this post, she disappeared. She wore her containment system collar, but I discovered the system wasn’t turned on. GAH! I called for her outside and she came galloping back all hot and tongue lolling. She has probably been roaming for a weeks and was getting away with it! Ha!
No chewed shoes, yet….
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Whew, that’s more than for Molly at a premier pet resort place with pool and add-ons of even more personal attention like having soemone sit and read a bedtime story at night. (But we do have a lot of competition here..only you have to reserved months ahead or your pup ends up in low rent doggy jail type places…and she would be hardly able to hold her head up with the shame of being so regarded. Molly’s chosen place is taking reservations for Christmas – and the best “suites” are booked already). I scrambed to get on the reservation board for this summer.
Hmmm, maybe there’s an opportunity in Boulder…Molly could be the welcoming commitee and social director.
You know Roxy will have everone won over the mokent she steps in the door at her resort.
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Actually, they made room for her when I called last minute! The 4th of July is their busiest time. I need to do some research again. This place is way out of line. It provides lots of play time for the pups, which she loves, but I bet there are others out there. I love the bedtime story idea. Can you imagine??? Ha!
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All that matters is she’s got a slot and is in a place you have confidence in. We have to check fences and gates…Molly is an expert at working door knob, levers, and latches. (PS the bedtime story comes with the medium priced package – this place has if all figured out. We will do without the emailed updates and pictures. I am unplugging and so is everyone else…sort of. Mountains better hang on to a bit of snow a little while longer! Enjoy your trip and take lots of pictures!
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Quite the sense of humourrrrrrrrrrrrr 🙂
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I think Roxy, rrrrrrrrrrrolled with it. 🙂
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We have a guinea pig that we leave with a friend. The fish are easy.
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Portable is good! Roxy isn’t small enough to throw under the seat of a plane. I bet she would freak!
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Maybe times have changed for the worse. When I was young, the family pet – cat (at first) or dog (later) simply came with one. The cat I grew up with regularly travelled 1000 miles or so each way when we went ‘home’ to the coast, and my Alsatian came with me on the train when I travelled alone. Later, when I got married, our cat came camping with us, and we had (another) cat companion throughout a safari in South West Africa (now Namibia). It must have been a dreadful era for boarding kennel owners.
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I’ve considered bringing her, but I think she would bark when left alone. The neighbors may not approve. Maybe if we had started taking her along when she was a pup. Oh, well.
If we ever go somewhere for weeks or a month at a time, I’d consider a house or pet sitter.
Your cat must have been so cool to stick around while you were out and about. I would think it would have chased down a wildebeest and gone on an adventure!
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The ginger one adored motoring, but would also walk for miles with me – sometimes trotting with (not after) me, but often ranging from one side or the other to explore. He always remained fairly close, though.
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Poor Roxy…
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I concur with Danny….lol
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It would be cheaper! I ended up paying another $33 since we didn’t pick her up until 5 PM. Gah!
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