Kennels near Port?

[AlabamaGal]

Hi,

I'm planning a cruise but need to make arrangements for my beloved poodle. I could leave her with my vet at home but would prefer to allow her to accompany us on the drive to/from FL.

Do you know of any GOOD kennels near the port?

Many thanks!

 

[mcnuss]

I understand your dilemma all too well. Our 2 labs are our middle and youngest children!

Our boarding kennel which we love and have used for years here at home is certified by AKBA. I am pretty sure they have rigorous standards. Try http://www.abka.com/kennels/pickacity.asp and see if there is one that looks good.

Good luck!

 

[snelsonbrown]

Hello there,
This is Shirley from The Perfect Gift here in Cape Canaveral, Florida - we do have a kennel in cocoa Beach - NOW I do not know how good it is BUT if you would like, I can check it out for you ---has your 4 legged little one ever been left at one? I have mine of course that goes just about everywhere i go so i can fully understand your concern - I will help in any way I can -- you can call me at 800-950-4550 or maybe there is a possibility the little one can stay with me.
Always
Shirley

 

[Hopkins]

Shirley, that's such a sweet offer. I'm almost in tears. My eyes are all watery. We have a little Norwich Terrier and he's our baby (no kids of our own, so he's spoiled). He goes everywhere, well except on DCL and DVC. His name is Hopkins. He stays at his grandma and grandpa's when we are away.

Tina

 

[snelsonbrown]

When my children were small, I almost never ever left them unless I knew for sure they were in good hands - now my babies are grown and I had no idea I would ever marry again since I decided once was enough --I brought my little one named Tia Maria and she became my little 4 legged soul mate - then of course i married my first boyfriend from my hometown and we incorporated Tia into our relationship - When i need to leave her - I do with her 2 legged sibblings - they love us without no strings attached and they do have all the emotions that we feel tho they cant tell us for sure --so darn right - if i can help in someway --I am here --I am going to check into some places tomorrow and then will take it from there - I JUST NOTICED THAT I PASSED MY 500 posting -----I guess that makes me a half way member now -
Anyhow anyone interested in this question can just email me at snelsonbrown@aol.com
Hugsssssss from Fla everybody
always
Shirley

 

[inkkognito]

We've seen how great Shirley and Norm take care of their four-legged kid
She is such a sweet little dog!
We are lucky because we have cats, a bird, and horses. We have a super pet sitter for the kitties, and the horses are boarded out. But the bird HATES it when we leave because normally he is free to roam around the house, but when we leave he is on "cage arrest." The pet sitter tried to let him out for a little while one day and he refused to go back in the cage, so she hasn't tried again.
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com

 

[Hopkins]

Shirley your the best!

 

[snelsonbrown]

Nope - I just love animals so will find out information for you today.
Always
Shirley

 

[disneyholic family]

that is the hardest thing about our vacations...
putting our dog in the kennel.....
although she adores her kennel (kennel is hardly the right word...it's more like a 5 star resort for dogs)...
and she knows it well after 10 years of going there 4 times a year (including a whole month in the summer....together with all her doggie friends who go there too)...
but still it's hard....
one thing we did this year...
it suddenly dawned on me that something might happen to all 4 of use while we're traveling (what with planes falling out of the sky and all)....
so i changed our will......if something happens to all 4 of us, before the estate is divided among my nieces and nephews, money will be set aside to take care of the dog "for the rest of her natural life"..........our lawyer thought we were nuts....proof that he doesn't have a dog....

 

[lsmac]

Oh you guys! This has been the hardest part for me in planning our vacation! Even though I am excited to go, I just know I am going to miss my two little girls terribly! I have two Cairn Terriers and they are like my children. Shirley, it is so sweet of you to offer to take Alabamagal's dog! We take our two to the sweetest lady this side of the Mississippi and they are incredibly spoiled the whole time (sleeping in bed with them, eating goodies from the table, sitting on her husbands lap while he works), that I know leaving the munchkins with someone, instead of in a kennel atmosphere is better for the mom's piece of mind...and actually for the dog's piece of mind! Although, I know some kennels are very nice too!
It's too bad that we couldn't just take them, I am sure they would all like to cruise too! (I'm kidding here) LOL

Lisa

 

[AlabamaGal]

Shirley,

That is the sweetest offer! I am totally blown away. I've kept your number and will call you when I get plans more firmed up. I haven't booked a date yet.

No, she hasn't ever been boarded except for last year when we went to Disney World. She spent the week in the Fort Wilderness kennels but we went to see her 2-3 times a day (bringing her scrambled eggs for breakfast from the hotel buffet...shhh.) My mom would keep her but she lives 4 hours away and in the wrong direction from Florida. <sigh>

I wish Disney would allow her to travel as well. I'm in the process of getting her certified as a therapy dog because I want to be able to share her with people in our local nursing home. Having her with me during the cruise would be great therapy for me but I doubt it would fly in the Mouse's eyes. ;-)

Thanks to all of you for responding....

 

[Hopkins]

I'm glad she's taking you up on the nice offer.

Tina

 

[Mmketeer]

Hi Alabama Girl,

I completly understand...if they only made a cruise ship that allows four-legged kids! <BG> The DCL is the only time we leave ours as well and I now have to new ones (8 month old Boston Terriers) to worry about for both my upcoming cruises. We are so bad we went out a few years ago and bought a travel trailer just so they could go to Disney with us!LOL!

Anyway, during my recent research I only found one place that is anywhere near the country club style accomodations they offer for four-legged guests in California and NY. It's called Remington Resort and it's in Merritt Island, Fl. I am not sure how far that is from the port, but maybe one of the locals could tell you. Here is their website www.remingtoncanineresorts.com.
Looks like what we would do for our kids. <BG> Guess I could open open a place like that around here I would make lots of money cause not even a metro city like Tampa (as far as I know) offers that type of pet service.

In the end....we are keeping them at the vet's for two nights this time around for our three day cruise and paying someone to pick them up and take care of them on saturday (as our vet's office is closed on Sunday...the day we get off the ship). Then for our last cruise, we our paying a pet/house sitter to stay with them here in our home for the first week of Dec. for our four day cruise.
We'll be broke for Chrsitmas at this rate!LOL!

Good luck finding a place...check out www.Petswelcome.com
also for refrence....Mmketeer

 

[Dave_from_Marietta]

I'm on my way out the door, so I don't have time to follow the link, but <b><i>Merritt Island</i></b>?!? You couldn't get any more convenient that that! Great!

 

[TeamMom011]

now I'm not feeling so much like I'm a loony. Our baby is a mini Aussie not yet 2 yrs old. Over a month ago I started taking her on a playdate for a couple of hours twice a week to get her used to being with the neighbors we're planning to leave her with. What with travel time, our 7 day and a stay at WDW we'll be gone for almost two full weeks. You all are making me feel like it's okay to be concerned about how the Puppers is going to handle it.

And Shirley, your offer is too sweet. You'd better be careful; with all the referrals you could get from the Dissers, I can easily see a new business in your future.

 

[disneyholic family]

TeamMom011..
you're not nutty at all...
anyone with a dog feels that way....
but the great thing about dogs is, if they're happy with the arrangement, you'll know it...(and if they're unhappy, they'll also let you know)...
Sunshine (our dog) goes racing into her kennel the moment we open the door of the car......and when we pick her up, after licking us to death, she runs back to say goodbye to the owner and all the workers....(it's on a farm so there are people there 24 hours a day....and the place is huge......the dogs have a gigantic area to play in with all sorts of interesting things to play with....not to mention gorgeous landscaping.....palm trees etc.....which makes it nice for her since our house is the same way....i guess she feels at home there.....anyway...in this kennel, each dog has their own private house the size of a small garage....and surrounding the house they have their own private run (the size of a small yard)...and then in the center area is a huge communal area.......finally......there's a double perimeter fence with barbed wire on top around the kennel......in between the two fences are killer dogs that you wouldn't want to be anywhere near.....guard dogs to protect the dogs in the kennel.....why?......you don't really want to know the answer to that.....but there are foreign workers from the far east in the country where i live who eat dogs.....dogs have been know to be dognapped from their homes and eaten.....so the kennel has the guard dogs as a precaution to protect the paying customers.....most of whom are super fancy pedigree dogs.....plus our sweet golden retriever mutt......)..

anyway...a dog will let you know how it feels....
the first kennel we found for her was a disaster.....then we found this place and the rest is history.....this past summer we left her there for 6 weeks (our annual trip to america was 6 weeks long this year)......needless to say we were upset about leaving her for that long, but when we returned she was perfect.....no depression.....happy as a clam....(dogs sometimes get depressed or have behavior problems after you've been away a while.....)..
one thing we make sure of though, that she has a kennel cough shot before the long summer stay....

another good thing about your dog being used to one place....sunshine's over 10 years old now and starting to go blind (cataracts).....naturally she finds her way around our house and yard fine.....but she also has no problem at the kennel, her second home for the last 10 years.......(and she's so in love with the man who runs it and all the workers....)....it's such a relief to know that she's happy where she is....

anyway....you're definitely not nuts...

 

[Rootee]

Another option that you might want to look into is a Pet Sitter. We had a kennel we used for years for our other dog Ginger - a golden retr. mix. They were very good to her, but we always dreaded bringing her up there because she looked so grief-stricken. The one time our border collie Rosemary stayed at the same kennel, she refused to eat or drink! So we knew we had to look into some other alternative.

Our Pet Sitter is a member of the national organization, and we have been very happy with this service. Along with the fact that Rosie is very comfortable in her own house and bed, our pet sitter also takes care of our house by turning lights off and on, bringing in our mail, etc. She comes to the house 2-3 times a day, takes Rosemary for a walk, plays a while with her and feeds her. Most importantly, Rosie loves this woman and is very happy to see her.

My understanding is that in some areas pet sitters can be considerably more expensive, but we've found this alternative to be just a couple of more dollars a day.

Here's the organization's website:
http://www.petsit.com

Ruth

 

[snelsonbrown]

Hello everyone,
I was suppose to find out information about several things yesterday, but I caught both of my hands on my garage door and my fingers looked like some one had put them in a vise grip and squashed them together - if it wouldn't have been so painful - it would have been funny --soooooooo I was lucky to get home and put them into cold water until I recognized them again .
I know something about the "home" in Merritt Island and to be honest - I have checked it out one time and I was NOT impressed at all ---Now maybe things have changed I don't know but since I can at least type this, I can pick up a phone or ask around - I know that we have a very good service here where a lady does come to the house and does check the "babies", but again I have never used her - let me find out today and report back in unless I do something dumb again.
Luv ya all
Shirley

 

[snelsonbrown]

ok everyone this is what I found about the kennels here -

First off I spoke to each company ---I went from the most luxurious to the mom and pop -----

#1. Barkingham Place who is located in Rockledge which is about 15 miles from Cape Canaveral on US 1 is the top of the line.
their web site is www.barkingham.com -----if I was going to leave Tia and wanted top luxury for her -this would be it. Their phone number is 321-636-7387

#2. Remington Canine Resort located in Merritt Island has socialization, cage free boarding, playgroups. The only concern I had with Remington was I was there about 3 years ago since I was looking for a daycare for my little one and I was very upset that all size dogs were put together to socalize and I know Tia would have been at the bottom of the pile - unfortunalty animals are like kids and something can happen so fast and then what -
I did find the areas clean etc and that is the only op I have on them. They can be reached at 321-459-1919 and their website is www.remingtoncanineresort.com

#3. Bow Meow Grooming and Boarding is located here in Cocoa Beach - they offer a whole bunch of stuff and appears to be very loving and caring with the animals - I spoke to Jonice and really was impressed with her. She can be reached at 321-783-7684.

Now I was told that rates vary with size and the luxury requested by each "care giver" listed above.

Now I know I would be asked where I would take Tia - even tho it is a distance from home, I would pick #1 but only if it was going to be for quite sometime ----If I was only going for a short time - #3 would be my pick without no doubts.

If I can be of any further help, just let me know.
Hugsssssssss from "sunny?) Florida
Always
Shirley

 

[lsmac]

Shirley, You are simply awesome! Thank you for all your "homework"> I will interject here that we are active in the Colorado Kennel Club (my father is liason btwn CKC and AKC) and I have heard of Gemini Goldens (affiliated with the Barkingham Place), they take extremely good care of their dogs and from what I have heard, are very nice people! Just thought I would throw that in there in case someone was looking into this. Believe me, kenneling your little ones (or big ones) with a dog show person is the BEST way to go! They treat their animals better than some people treat their kids!

HTH \
Lisa