5 Basic Commands I Wish All Dogs Knew

Hey guys what it is up,

I couldn't think of a cool title for this one so I just named it what it says up there because this post is gonna be about basic commands that kennel workers will love you for teaching you dog. Check out the end of the post to see my music for this post.

There are some commands that I, as a kennel worker, wish every owner taught their dog.

·        Sit – That one is kind of self-explanatory. We take pictures of our current guests every week to post on our Facebook page and it would really come in handy if all the dogs knew sit. Also it’s just easier to get a dog that goes in our small yard leashed up if they know what sit means.

·        Stay – this goes along with Sit. It would make Boss Lady less irritated if dogs knew stay. Like I said with ‘Sit’ it also would make it easier to leash up dogs.

·        Go lay down – This one can come in handy if you have to be in a kennel/pen with multiple dogs and one is just hyper as hell. We have dogs come in sometimes that we have to be in there to feed because they will eat each other’s food. Now I don’t mind a dog sitting in my lap once they eat as long as I can still do what I need to. Some dogs only eat if you hand feed them so if I have a dogs that I have to hand feed and the other one is bouncing around it can get annoying. Also we have dogs that will fight if you don’t separate them during feeding. Now if they are in a pen you can only put one bowl on each side of the pen. I had a dog the other week that humped my arm for 15 minutes because he wouldn’t leave his sister alone while she ate so I had to put my arm up. If they knew go lay down it would make my life easier.

·        Drop it/Give it– I love when we have only a couple dogs at night because I can play with them. We have a ‘Chuck It’ which I love because I have horrible shoulder joints. (I have bad shoulders, hips, knees and a bad back and I’m only 20. It sucks) However some dogs are no fun because once they get the ball or their toy they will not give it back. So drop it/give it would make it funner.

·        Leave it – This one could save a life. We are in the middle of the country so of course there are snakes, spiders, bees, frogs and lizards everywhere. If a dog knows leave it then they wouldn’t rick getting bit or sick from any of those creatures. I personally don’t like snakes or spiders but I can stomp and kill a spider easy. 

Well this one was short sweet and to the point haha. That is it for this post. The other one will be up shortly.

**Music for this post: Celtic relaxing music + rainymood.com**

Read The Damn Notes!!

Hey guys what is up,

**SIDE NOTE: I love music and Youtube so if I am listening to anything while writing I’ll post either the link to it if it’s on Youtube or the name(s) and artist(s) if it was on Spotify (I listen to all genres of music so. Also some songs may not be appropriate for kids lol I am 20 after all). Check out the bottom of the post to see them**

This post is about the notes on pens/kennels at work. They are there to help everyone know if the dog has any issues or special instructions. So it annoys me to no end when people don’t read them. For example, one time when I first started working there and wasn’t personally training girls yet Boss Lady’s mom did it. So the other girl was doing everything so I was staying in and doing little things like straightening up blankets and towels. Boss Mom walked in and was like “Hey can you come get Spot in? He won’t come to us.” Now spot is weird with new people so I wasn’t surprised he didn’t listen to them. Also he only goes in once he wants to lol he’s a hard-head. So I know the girl and Boss Mom felt dumb when I walked right out and he followed me and went in but he just did. So I went back in and continued what I was doing. Then Boss Mom came back in and said “Hey can you come get escape artist in” I was kinda annoyed when I walked outside and Escape was in the big yard. There was a note on her kennel that said ‘Small Yard’ which means, in her case, she doesn’t listen and is easier to catch in the small yard. So I sighed and eventually caught her and got her inside. I then showed the girl and Boss Mom that it said she went in the small yard. If she had just read it, I wouldn’t have had to go out there.  Another example: the first time AP got bit at work, there was clearly a note on the dog’s pen that said ‘MAY BITE. BE CAREFUL.’ Either she didn’t read it or she didn’t think the dog that had tried to bite everyone else would try to bite her. I have no idea.

I also hate when I feel like a dog should have a note and doesn’t. Like for example: We have this group of three that come in semi often. The two fuzzies (Pomeranians) are fine. They love people and are just fun to hang out with. Their brother isn’t. He is an asshole LOL. Every time we goes in the small yard and it’s time to go in, he will attack your hand and the leash when you try to put it on him to get him back to the kennel. This generally goes on for like 15-20 minutes. Boss Lady knows he does this and doesn’t care and doesn’t warn people that he’s an ass. Satan had no note. Granted she didn’t need one because she is obvious that’s she is evil.

Well guys I guess that’s all for tonight it’s 11:40pm here and my brain is dead. So as always,  if you have any question, comments or topics you want me to talk about leave it below. I’ll talk to you all later. Byyyyeee

***Today songs: Road Head Song – Corey Smith; Baptized – Daughtry; Come Join The Murder – SOA**

Too Pampered????

Hey guys what is up,

I have a lot of posts in the works right now. This one is going to be about some of the pampered pooches that come in and somethings that annoy me that owners do. First lets talk about the pampered ones. How pampered is too pampered? I love dogs as much if not more than the next person. All 20 years if my life we have had at least one dog. But there comes a point, in my opinion, that a dog becomes too pampered. **THIS WHOLE POST IS JUST MY OPINION. I AM NOT JUDGING YOU IF YOU DO ANYTHING IN THIS POST**

Ex #1: We have 1 dog that comes in that literally don’t eat dog food. Her owners literally makes an omelet type thing every time she comes. Her owner even packs a few extra in case we want to try one and has said they had one for dinner before. I’m sorry but that is too pampered. I know some people like to add veggies to their dog’s food because there are some veggies that are really good for them. However, there is a difference between adding a handful of sliced carrots or green beans to your dog’s food and literally cooking them something on the stove. That is just insane to me.

Ex #2: We have a pair of dogs that come in that literally get carried everywhere. The owner will not let you put them on the ground. When his wife pulls up he is in the back seat or passenger seat holding them. We have to either take them inside or just hold them until they leave or he will become too upset. I understand how seeing your dogs run to the fence and whine as you leave is upsetting. I get it. But it is annoying to us as worker. If we take them inside they will poop in their pen and then that’s one more thing in our busy schedule that we have to do. I’m sorry if that sound mean or heartless but it’s true.

Now let’s move on to things that annoy me that owners do. One thing that always annoyed me was the owner of our newly passed Hiro. He was paralyzed in his back legs after tripping over a tree root and his back legs never worked right after that. He could hold himself up for a bit but then his legs would give out and he would drag his legs. This was bad because he would end up having his back feet covered in scabs because he would drag them on the concrete. To fix this, we used a slip lead and would put it around him and hold him up like a sling. He could still walk on those legs but wasn’t dragging them. His owners hated us doing that. They wanted this poor dog to drag his legs. I’m sorry but I’m not doing that. So when I was working and they’d come pick him up id just carry him. He was a little shiba inu type dog. I say type because he was smaller and shorter than normal shibas. So me carrying him wasn’t hard.

Another thing that owners do is bring rawhides. I cannot tell you the number of times I have thrown away one of the flat rawhides because the dog was chewing it and it made its mouth bleed.

The final thing that i'm going to talk about that owners do is a mix of things.

#1: Being late. If you say you are going to pick up your dog on an even numbered hour, 12 – 2 – 4 -6 etc., then please don’t be late. We make sure we don’t have dogs out at those times because we walk them every two hours and it can be a hassle getting certain ones in when someone shows up. If you aren’t going to be able to make it by the time you said just call and it’s not a big deal.

#2: Not calling. If you didn’t set up a pick up/ drop off time, then it’s fine just call and let us know when you are on the way. That’s an easy concept right? Apparently not. We have certain ones that never call. You just have to hope and pray you don’t have an asshole out when they show up. Now we have one we never calls but since she never does she understands if someone else is outside and she has to wait till we put them up. If you just show up and I am walking a dog that isn’t yours don’t glare at me the whole time I am putting that dog up. It isn’t my fault you didn’t call. If you had called, we would have either had no one out or we would have had your dog out.

#3: Opening the gate/ coming in without permission.  We have an acer of fenced in land for all the dogs to play on. All of the dogs, as long as they aren’t jumpers and listen to us, go in the bigger yard. If not, they go in our smaller yard. The small yard is just like a rectangle that is fenced off from the rest of the yard. Now if I am in the small yard and you pull up, I may or may not leave the dog out there and go get yours. It depends on how the dog I am with will react to your dog or how yours will react. If you dog and the one im with will be ok to be outside together then I’ll tell you that you can come on in and I will go let yours out. If I’m in the big yard and have a dog out that isn’t yours, DO NOT open the gate or come in until I have the dog in its run. Granted not all of our dogs will attack you if you just walk in but we do have some that might and we have some that would attack you and put you in the hospital. We do not want your dog getting hurt if you are dropping them off or you getting hurt if you are picking them up. Just don’t come in. Just because I am walking a dog to its run or back inside doesn’t mean that the dog won’t turn around and run back to where you are. So please for our sanity don’t do it.

Well that’s it for this post guys. If you have any questions, comments or topics you want me to post about just leave them in the comments. I’ll talk to you all later. Byyyyyeee

In Memory

This post is going to be an ongoing post. This will be a list of the dogs that have passed away that board with us since Jun 25th, 2015. None of the names on this post will be changed. It will have the name and a little bit about them. in the ( ) is how you say their name if it's hard to figure out based on spelling

• Peti Po (P T) - Peti was the sidewalk queen. She loved to lay on the side walk while all the other heatens played.

• Ruthie - Miss Woothie was a very old girl. She loved her baths. I always had to hold her up in the tub because her joints were bad. Of the ones that have passed she was my favorite.

• Jasper & Wilson - These were two brother who both died. I always like Jasper or Jappy as we called him. He was quiet a character

• Murphy - Murphy was also very old. I didn't meet him many times but he was very sweet.

• Hiro (Hero) -  Oh little Hiro. Hiro was paralyzed in his back legs in a freak accident before i can there. When i first started he could hold himself up on his back legs for a bit but eventually they would give out and you would have to put a leash around his waist like a sling and hold them up. Slowly the length of time lessened. The last time he was there he could only hold himself up for about 2 minutes on the first walk of the day and couldn't for the rest of the day. Personally his is the least sad because he was suffering a lot towards the end so he is better off.

• Ashton - Ashton was one of the very spoiled dogs that come in.

• Lucy - Lucy had to be put to sleep while in our care. Her owners dropped her off very sick and when we took her to the vet, they said putting her to sleep was the only thing they could do.

• Hannah - Oh my little sweet girl. She is one of the two tiny little dogs that come in that I call "The Squirrels." They are both really old. I will miss that girl.

Scariest Moments

Hello Guys, what is up,

So as I said in my last post I am going to dedicate a whole post to my scariest moments. These are in no real order. I just went by what came to my head as I went.

Story 1: Ok so we will first talk about the first time I met Satan. So every day when I walk in all of the dogs start barking. It’s just what happens. So when I walked past her and she barked and kinda lunged forward I didn’t pay her no attention. Boss Lady told me to not put her on a leash that she would go outside and back inside and into her room by herself. So when it was her turn I took her out and she was fine. When I let her back in, she walked up to her door which I had latched shut. So I had to walk up beside her to let her in. As soon as I got beside her she started growling and just full blow attacked my shoe. Thank god I was wear my converse or I’d be missing some toes now. It obviously shook me up a bit because I hadn’t done anything to her. To this day, she can’t stand me. Luckily she doesn’t come in a lot.

Story 2:  This is about my first night with Bleu and Charles. So it had been established that Bleu had food aggression. We had to separate them to feed them so there wasn’t a fight. Every night when night shift leaves we give each dog a treat. I always just throw the treats in and go to the next one because I am tired and want to go home. So I threw a two treats in Bleu and Charles’ room making sure they both ate one. Luckily for me their room was right beside the light switch. Apparently Charlie walked over to Bleu before he was totally done with the crumbs of his treat and Bleu flipped and for a short second tried to attack Charles. That was a mistake on my part knowing he had food aggression and not splitting them up but I didn’t think a treat would matter. Now I know. Also the last time they came, something happened one morning and Bleu fully attacked Charles and the owner had to come het him. I personally think the new girl at the time didn’t split them up. The world will never know.

Story 3: Ok let me start this by saying I am not scared of Rotties (Rottweilers). One of my 10 favorites that have come in on my last post, Repo, is a rottie. With that being said I realize they are a lot bigger than me. (I’m 5ft 1.) So I am cautious around them like I am any big dog. We had these two huge rotties that were there one morning when I came in. The boy’s name is Cyrus and the girl’s name is Kinsey. When I went to feed them, Kins was outside in their outside run. So I sat Big Boy’s food down so he could eat while I got his sister in. He is a big boy and was in front of me so I was trying to get him to move so I could try to get her in. Now there was a note on their run saying Kins is weird around strangers and be careful with her. Since this was my first time meeting them I was not 100% that the one in the room with me was Big Man. I was like 98% sure not since I wasn’t completely sure I wasn’t gonna push the one I was with in case it was her. So I, in my ‘I’m in front of a dog’ voice, said: “Hey sweetie, can you scoot over so I can get your sister?” Their room is the last one on that side so it is brick on 3 sides and them covered kennel on the other side. So squeezed around him and got in the back corner beside the doggie door. As soon as I got in the corner away from the kennel, Cyrus started growling. Now it was at this moment that my heart kinda stopped. I am in a room with a huge rottie up against a solid brick wall and this dog is growling at me. To get out I either had to crawl through the doggie door out to Kins, who doesn’t know me and the door out there is locked, or I had to get back around Big Boy to get to the door and get out. So staying as calm as I could I said “Cyrus it’s ok I am just trying to get Kinsey in so she can eat too buddy. You’re ok.” He kept growling and now I could slightly see teeth. “Ok ok I got it. Im leaving but you have to move to let me out big man. If you move over again ill leave you alone.” So I carefully squeezed by him again and got out. Now they recently came back and he was perfectly fine with me. I didn’t love on him a lot but he never growled once this time.

Ok well that’s all I can think of right now. This will be like my Q&A, if I think of more ill post them. As always if you have any questions, comments, or topics you want me to talk about leave them below and I’ll get back to you ASAP. I’ll talk to you guys later Byyyyyee.

Q&A PT. 1

Hey guys what is up,

I was reading a post today about work stories of a kennel worker because I need ideas on what to write about and there were some questions on there that I thought I’d share my answers to and also some questions I made up.

Q1: How many dogs fit in our building? A: We have 11 kennels. 1 is a double ‘run’ as we call it and two of them are covered. We also have 9 pens and 2 creates. So is we are slammed full we can house around 30 dogs. This number really depends on how many dogs are in each kennel and pen. We have had 4 dogs in 1 run before so it’s hard to say an exact number.

Q2: Funniest thing that has happened to me while at work? A: This one is hard because there is so much stuff. One really funny thing that happened was with 2 of our regulars. We had a huge tree cut down and it fell onto part of our fence so we had like a 3-4 foot gap in the fence and our regulars were going home and one of them ran to the gate which was right beside the gap and was jumping up and down and didn’t realize there was a hole there. I eventually had to go pick her up and show her the hole and then she ran and got into the car to go home. Her mom and I couldn’t stop laughing.

Q3: Hardest day I’ve had? A: Hmm this one has 2 answers. Stress wise the hardest was when Sr. Barks-A-lot was there and would bark all day. Emotion wise the hardest… wasn’t really at work I had just got home from work and got on Facebook and saw where one of our seniors and my favorites had been put to sleep. Her name was Ruthie. She was the sweetest thing ever and I loved her. Also the hardest day emotion wise was the day after my 16 year old Boston Terrier Bella passed away. When I went in there was a Boston there who acted just like her and I went into her pen and hugged her and cried for about 5 minutes. The whole rest of the time she was there I would just love on her. I miss my ole’ lady.

Q4: Favorite and Least favorite type of dog? A: Favorite would be: Pits ( wow shocker there haha) and yorkies maybe. Specifically, these 3 that come in. They are all like tea cups I think because they are just tiny. 1 of them I call my shoulder puppy because she constantly sits on my shoulder and the other two are twins who I call my squirrel babies.  Least favorite would be: Labs and Dobermans. Now I don’t have anything against either of those breeds. I used to have a black lab named Muck ( my little brother loved Bob The Builder at the time). However, those are the breeds that don’t listen the most or are just the craziest.

Q5: Most popular and Most Unique names? A: Most popular: Bella, Buddy, Maggie, Happy Oddist/Most Unique:  Kudzu (yes like the plant), Isis (yes you read that right ISIS.), Toby Keith, Repo, Chameka, Drogo, Biggles, Ricochet, Struggle, Beans, and Cha cha & Lasha. Lol The Weird is never ending.

Q6: Favorite Dogs? A: Ok I’m going to limit myself to 10 because I could go on and on and on. So in no certain order my favorites are: Kudzu, Beatrice, Hannah & Chloe, Baxter & Millie, Poe, Bella L. Gryffin, Dallas, Daphne, and Repo. Like I said I could keep going but that’s just 10 of them.

Q7: Scariest Moments? A:  There are so many. Once I post this, I’ll make a whole post about this.

Ok thanks guys for reading if there is anymore questions that i didn't answer just ask me below. I will talk to you all later Byyyyyyee

Squirrel Babies <3 

My Heart Is Too Big For This Shit lol

Hey guys what is up,

This week has been an emotional week for me. Boss Lady does rescuing and fostering for a local rescue. When I first started working here, we had 2: Beagle and Oakley. Yes, Beagle is a rescue. No one wanted him so Boss Lady kept him. Oakley was a black pit bull who was there for about 6 months after I started and then she got adopted by one of Boss Lady’s friends. She brings her by every now and then so I still get to see my Okie. Boss Lady’s most recent rescue was a dog named Miley. She is a 2-year-old pit bull. I, personally, love pits. So I automatically fell in love with Miley. She is just the sweetest girl ever. We found out that Miley had been an owner surrender around Christmas and had amazingly spent 6 months in the shelter. (Our local shelter puts pits down really quick) While she was at the shelter she would never move. She was depressed because she had been left by her dad who she loved. So since some of Boss Lady’s 4 pits didn’t like her we tried to find her a home. She went to live with someone who boards their dog with us frequently. Everything was good. Then Boss Lady started getting emails and calls from the lady saying she was busting out of creates and peeing in the house. Miley never peed inside with us. She also didn’t mind being in her kennel. This past week while Boss Lady was on vacation the lady called her and said she could no longer keep Miley and wanted to come and drop her off. So I had to quickly rearrange some dogs and speed clean the room we were gonna put her in. When she arrived, she didn’t seem too sure about me and was kinda scared. This slightly broke my heart. Me and Miley played for hours while she was staying with us and I gave her lots of love daily so it hurt that she didn’t recognize me right off. Once she got in the gate she realized who I was and came out of her shell a bit. The lady gave me her stuff and was crying saying she hated she had to do this and it was killing her. I stood there while Miley watched as the lady she had come to know as her mom leave her. I loved on her a bit and put a leash on her and walked her to the side of the kennel she was on. Once we were on the other side I sat down. Now I am very In-tune to people and animal’s emotions so it was already killing me that she had to watch her mom leave. As soon as I sat down on the side walk, Miley walked up and put her head against my chest. I could almost hear her saying ‘She left me. Why does no one want me, Kristina?’ She kept standing there with her head against my chest as I hugged her and kissed her head as I cried for her. This poor sweet girl had to watch everyone she loved leave her. I just felt so bad for her. Yesterday Boss Lady took her home with her to try her out again with her dogs. That I know of she didn’t bring her back to the kennel so I guess all went well. I have already promised Miley that if Boss Lady can’t keep her for whatever reason and Boss Lady can’t find her a new home, that once I get my house finished she was coming to live with me. There is no leaving at my house until you pass away.

Boss Lady tried to vouch for the lady saying she tried to keep Miley but nothing was working. I have come to realize Miley appears to have separation anxiety. If you leave her alone in a house she freaks out and panics. She also doesn’t like being in confined places. She broke out of creates, even bruising her head once, and even tore up their base boards when they tried to lock her in the laundry room. Now to me that isn’t trying. If a dog doesn’t like being alone in a room or doesn’t like a create, just don’t put them in there. My dog sleeps on the couch or under my bed (his choice) or on my bed every night. The separation anxiety takes time. Kovu, my pit, had it when we first got him but now he’s fine. Once they realize you will come back, they calm down and don’t panic anymore. I just don’t get it.

Anyway guys thanks for reading and as always leave any comments, questions, or topics you’d like me to talk about in the comments and ill get back to you ASAP.  I will talk to you all later Byyyyyyyee. 

Is There Something Wrong With Me?????

Hello guys what’s up,

As I said in my last post, I train everyone now. We only have girls working because for whatever reason the dogs just don't like guys. I have trained at least 6 people that I remember. It is probably more with all my concussions I have had I don’t have the best memory anymore. The first one was not a terrible nightmare. I wanted to laugh at the beginning of the day because she brought a frozen lunch. Now that doesn’t seem weird right. We were working 6:30am – 1pm so why would you not bring some lunch to sit down and eat right? What is sitting down? I thought it was funny because we don’t have time to just sit down and eat. We walk dogs (6-7), feed dogs and leaf blow walkways and runs (7-8), walk dogs (8-9), clean rooms (9-10), walk dogs and let Cindy’s dog in (10-11), do chores and laundry (11-12), and walk dogs again (12-1). There is not sitting down for 15-20 minutes and eating. You bring like animal crackers or something small that you can eat and then take off again.  Now it’s normal on the first day of training for us to get behind. I work at a very fast pace and have a rhythm after working there so long. It took her from 9 until almost 12 to clean all the rooms. I wanted to die. I didn’t wanna be rude and be like ‘Ok look, you have got to hurry up.’  When she finally got done cleaning rooms I quickly went over where everything was, things she needed to make sure was done before she started walking the dogs at 12 because that is the last thing you do so once you get done you can go home. We normally train people for 2 days and then they can decide if they want another day of training or if they want to try on their own. So the next day I got there and …. No girl. She had called and said she couldn’t come in. This has been the story every single time. In the many people I train we have had only 3 some back the next day, one of which is Tats. Im just glad I don’t have to train anymore.

Well this one was short and sweet. Thank you guys for reading and ill talk to you all later byyyyye.

Craziness At The Inn & Our Girls

What’s up guys,

I have been working like crazy lately because we have had two girls quit (not that I care they sucked anyway lol) Anyway. I'm gonna try to start doing a post every week just to sum up the week and all.

This week has been kinda crazy. We had a dog come in that literally barked nonstop for all 10ish hours we were open. He came to us because he had gotten kicked out of the last boarding facility for…… BARKING TOO MUCH LOL. That child would not shut up. We tried everything. We tried putting calming spray on his blankets, we tried putting lavender on his blanket, giving him calming pills, leaving him outside longer, feeding him more, and we even tried a bark collar (last hope) and NONE of it worked. Thankfully the child went home Thursday. Then Friday we had a psycho come in. He came in and tried to bite the worker (We’ll call her Tats because she has a lot of tattoos), he tried to bite his owner too. Tats is kinda new so she still let him come in and put him in his kennel. When Boss Lady got there, Tats told her about what the dog, who we will call ‘Psycho’, had done and Boss Lady was like ok let me try. Boss Lady always tries to work with the crazy ones. She said he was fine in the yard but when she went to put him back up, he lunged at her and tried to attack her. Boss Lady is leaving for about a week so she couldn’t let a crazy dog like that be there while she was away. We also have a girl who works here that is severely accident prone. (More about that later). So Boss Lady had to call the lady and she had to come pick him back up. This is the first time that I know of that we have done that. Even ‘Satan’ who hates EVERYONE but Boss Lady is allowed to stay. ‘Satan’ is the one I talked about last time that I had to feed with a spoon because she will attack me if I try to go in her room. Boss Lady leaves in the morning to go on vacation. Luckily we have an easy week while she is gone.  Now to talk about the girls who work with me.

- Girl #1: We will call her ‘AP’ for accident prone. This woman had gotten hurt SO many times now that I have lost count. She had been bitten by a dog at work, stabbed herself with a box cutter, been bitten by her own dogs, cut open her hand at work… the list is never ending. It’s an ongoing joke now that she needs to get a discount at the hospital now after all the stuff she has done. I personally don’t like AP. She is the one who trained me when I first started working here and honestly she is horrible at training. She cuts a lot of corners and it makes the trainee’s work suffer because of it.  She trained one other girl and did her the same way so now I train everyone. I don’t know why they keep her around but it’s not my choice.

- Girl #2: ‘Tats’ I LOVE ‘Tats’. I trained her and she is just so nice and works hard. There are some minor issues with what she does but she is kinda new and when I was new there was issues with me too so. She is older than me. She is probably in her 30’s. She is just really easy to get along with. She is my favorite.

- Girl #3: ME lol. I am accident prone too but not as bad as ‘AP’. I have cut my fingers and palm a couple of times on our cables to the metal doggie doors. The most common with me is concussions. I have had so many. I bang my head on everything. I hit it on our two covered runs almost daily. I once bashed my head on our ‘small yard’ gate so hard I had an indention on my head for 3 days. The worse one was when I burnt my leg with our steamer. I was in a hurry one day and wasn’t paying attention and hit the button to spray the steam while it was pointed at my leg. I have a scar now. We use a steamer to clean the kennels once dogs go home.

Well that it for this post. I may write another one and post in tonight too, I don’t know yet. If you have any comments or questions leave them below. Thanks guys, BYE. 

The Truth About Being A Kennel Worker

*Hey Guys, I have been hella busy at work and haven’t really had anything to talk about so that’s why it’s been so long anyway on the focus of the post*

This is just based on my experience at my job. It may not be the same anywhere else this is just my personal experience. 

The truth of being a kennel worker is it’s not a cake walk. We have had so many people come to work with us and then it ended up not working out because they come in with the mindset of ‘OMG I get to play with dogs all day, BEST JOB EVER.’ No. While we do play with the dogs, that’s not all it is. There is a lot of work involved in what we do. There is a lot of cleaning, walking, and multi-tasking involved. You work your ass off the whole shift. There will be dogs that come in that hate you. I have had a dog come in that I literally had to feed with a spoon from outside of her kennel because she would attack me if I went in. No matter how much I tried to talk to her and calm her down and give her treats to show her I’m not an evil person and I’m not gonna hurt her, she still hates me. You will have dogs that will drive you crazy barking your whole shift. We had one not too long ago that I am convinced damaged my ear drum because he would bark so much and so loud. You will have dogs that will not come in the doggie dog and you have to pull muscles in your arms/shoulders just to get them in. You will have dogs that think it’s a game to run in and out as you are trying to lock them in. You will have dogs with special needs. There will be some that are blind, deaf, paralyzed in their back legs, diabetic etc. and you have to care for them too. You will have some dogs that will pee in their inside room nonstop. No matter how long you leave them out or when you take them out, they will still pee. It can be hell. You will have other employees that will not do their job right and you have to do your work plus theirs. You will have to stay over and come in early because people get hurt or stuff happens.

BUT despite all that it can be the best job in the world. You will have dogs that you will see are coming in and you are so happy. You will want to take them home with you. We have one coming in tomorrow named Beatrice and I love her to pieces. She is staying for 10 days and I’m gonna love all 10 of those days that I have to work with her. You will have dogs that adore you. We have one that loves me so much he literally jumps out of his mom’s arm, over the gate and ran and jumps into my arms. It will be the best feeling in the world to know a dog loves you that much. You will give all your favorites nicknames. You will think of them as your children. You will watch dogs come in terrified of everything and will slowly open up to you just because you spend time petting them. Like Beatrice, who I call B or BB. She came in and was scared of everyone and wouldn’t even come to me. By the end of her stay me and her were playing and she would give me hugs and sit in my lap. You will learn the dogs that come in frequently personality. You will be able to look at them and say ‘Are you ok? You aren’t acting like yourself today?’ You will have your heart broken when one of your favorites passes away. You will dread when certain ones go home because they are what you look forward to everyday. It’s dogs like that that make all the hard days and rough moments worth it. You will talk to them like they are your kid: ‘Jeff, leave Lola alone.’ ‘Happy, sit down.’ ‘Max, be quiet. No one wants to hear your loud mouth.’ Happy quit crying you’re fine.’ Remi, get in here.’ ‘Beags quit eating dirt.’ ‘What’s wrong lil Anna is big man Daddy picking on you?’ ‘Nash, quit picking on your sister.’ All the previous sentences are literally things I have said to dogs at work.

In conclusion, being a kennel worker isn’t easy. You will have days where you can’t wait to go home and you know the dogs are gonna be hell. However, you’ll also have days where you don’t ever wanna leave and contemplate going in early just to see your babies sooner. It’s a thankless job, but seeing those smiling faces every day and knowing some of them love you so much makes it all worth it.

That it. Thank you guys for reading this long post lol. As always if you have any question or comments feel free to leave them below and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. Now I'm off to work to play with the kids. Thanks guys. Bye.