Selecting a Dog Care Facility

Fenway Bark is in the process of identifying and hiring very talented and devoted people to take care of your pet. As stewards of your pet's care in your absence, it is critically important to us to have exceptionally trained, dedicated, and communicative team members that will work with you and your selected pet care professionals to ensure your pet is receiving the best of care as our guest.

As one of our quality measures, Fenway Bark will be seeking accreditation by the Pet Care Services Association (PCSA), formerly the American Boarding and Kennel Association. Their standards are high and few facilities seek their accreditation. Fenway Bark will be seek and secure acccreditation by this organization but it takes a bit of time after we open per their process. Rest assured, this accreditation is important to us and we will begin the process as soon as we can by their rules.

Which brings me to the point of tonight's blog.

As we interview people from other facilities, I am truly, truly troubled by some of the things I am hearing from interview candidates about standards (or lack thereof) at their current employers. I am not going to point the finger anywhere but simply suggest to all of you that it is important to ask question about, among other things:

- the ratio of dogs to care givers (15 or less to 1 is good)
- how the facility tracks and administers medicine for each dog (how much room is there for human error?)
- the training and experience of the care providers
- vaccination policy
- Is there isolation space and what is the policy to isolate in the event of illness
- temperature controls and ventilation
- and the amount of play space in daycare each dog? For medium to extra large dogs, the minimum amount of space should be 100 sf per dog. For toy and small dogs, the minimum amount of space should be 50 - 75 sf per dog. Facilities that are too crowded, particularly during the holidays, are rife for problems with dogs that are crowded together.

We will continue to provide information to you so that you can make an informed decision about your pet's care.

Please find a link to the Pet Care Services Association guide to selecting a facility below.

http://www.petcareservices.org/files/comm_id_46/How_To_Select_a_Pet_Facility.pdf