Colonial Acres Kennels

We returned early from our planned vacation to retrieve our dog from this boarding facility after having received a phone call from a stranger saying our dog was found wandering the streets. Without other options at the time, we asked that our dog be returned to the boarders until we could pick her up.



From conversation with the person who found our dog and the kennel workers, it became apparent to us that:



1. Dogs are left unattended in the kennel yard.



2. Dogs are possibly being exchanged in the yard by a single employee. (We were told our dog was left unattended as the employee was working with another dog.) This worried us because it could lead to interactions between dogs which we were initially led to believe would be prevented, as our dog is can be guarded around unfamiliar dogs.



3. Our dog was easily able to dig under the fence surrounding their kennel yard.



4. As owners we were not promptly notified by the kennel themselves that our dog had gone missing.



5. New employees were not properly trained for watching and handling strange dogs in unfamiliar environments.



In addition to the incident where our dog was left unattended long enough in an unsecured setting to escape their facility, it also became apparent that:



The kennel has their employees use their personal cell phones to update customers with dog pictures. This seems like a service the kennel should be providing on its own equipment.



They were possibly feeding our dog more than we specified; we had left her a bag of enough food to last more than a week, and when we picked her up after 3 days it was half gone.



They were possibly mixing the dogs' foods; we left our dog with food for her sensitive stomach, but the leftover food that was returned to us included kibble that was clearly from other brands.



With all of the above, I would not recommend this kennel to others.