Here’s what you should know before you board a pet

There are few state regulations governing kennels and even fewer penalties for those who don’t follow the rules.

“There’s not too many requirements on us, and that’s a dangerous thing,” said Randi Carter, owner of All Dogs Bark-N-Play, 114 S. Pattie.

The Kansas Division of Animal Health, overseen by the Department of Agriculture, requires kennels to follow state regulations, but it’s unlikely for anything to happen to kennels that don’t follow the regulations.

And pets can’t speak for themselves.

Here are some tips to consider when choosing a boarding facility for your pet.

Make sure the owner has a license

The state Division of Animal Health requires anyone who boards or trains more than three animals for money per week to maintain a license.

But not every kennel has a license, and the state seldom penalizes those that do not get a license.

“We try to first approach it by explaining the regulations, rules, giving them an application and asking them to send that in,” said Jeff Jones, program manager of Animal Facilities Inspection for the Kansas Department of Agriculture. “We make it an educational outreach type of approach.”

Because of that, pet owners should ask to see the kennel’s or trainer’s license.

Make sure the facility passed a state inspection

The state also approaches kennel inspections with an educational mindset. It hopes to inform kennels about the law rather than penalize them for not following it.

The Kansas Pet Animal Act does not specify how often inspectors should visit each facility, so the department uses a performance-based approach.

“If the facility has a good history of continually passing inspections with very minimum violations or no violations, then we increase the time to go back for routine inspections,” Jones said.

The Eagle requested all boarding facility inspections for Sedgwick, Harvey, Kingman, Sumner, Cowley and Butler counties.

Of those reports, seven were past the one-year mark for the latest inspection.

Inspectors conduct followup inspections only if a facility fails. An inspector does not have to make a followup trip if a facility passes its inspection but receives notes on its report for areas that need to be fixed.

What to look for on your own

Carter, of All Dogs Bark-N-Play, says pet owners should make sure drainage systems run through the building, surfaces are sealed and walls, wood and floors are waterproofed.

She said those are key because kennel operators should be able to spray down the building without developing mold or bacteria on the surfaces.

At least two Wichita kennels have been shut down because of sanitation problems. Animal Play Works, 114 S. Pattie, shut down because of issues with sanitation, maintenance, housekeeping and ventilation. Those violations also contributed to an outbreak of giardia, an intestinal infection contractible by both dogs and people.

Animal Play Works closed the day of a failed inspection in March. A new company, All Dogs Bark-N-Play, cleaned the facility and fixed all sanitation problems before it opened.

Bessie’s Puppy Love, 2801 Madison, also shut down after a failed inspection in 2013 for issues with the building’s surfaces, maintenance and sanitation.

Carter also said pet owners should make sure outdoor areas have food and water for pets. Most importantly, she said, “listen to your dog.” If a dog is hesitant to go back to a boarding facility, it’s usually not a good sign.

Ask for the kennel’s injury rate

Both the state and city do not require kennel and training facilities to report animal injuries or deaths.

Individuals can file complaints with Animal Control or with the Division of Animal Health. The complaints through Animal Control are public as long as they aren’t part of a pending criminal investigation, but complaints through the Division of Animal Health are not public.

Carter said pet owners should ask their kennel about its injury rate.

“If they say they’ve never had one, they’re lying,” she said. “You can’t put 30 people in a room and expect they’ll all get along.”

Carter said to ask how many employees a kennel has on staff at a time and about the kennel’s supervision standards when dogs play together.

But the bottom line, she said, is pet owners should do their own due diligence.

“I don’t have to report anything,” Carter said. “That’s the scary part.”

This story was originally published December 7, 2015 at 10:54 AM with the headline "Here’s what you should know before you board a pet."