Your Dog's Diet at the Kennel

At Good Shepherd Boarding Kennel, the owners are required to bring their dog's regular food. Many kennels do not allow this (unless it is vet prescribed) as it creates more work for the staff as well as many bags of food to keep straight.

However, feeding the dog its regular food has many benefits. For one, it's familiar and therefore comforting for your dog. It's weird enough being in the kennel, why add one more change? Speaking of which, sudden changes in diet for the dogs almost always leads to stomach upset on the part of the dog. This is no fun for the dog, no fun for me to clean up, and no fun for the owner when the dog returns home and has to adjust to their regular food again.

Yes, it's more work for me to keep track of those bags, bins and containers of food, remembering what each dog is getting fed. Surprisingly, my memory works well in this arena, even when I can't remember what I had for breakfast yesterday (even though it's almost always oatmeal).

While it's healthy and a good mental challenge for us to make changes in our lives, not all changes are beneficial. It requires a careful approach to discern where changes are needed, and what changes may make us sick to our stomachs.