The other week I was reading Dear Abby; ok, that’s not true, I’ve never read Dear Abby in my life. Really, my wife was reading it and told me that Dear Abby had said that asking a family member to put a dog in a “kennel” is “tantamount to telling them they must put their child in foster care for the duration of their visit with you.”
Here’s my response.
Dear Abby:
I’ve never been a foster parent or been in foster care, but I assume that the vast-vast majority of foster parents are good people who want to do right by children. While I don’t have much experience with the foster care system, I do have lots of experience in what you refer to as the “kennel” business.
Perhaps it is just that you’ve not been exposed to the modern-day pet care facility (you are “Dear Abby,” after all), but to imply anything negative about a dog spending a few hours playing with other dogs or perhaps engaged in some K9 Enrichment is both wrong and out-of-date. Long gone are the “kennels” of old (that you seem to be remembering) that warehoused dogs. Quality pet care facilities employ highly trained staff and invest millions in state-of-the-art infrastructure, all to ensure that the dogs under our care, whether for just a few hours or for several weeks, have a safe, healthy and enriching experience.
I would encourage you to learn more about the modern pet care industry, and perhaps about the foster care system, before offering any more advice that impinges on either of us.
Respectfully,
Mark Klaiman
Pet Camp, San Francisco, California