Kindness Needed
First and foremost, this post is NOT to those wonderful customers that are so kind to staff all over the world. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We can’t tell you how much we appreciate your smiles and your love. We feel it and it gets us through each and every day. You know who you are, and on behalf of everyone in customer service, I sincerely thank you.
Let’s all please take a breath… a really really deep breath. The dog industry far and wide has been hit by canine cough and I mean HARD! Not just here in NH, but pretty much nationwide. Canine cough is everywhere: dog parks, vet offices, daycares, boarding, cookout with family dogs romping around, grooming, your favorite dog friendly restaurant, training, hardware store, walking down the street, playing with Foofoo next door…. EVERYWHERE. It takes sometimes 3 or 4 days to rear its ugly head. So, after said playdate with Foofoo, your dog then goes to the park, comes to daycare, and then has a nice long walk downtown. You then realize three days later that your dog is coughing. and has now exposed about 25 different dogs from all of their fun adventures over the last few days thus sharing the CC love with all of them. Yes, it is that contagious.
What should you do when your dog has canine cough? Here are some suggestions:
1 – call your vet. Tell them that your dog has been exposed to other dogs and explain their symptoms. Some vets like to let CC run its course and some vets like to give some treatment. It’s all different, has many factors, and is completely up to your veterinarian. Maybe ask your vet why the vaccine didn’t protect them from canine cough so that they can explain the ins and outs properly.
2 – take great care of your dog, like we know you will. Yes, the coughing can sound horrible, just like if your child or loved one has bronchitis. We all hate to see our dogs sick; they will get better with each day that passes. Don’t rush into a playdate, a dog park visit, or a daycare visit. Give them plenty of time to recover and don’t expose them to any dogs until you know they are over it completely.
3 – call your dog’s daycare to kindly inform them that your dog has canine cough. The staff there will appreciate the call because they are keeping track, they are super sad that CC is in the air, and they want to do everything they possibly can to protect the dogs in their care from CC. They are also incredibly sad that your dog is sick. Maybe you also want to call Foofoo’s parents to let them know too.
Here is what is not recommended:
1 – call your dog’s daycare to scream at the person answering your call. Threaten them with the vet bills that you are going to send to them and expect them to pay. Tell them over and over again that they must not care about dogs because your dog is sick. This is incredibly insulting, rude, and downright mean especially because you are speaking to someone that has committed their career to giving the most excellent care to not only your dog, but thousands and thousands of dogs throughout their years of working in the dog industry. Trust me, this is not a cushy job… they love your dog whole heartedly. If your child or loved one caught a cold somewhere, would you do the same thing to the establishment where you think they may have caught the cold? A child’s daycare or school perhaps or even a restaurant that you ate dinner at a couple of nights ago. Would you call to tell the hostess at the restaurant that you will be sending over your doctor’s bill because you caught a cold there? No, of course you wouldn’t. Please don’t do it to the incredible staff that work so hard to share love and excellent care of your dog day in and day out.
2 – the dog facility you visit will put into place procedures to keep all the dogs safe and healthy. Let me say that one more time…. Dog facilities want to keep ALL DOGS safe and healthy. So, when they explain that they can’t cross contaminate between services such as daycare and boarding it is so that they can keep ALL of the DOGS safe and healthy, including yours. There are dogs in the boarding kennel that don’t normally go to daycare. There are dogs in the boarding kennel that might be very senior or in poor health. The staff want to be certain that those dogs are not exposed to canine cough as best as they can. Canine cough to a senior dog could be fatal. So, what you should not do is have a full-blown temper tantrum in the lobby, scream at the staff trying to help you and understand that these procedures are in place to keep not only your dog safe and healthy, but also the other dogs that are also on vacation. I promise you that your dog will be happy, busy, and safe while they are boarding. The staff are fully aware of which dogs usually go to daycare and yes, they will be very guilty of carefully creating small play groups for those dogs. The staff will also be very guilty of laying on a dog bed with a dog that might need a little something extra. They will be very guilty of doting on, giving extra belly rubs to, cuddles to, and probably a few extra treats to all of the dogs because that is what they do: Every. Single. Day. These are the very staff that you are yelling at, threatening negative google reviews at, slamming down the phone at, and storming out the door at.
We are beat down.
We are tired.
We have tears in our eyes daily.
We are doing our best.
We take our job of caring for your dog very seriously.
Please be kind, it’s all we are asking.
Thank you for taking such great care of Maggie and Digger. K9 Kaos is an important part of our life and we are grateful daily
Thank you Barbara. We appreciate your family so much. Thank you so much for your kind words and continued support.
This story BREAKS MY HEART. Everyone at K9 Kaos is unbelievably supportive, patient, loving, and eager to please. There is no excuse for this type of behavior. None. The McIntyres support you all 100 million percent!!!
Thank you so much Megan. We can’t express just how happy your comment makes us feel. We appreciate it very much.
Thank you for all you do Anne and team to provide the best/safest/healthiest care for the dogs. I am sorry to read that some owners are taking out their fears on K9 Kaos staff. Stay cool!
Thank you so much Abigail. I really appreciate your kind words.
How blessed we all are to have access to a top notch caring environment for our fur babies? That we are fortunate to be able to send our pups for play and love am land know they will be treated like family by the amazing staff? I choose to send my human child to daycare and she may get a sick. I send my fur child to daycare and she, too, may get sick. Thank you to the amazing team at K9, I appreciate you all!
Thank you so much Ashley! Duchess is so funny and we are so happy to be able to care for her. We appreciate your comments so much. Thank you again.
I am so very, very sorry and this is breaking my heart to see this and know that people have become so very rude and are OK with being that way. I have the utmost respect for you and all the wonderful staff. It is not a short drive from Kennebunk to Dover and especially with my wild Jaspar and Scrounger. I wouldn’t think of boarding them anyplace else. You do what you do to try to keep both our furbabies and their caregivers, your staff safe. It is like you said, us going out to eat, shopping, school, or visiting with friends, we can pick up things. Big hugs and support to you all. Your’re the best.
Thank you so much. We absolutely love when Jaspar and Scrounger are in the house! Thank you for your kind words and your continued support.
I am so sorry to hear people are being so mean. Bane loves going there and everyone is so nice every time he goes. Thank you for taking good care of him whenever he is there. ❤️
Thank you so much Kim. We all appreciate your message so much. Hi Bane! 🙂
our wonderful boy choppa (who is now in doggie heaven) had the absolute best love and care from all of the staff at K-9 he was a regular daycare pup and a regular boarder. He would start his howl from a mile away with excitement. Staff was always extra caring on rough days and understanding during difficult times. This staff lives our fur babies like their own. We are so forever grateful for the love and care that choppa got from K-9 for years. They would again be our second home for any future pups….
Terri! We miss you and Choppa so much. We can’t thank you enough for your kind words and support. ….did you say future pup? 🙂
ScoobyDoo and I are so sad to hear of such behavior from your customers. You are the most amazing staff of individuals who greet us daily with smiles and positive energy every morning. When I walk out after dropping Scooby at daycare, I skip down the stairs knowing my sweet puppy will be cared for by the kindest of people. I hope you can somehow remember that the unkind voices always seem to overwhelm the kind people’s voices…hopefully you will hear many supportive messages this week! Hang in there!! We love all of you! Hugs!!
Thank you so much Dina. I can’t tell you how much we appreciate your support, kindness, and positivity. It has helped us so much.
This is so upsetting to me. I don’t understand how anyone would ever yell and scream at the staff at K9Kaos. They are all the most loving and caring group of people I have ever met. I thank god every day that K9Kaos is the place where I can bring Jed and NEVER have to worry about him having fun and being loved. I worry about him when he is at home alone while I’m at work, but never at doggie day care. Thank you so much for all you do on a daily basis. It is very appreciated.
Thank you so much Kelli. It has been a pleasure caring for Jed, one of the smiley’est dogs at K9. 🙂
I am so sorry that you have to put up with people like that! I don’t understand how people can be so rude! Thank you for all you do!
Thank you so much Lesa, we really appreciate it.
Willow E and her family love and appreciate everyone of you past & present! I am so grateful to all the care you have given Willow throughout her 12+ years. Not only does she love you all, but your staff saved her life while she was in your in care while we were away, and words can not describe how blessed we were for some quick acting and caring people. Thank you again for all you and the staff do day in and day out. Much love
We were just talking about Miss Willow yesterday. I hope she is doing well, we all certainly miss seeing her. Thank you so much for your kind words. Please give Willow a huge hug (and her favorite treat of course) from all of us.
Gosh…. I haven’t even met any of you yet and I already have so many good things to say about you…. Just based on how kind and patient and available you have been for me while I plan my first boarding experience for my lovable scruffy little pack of 3!! I can’t wait for you to meet them!! I thank you all in advance for being here for them so I can be in NC with my daughter. I’m so thankful. We’ll be seeing you soon!! And ps…. I am 100% fully aware of the burden placed on the dog industry because of Covid since so many people decided to get a dog during the pandemic… so again, thank you for all you do for all of us and our 4 legged loves.
I use to work here 5-6 years ago. And I STILL care and check on the pups I worked with. We work in the dog industry because we are passionate about animals.
You sure are! I love it! 🙂