Going out of town and need to find a place for your dogs to stay? You may be tempted to kennel them at the vet’s office. But is that really the right option for your dog? In this article, we’ll explore two different types of dog accommodations: pet hotels vs. vet offices. Each offers different options, but which one is the best for your dog? Let’s find out…
What is a Pet Hotel?
You might already be familiar with a typical kennel experience for dogs that most vets offer. A kennel service is bare-bones: rows of kennels, supplied food, and a few potty breaks. This ensures that your dog is kept safe and is lower cost compared to other dog watching services, but it’s also very limited.
A pet hotel is the next step up. While different pet hotels offer different services, they all have a few things in common:
Different types of accommodations beyond only kennels
Additional services like daycare, grooming, and play time
A focus on pet comfort and luxury vs. just the essentials
At Houston Bark Park, we call our pet hotel services “dog boarding” because it’s the more common term.
If you were to put it into human terms, a kennel at the vet is like staying at a hostel while a pet hotel/boarding is like staying at a human hotel. There are a few key differences to note about each experience.
Reasons to Board at a Pet Hotel Instead of the Vet
Less Stressful for Young, Healthy Dogs
A pet hotel is designed with comfort in mind. By contrast, a vet clinic’s kenneling services are designed with efficiency in mind. While a vet’s kennel is ideal for overnight stays following a medical procedure, for multi-day overnight boarding it can be a very sterile and unstimulating experience. Because vets are also often dealing with limited space, this means that kennels are typically stacked closely - and when there are lots of dogs in one space that can’t all see each other, there’s lots of barking.
Additionally, staying for multiple nights at the vet’s kennel may be stressful for your pup. If they have stress around the vet’s office, then that location can have an unfortunate negative association in your dog’s mind. This adds an extra level of anxiety on top of their stay.
Related Content: What to Look for in a Dog Boarding Facility
Group Play Options and Enrichment
Some vet offices that offer kenneling services will also offer daily walks for your dog - but not all. And even those that do, it’s typically only once or twice per day. Except for potty breaks, the rest of that time they are in their kennel. Vet offices don’t have the space or ability to host playgroups and offer daily enrichment. And to be fair - they don’t pretend to! Vet kennels are often very upfront that their boarding services are a lower-cost, no-frills option.
However, this lack of activity can be draining for some dogs. If your dog is active and loves to play, then a pet hotel like Houston Bark Park is a much better option. It’s also a better choice for lower-energy, intelligent dogs who love to spend their days sniffing and investigating. At a pet hotel, your dog has daily enrichment opportunities. At Houston Bark Park, all three of our locations offer daily daycare for our boarding dogs. This means a full day of outdoor play with other pups. This experience not only provides enrichment but also helps dogs get a full day of sleep. After playing all day, most of our guests are so tuckered out they’re ready to just curl up and sleep through the whole night.
Note: We also do offer boarding-only experiences at our Energy Corridor location. These boarding services include solo enrichment activities. For more information, visit our Energy Corridor page.
Different Accommodations to Choose From
At a vet kennel, you have one option: a kennel. At a pet hotel like Houston Bark Park, there are larger rooms for your pet. At our Energy Corridor location, we have several rooms to choose from. Our Large and Luxury suites are spacious enough for dogs to fully stand up, stretch, and walk around. Additionally, dog siblings can stay together in the same room. This provides extra comfort and familiarity.
As an example, at our Energy Corridor location we have the following rooms:
At our Maxie and Shepard locations, our standard room sizes accommodate all sizes of dogs and provide more room to stretch, reposition, and relax over a small kennel often found at vet’s offices.
More Peace of Mind
A pet hotel also offers one key advantage over a vet kennel: transparency. Most vet kennels do not provide the option for pet parents to check in via cameras or status updates. Pet parents have to call the office directly to ask for an update.
At Houston Bark Park, we offer several options for pet parents to remotely check in on their pet. For pets participating in daily daycare, pet parents can tune into our cameras for a live feed of play. We also have 24/7 camera monitoring available with our luxury suites.
We also offer daily report cards. These reports give you an update on everything your pooch did that day and how.
When a Vet is the Better Choice
While we’ve covered why a pet hotel is often a more preferable choice, there are several cases where your dog may do better staying at a vet clinic.
A vet’s clinic may be the right choice for dogs with special needs, and/or elderly dogs. A vet’s clinic can monitor and provide treatment for dogs who need hourly care and do not need the same type of group play enrichment as a low-needs dog. Examples of dogs who need the level of high care a vet’s office can provide include, but aren’t limited to: geriatric dogs who have mobility impairment and/or incontinence, some visually impaired dogs who become stressed in large and unfamiliar environments, dogs with severe allergies and/or severe GI issues, and dogs with severe anxiety who need medication.
In these cases, dogs who need that higher level of care may not be the right candidates for a pet hotel. They may not enjoy or need the level of enrichment and freedom offered at a pet hotel. Instead, they may actually need a kennel environment where they will spend most of the time sleeping, and can receive a high degree of hourly medical care.
For most low-needs dogs however, they prefer the enrichment and play offered at a pet hotel.
Final Thoughts
When considering overnight stays for your dog, consider a pet hotel. While staying at a vet’s office can be fine for short stays, multi-night experiences can be more stressful, less comfortable, and lacking enrichment. This can be stressful for younger, healthier dogs who need more daily activity.
When researching a boarding facility for your dog, it’s important to look for facilities that prioritize transparency, enrichment, and safety. If you’re seeking lodging in the Houston area, Houston Bark Park has three beautiful locations that prioritize those three core values.
Houston Bark Park and Daycare is a family-owned doggy daycare and boarding kennel that offers lodging, grooming, obedience training, and enrichment for pups in the Houston area. We have three locations:
Address: 4905 Maxie Street, Houston, TX 77007
Phone: 713. 864. 2771
Address: 710 W 27th Street Houston, TX 77008
Phone: 281. 888. 1428
Address: 3663 S Dairy Ashford Road Houston, TX 77082
Phone: 832. 328. 5844
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