So we really have eighteen runs available for boarding. Just now the regal dog-loving-cat Daylily, her son Tumbleweed, and daughter Flash live there (a definite improvement over the hole under an uprooted tree near our own pet dogs' run—where the thrown-away six-month-old-kitten-herself, gave birth in late winter three years ago.) It is theirs until someone falls in love with them and begs them away from us because they can provide an even-better home than we, or until those leisure-loving kitties die fat, sassy, and contented right here. Their spots will then be filled by whomever the Lord will have sent by then, in his Providence, to grace our lives.

Our focus is perhaps a bit "animal-nutsy" in that we designed the kennel for the comfort and safety of the animals rather than for ego-appeal to their humans or for convenience for the caretakers (us). Our focus is based on the fact that the dogs and cats who are with us, are necessarily traumatized by being away from their humans, their regular places and routines, their comforts and special joys. They are simply "on hold" waiting for their folks to come back, or in some cases, a bit in shock secondary to feeling abandoned (especially those with true abandonment in their histories).

Since our attitude is focused on the animal, we insist that you bring an up-to-date immunization record from your licensed veterinarian for Rabies, DA2PL, and Bordetella for dogs and Rabies and FCVRC for cats. Furthermore, we insist that you can prove your dog current on Heartworm preventative and that you apply fleacide treatment drops to both dog and cat upon arrival with a product such as Advantage or Frontline Plus.(There are some products to which fleas have become immune and those products are unacceptable.) There are no exceptions to these requirements and any breech of that will cause us to send you away with your dog or cat, no matter the situation.

To keep from further stressing your boarded pet, you will need to bring an ample supply of his usual food. We take specific directions from you regarding the normal meal time/s, rituals, and "additions"that your pet normally enjoys. We go to the extra trouble of feeding each creature as she is used to being fed and at the time she is used to, even though this means many more trips back and forth for us than would be necessary if we fed at "routine" times that better suited our ease of work. We also give whatever pet-treats or human-food you bring along, in the manner you usually give them. For the same reason, we encourage you to bring your pet's regular food and water dishes, although we provide dishes if you prefer.

Likewise, although we have plenty on hand, we encourage you to bring your pet's usual bedding, favorite toys, and a sock or tee shirt with your scent on it to comfort him. We recently saw a little dachshund puppy wiggle in a gazillion directions at once when he caught scent of his little girl on his dog leash! If your dog is so very well house-trained that s/he refuses to "tinkle" and "poo" at the end of the outdoor run, we walk her a minimum of three times a day. Dogs are also taken out for playtime/sniff-time a minimum of twice a day, as long as s/he is not a danger to the human playmates (us).

You need to bring and instruct us how to give whatever medications your pet needs. You will need to give us signed permission to take your pet for emergency veterinarian care should the need arise. You will need to provide your regular vet's name, address, and phone number, although we are blessed with two veterinarian services who are generously available for us.

Each indoor "doggie-den" area is about four feet square with four-foot-tall walls, heated in cold weather. It stays cool in the summer due to its construction. Once the block walls were laid, but before the top plate was bolted on, we filled the walls with sand, half a wastebasketful at a time, since that was as much as one sister could hand up to the other and as much as that other could lift to pour into the six-inch openings in the top blocks. It took somewhere between 14-17 tons of sand. One of our fondest memories of that time is that we could eat a donut every day and not pay dearly for the calories!

The outdoor part of the run, reached through a doggie door from indoors, is four feet wide and A bit over fifteen feet long. These concrete and block runs have sides that are four feet tall so as to prevent the "sharing of germs and sperms" between dogs. The surface has been DOUBLE sealed with concrete sealer and then DOUBLE stained with concrete stain (by us, to be sure it was done correctly and thoroughly), all for the purpose of protecting each pet by preventing an environment in which harmful microbes can live.

In building the kennel, we purposefully omitted windows, so as to have no possibility of glass flying and injuring animals during summer storms. The texture given the concrete floor is what was specifically recommended for the comfort and well-being of the pet's feet on concrete. If the doggie is house-trained, we place wall to wall carpeting in the doggie-den and bedding can be supplemented with snuggly doggie afghans, (handmade for that purpose by Sister's mama).

The Kitty Room has been designed so that each cat can leave his cage (4' tall x 3' wide x 2' deep with two sleeping shelves) for a portion of the day, to exercise in the room. We have equipped the room with kitty-safe temptations to exercise and play and we can take the kitty in her cage to an outdoor area, fenced in such a way that stray dogs cannot reach the cage. Additionally, the entire kennel area is perimeter-fenced to keep strays out of the area and to double-protect any kenneled pup from escaping the area in the unlikelihood of his scaling the block wall of the individual outdoor run.

We cannot love your pet as well as you do, but we sincerely do our very very best to be second best. If an animal is too aggressive for us to be able to give high-quality care, we will do our absolute best for him. We will then not issue a subsequent appointment, rather than deliver inferior care to an animal in need.

At the Peaceable Kingdom Boarding Kennel we board dogs and cats short-term by the overnight or week. Special needs for longer boarding can be accommodated, in multiple weeks or even months in some situations.

We have three special programs at the kennel:
1) a permanent home in a situation in which human and pet need to live apart, such as the person's down-sizing to an assisted-living environment unable to accept pets
2) a permanent home in a situation in which a person is able to make arrangements ahead of time for his or her pet/s in the event of preceding the pet to heaven.
3) a permanent home in a situation in which a person, youth group, organization, or other group of compassionate persons raise the funds to rescue-adopt (or assign us to do so) a dog or kitty from a humane society, shelter, breed-rescue-club, or even from the street or local dumpster-feeding area

These three programs are necessarily expensive and therefore cost-prohibitive to many. Two veterinarians must decide the likely age of the animal, its likely longevity based on its breed/s, health status, and somewhat predictable needs as it ages. (For example, large dogs such as our own elderly Trusty, often need medication for pain/arthritis as they age.) Expensive though this is, groups of persons can raise money and give an elderly dog a wonderful retirement for its last few years or a puppy or cat a long-happy-second-chance-life with us here at the monastery kennel.

The cost for these programs will provide for annual veterinarian examination with booster immunizations, Heartworm prophylaxis, flea/tick preventative, and whatever other medical needs are involved, as well as the correct food for the animal, the toys and kennel-spot-of-his-own that s/he needs, and a modest fee for the time it will take us to clean-up-after, train, and play with the him/her each day. It will include the predicted cost of three unexpected vet visits over her lifetime. This must all be provided in its entirety at the outset since the unexpected vagaries of life might prevent the annual renewal of such a profoundly loving commitment.

Our dream, deepest in our hearts, is not to board animals at all. Our dream is to "win the lottery" or have a midnight visit by "The Millionaire" to our mailbox. We would then be able to use the kennel as a permanent home for 20-24 otherwise unwanted dogs and 5-10 thrown-away kitties. We would rescue a dog and a cat a month from a shelter or breed-rescue-club. The month would be devoted to helping the newcomers adapt to his or her new home and family. Once the spaces were all full, the animals would be cared for, as are our other pets, until s/he went to heaven, at which time we'd go back to the shelter for the next addition to the family. Our dream, we realize, is as unlikely to come true for us, as it is for all the other humans with the same sorts of dreams to save some animals and give them a good life.