Long rant. Pardon me. I just have to get this off my chest. Been holding onto this for too long. Apology if this comes off as resentful or angry.

E.v.e.r.y Y.E.A.R, one month before the major holidays (Christmas and Lunar New Year), *without fail*, some random strangers would suddenly pop in at my place wanting to take an immediate tour of the facility. Like I would drop all of my daycare dogs to attend to these random strangers who show up on a whim?

My mild reason for declining is we don’t have spare manpower. We are not a big place with full-time receptionist or retail salesperson or non-dog-related personnel (like security guards). Every person who is on the ground of the facility is in charge of a group and is fully responsible for each of of the dogs under their care.

Additionally, the month BEFORE a major holiday is when I’m buried in prep work for the upcoming holiday. Cleaning supplies, first aid kit, staff refresher trainings, bookings, confirmations, special requests, special needs dogs (or parents), logistics, facility security and safety reviews, repairs and maintenance, and whatever else is on the preparation list. Holidays are high season for us, and the prep work must be meticulously and thoroughly done and started a month before if we were to sail thru the holiday without any accidents. Do I have time for these sudden barge in? NO.

Back to the unannounced visitors. Some come by themselves (1 person). Some as a couple (2 adults). Some with their dogs (for whom I have no vet records nor social history). Some with both dogs and toddlers (more than 1 kid), wanting to walk into my yard full of dogs, just like that.

S-A-F-E-T-Y.

I decline them ALL. No Exception. For SAFETY reasons. Do I know how each of my daycare/boarding dogs react when a stranger walk into their place? Yes. Do I know how they collectively act as a group when a stranger walk into their place? Yes. Do these strangers know that they would be the cause of excited/frustrated reactions and barking, resulting in unnecessary stress and potential dog fights & bites *if* I allow them to walk into my place? I highly doubt it.

Some threw out this excuse for wanting to barge into my place at all cost, “Oh, but I want to see the real place, not the staged one they show when you make appointments.” Pffffft….. I don’t even know where to start with this.

Again, we’re small boutique daycare & boarding place. We don’t have a marketing employee who beautify everything and works full-time to promote us everywhere. The photos and videos you see on our social media is exactly what we send the dog parents. What You See IS What You Get. Online or offline. We close daycare at 5pm, and then clean from 5 to 7pm everyday, so you never smell any pee or see any poops left behind, no matter what time of the day it is – this you may need to experience in person. We aim to take the best care of dogs and spend all of our time and energy on it. We don’t aim to be the prettiest place, though I know lots of other places give you pretty photos and videos and then their service lets your dogs down.

Delving deeper, or maybe I’m just being too sensitive, here comes the hurtful part. Whoever gave this excuse to me (1) doesn’t seem to even trust my place to begin with, and (2) doesn’t respect my rules and boundaries? So, should we even start a relationship?

Coming back to making appointments, it allows me and my team to plan ahead with our dogs and free up a team member to give any interested dog parents a tour, answer questions and explain our process at a leisurely manner – all while keeping the dogs who are in our care that day in a controlled, relaxing environment.

What’s more important than taking good care of our dogs? My answer is, nothing else. Our whole business exists is to take good care of dogs and we exist because we take good care of dogs. Period. No fancy bells or whistles. Just a team of very dedicated dog lovers – caretakers who are good at their job. We are always happy to meet up with dog parents (all of us are dog owners ourselves), have a chat about your and your dog’s needs and how we can accommodate them, and sharing fun dog stories (yours, ours, others’). Just remember to shoot us a message or call first before coming. So we can set aside time to meet with you. If you want to bring the doggos, send vaccination records first before coming. And if your dogs are older than a year, please kindly note we only accept neutered or spayed dogs (unless they have valid medical reasons with vet’s written explanation).