They look amazing
It looks lovely but oh, how I hated leaving them
How did you cope with crying, guilt wracked cat owners? 
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Wot you on about? Didn’t have to we had sold and gone
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Realspeed, Your kennels did look impressive and wonderful but no way would l ever leave my pet in any kennel.
They either come with me whilst l’m away or, l do without going anywhere!
Yes, l’m silly and have probably missed out on loads of nice holidays but l wouldn’t enjoy my time away, worrying about them and missing them.
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Some kennel owners go the extra mile.
I remember when we left our little Jack Russell in kennels for a week.
Never again … she was so upset the kennel owners told us they’d taken her into their own home to help her through it.
Oh she was so pleased to see us … and us, her.
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It is up to the pet owner of course, all we could do is offer the best accommodation we could afford together with the boarders well being. Some animals don’t mine being in kennels others don’t. I can only show you mine that was and some of the effort put in to make it acceptable.As we had gone from. 350 clients to over 5,000 we must have been doing something right I guess it. We even had clients that had moved to other parts of the UK and booked with us while visiting friends/relatives nearby as they had booked before before they moved away, even a vets booked their dogs with us while on holiday. We were fully licenced and every animal covered under our insurance policy, some boarding establishments don’t do this
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No, I meant back when you were running it and taking in animals
Did you ever get people like me who burst into tears everytime they dropped their cat off?
Not really but we did have a few client return earlier than booked and tried to demand a refund . Already had that issue covered in our terms and conditions contract which they had signed when they left their pet. Also we’re our opening times which we kept strictly to, we may have still been exercising the dogs for example or even having our evening meal. I think the previous owners must have been a little more lenient but having laid down ground rules the conditions soon got accepted by all but a small handful. Think for example when a shop is closed you don’t expect it to open out of hours just for you, same with our place
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Well, you’d hope so, really. You couldn’t expect a refund for coming back early because you’d booked the space and the kennels probably wouldn’t be able to refill it at short notice so they’d lose out on the money 
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Exactly. Our childminder used to have similar arguments with some parents who occasionally used to pick up their children a bit early and thought they should get a discount.
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@realspeed, no doubt you insisted that animals were up to date with their jabs, but did you ever experience any outbreaks of any nasties?
Exactly ,same with advanced deposits not that happened as long as I remember. After all it is a business. Also clients on the premises would not be covered on our third-party insurance outside our open hours
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Some people have got more front than Brighton. Bet they didn’t want to pay more when they turned up late
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Animal Boarding Establishments Act 1963 covers this which is a requirement for getting a licence. We could contact a vet if necessary. On top of this we had isolation kennels in the other half of the old stables fully equiped for heating and lighting ,but I don’t have any photos to show you.
We also covered people who bought their dogs when viewing to board by providing yet another holding kennel so the dog didn’t have to stay in a hot car or mix with those already boarding.
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In the 20+ years I think we only had a couple complaints. One person wanted to board a very old cat in it last years of life. The ramp to the upstair sleeping area in the cattery it was to old to manage, so we refused to accept it. The owner lodged a comlaint to Phil the environment health inspector who gave us our licence. i will leave you to guess what he must have told this person.
Another time a complaint went in about the terrible smell in the kennels, This time the farmer in the field behind the kennel block had upset the muck spreader right behind the kennels.
On a brighter note we boarded for Simon Rattle (the famous orchester conductor) wifes dog called Ricky. The mayor in the mayoral car of walsall ,and several of the walsall football team ,
We had a Bentley car turn up with the number plate HRH 2 belonging to Mr Steve Joynes owner a the time of Hoare Cross Hall now in joint partnership. even got a private invite to visit.
even the local police used our field when we boarded for labrador rescue when we first took over. They wanted to see if any were good enough as sniffer dogs
Strange inspectors turn up on occassion. the dark wooden door in the video was where the two isolation kennels were located
also a pheasant who strolled in and out of the kennel used for when people urned up
Never work with Children or Animals!
the difference is animals will never lie to you, children will. However we did take on school children for work experience, usually for a couple of weeks. This subject to the school visit and approval as well as parents/gardians. We had to stop doing this, not that we wanted to, but new regulations made it impossble to carry on. Type of thing was a child must be accompanied at all times by owners or staff of the same sex. So the schools and the children lost out
Looking back now buying and spending on upgrading the kennels and cattery was the best move we ever made. Could I do it all over again ? No would I do it again given the circumstances leading up to buying the place? Definitely. Being self employed the finance goes into one’s own pocket not a remote boss who just sit on their backside
That was Britain at its finest, the nation of shopkeepers, the aspiration was to work for oneself, just to replicate the income earned on the production line under ones own steam, and the freedom it offered, then, the entrepreneurs started, and the fairytale ensued.