I am a manager of a small and wonderful boarding facility. We keep no more than 30 dogs at a time (a kennel near us keeps 120 at a time). We have 1 girl for every 5-7 dogs. They are in little bedroom suites rather than runs and it's plenty of room for 2 GSDs. They get 3 walks and play time each day. We rarely have a dog that is upset being there. They are often nervous for the first hour or so (depending on the dog) but settle in rather quickly. Most of our return guests are excited to come and visit us again. We certainly are no replacement for mommy and daddy, but the dogs do accept us nicely for the time they are with us. We have people from far away bring their pets to us. We have a lady who drives 2 hours to bring her shelties to us, we have a man who drives down from savannah, GA to bring his cat to us and then he flies out of Orlando. We have a yorkie coming from New York to stay with us over Christmas, she has been with us many times.

questions and tips for boarding:
-Many boarding facilities will probably be already booked up for Thanksgiving by now. We were booked full at the beginning of September. If you find one you like and they are booked full ask to be put on a waiting list.
-Ask what the person to dog ratio is.
-bring something from home- a favorite toy, a blanket, a t-shirt that you wore to bed the night before.
-Do they provide a bed? If not ask if you can bring your own
-ask what hours someone will be there on the holidays.
-ask what they use to clean and sterilize the room between guests. (we use mintcide, which a lot of vets use. A kennel across town uses Lysol, which is no good for a kennel)