Figured it out! Need your help though!

Garnet · September 2011

I've finally, after all this time of being indecisive, I've finally got it! Instead of being a forensic scientist, nurse, vet, etc. I'm going to school to be a photographer (as i've always said) but on the side, I'm going to run a boarding kennel type thing. I'm going to buy a portable building, section it off into individual kennels, have the building with central air and heat so its cool in summer and warm in winter, with individual doggy doors leading into their own individually fenced off "yard" with toys and everything. Along with an office in the front and a "Check up" room next to the office, to have a vet come out an check them over. Have a door at the back of the office to go into the "Boarding" section where people can leave their dogs while on vacation or out of town meetings. Beyond that there will be another section divided off with "Strays" to take them in, get them checked by the vet, nursed to health and then given to free good homes. Passed that another door that leads to a "Bathing" room. It will be heated just as the rest of the building and it will have a few water hoses, the floor tile, with several slants for the water to run down to drains. Across the hall will be the storage room for all the food/toys/etc to be stored. What do you guys think!! PLEASE leave me feedback on your own ideas to build onto this and maybe help me make a list of what all will be needed and help me get things started! Its going to be a little while before i can do this. Maybe a few years but i know in my heart this is what i want to do with my life. Any advice/tips you can give are greatly appreciated! Seeing those commercials on tv about strays dogs and cats with no homes and being put down.. I cry just seeing them.. i see stray animals around my town all the time begging or what food they can get at the gas stations and grocery stores.. it hurts to see it and i want to do something to help them, and this is my way of doing that. my mom, dad, and boyfriend all back me up 100% on this idea and my best friend, chasity, already said she would work with me and help out. I'll have a drawing (paint), and a 3D diagram up on here as soon as possible =D Please leave me any extra advice/tips/ideas that i could use! =D 2D paint Image: (Paint-Picture/Picnik-Text) <a href="http://i51.tinypic.com/jrfmg4.jpg"; target="_blank" class="bb-url">Clicky.</a> Themes: You're ideas would be GREATLY welcomed!! New Themes: Desert Tropical Island Rainstorm Night Time

DiamondPuppy0809 · September 2011

Sounds like the idea I wanted to eventually do. xD But I don't think I will, just due to the difficulties of owning my own business and how there's really no security in it. The only issue I can forsee right now is adopting the dogs out. They can't be free. Not with all the costs for vaccinations, spaying/neutering, surgeries, medications, etc, etc. There's no way that it would work beneficially to the business... You have to at least break even or make a little bit of profit or it wouldn't work, you'd just be losing money. As much as it'd be awesome, there's a reason there's like no rescues that give dogs out for free.

HuntersGATHERING · September 2011

Sounds awesome. Mabye when you get a few more dogs you can give them certain colors that will be best matched with a family. I seen that on Animal Cops hehe. Like Blue for a 1 person home, Green for the elderly, and purple for family homes. Then extended that if dogs are goods witch cats, children, other dogs, etc. Thats all I got for now xD

Garnet · September 2011

@Gar: I didn't even think of that! You can tell it's still in rough draft form haha! Thanks though, I'll add that to my list! Hmm how much should adoption fee's be? Like... $50-$100 depending on the dog? 0.0 @Dise: That was KINDA a thought I had, like put a dry erase board beside each door, and write their "needs"/age/name/where I found them/ etc. The color idea is REALLY good though, but what If I don't know those things? I mean with a stray how will I know without putting them in that situation and take a chance on them being aggressive towards certain people ya know? I'm about to post the 2D picture I just made up on paint and Picnik. My boyfriend said it's "legit" haha as soon as i can get Tinypic working -_- It wont load for some reason... -Edit- 2D paint photo uploaded on main post!

Kazuko · September 2011

Sounds good, but very very expensive. Similar to what I plan to do eventually (but I'm going to be an animal behavioralist, not photographer xD) but agai, it's going to take a lot of time and money. Best of luck to you, though! 8D Also, as a pet owner, I'd be nervous about boarding my dog where there could be a chance of disease spreading from the strays kept in the same building (even separated by a single door). You may want to have two buildings instead of one. As for the temperament thing, yes you WOULD have to put the stray in those situations. Shelters d temperament tests on new dogs that come in to check for food aggressiveness, people/dog aggressiveness, etc.

Garnet · September 2011

Oh my gosh I knoooow It's gonna get expensive as heck. That's why I know it won't be for a few more years haha I might go into vet work eventually so i can check them over myself without having to hire someone to come out and check them over.

Kazuko · September 2011

Edited my original post as well, addressing some other concerns you may need to keep in mind xD

Garnet · September 2011

Hmmm okay. Lemme see.. Two buildings would be better, I was kind of thinking of that exact thing myself. What if i had two buildings, BUT kept this diagram, and put the NEW strays into a second building till they are checked over by a vet and deemed healthy THEN move them into the boarding building? 0.0 Would that work better? So that the healthy strays don't get sick or be around the unhealthy ones? 0.0

DiamondPuppy0809 · September 2011

$50-$100 might still be too low of a price as an adoption fee. Unless vet fees are really low where you live, you wouldn't break even if you're getting the dogs vaccinated, spayed/neutered, and taken care of for medical conditions and problems. Kaz's concerns about the boarding dogs and strays being too close together is a good point. If I were you, I'd only have 1-5 strays/rescues at a time to keep costs and work loads lower. You're still helping dogs but you can't save them all. Even just saving one at a time helps, anything does. Say you saved 1 each month. That's 12 per year. That's a lot more that a lot of people save in a lifetime, right? It all adds up! *edit* Also, for the dogs boarding. Do the owners have to provide food or would you? Because then you have to incorperate in all of the extra/different costs of what kind of food the dogs' owners are going to request. The owners that are really big on healthy, expensive dog foods are going to want exactly that. Would their boarding fee cost more then? Just little things to think about. And would there be an extra big area for all the dogs to socialize if the owners specify that they would like their dog to be around the other pooches also boarding? What would you do about the exercise situations when it comes to dogs needing to be walked/ran/etc.? I really hope this idea works out for you, it's so awesome.

Kazuko · September 2011

That might work better, or.. have three buildings. xD Two should be able to work, as long as you have clean bills of health you're able to show potential boarders.

Garnet · September 2011

Hmm All really good points 0.0 Maybe three buildings would be best eventually. Maybe i can just start with boarding only, till i get everything worked out and get more buildings 0.0 The boarders would provide their own Food for the amount of time they are gone. i could have a much larger fenced in area at the end of the hall so that they would have an area to socialize with other dogs

Mileysmybaby · September 2011

It would take alot of money, but it would be worth it in the end. I've always wanted to like get a poorly taken care of animal/a rescue and get it into great shape and show it, and do that for a ton of animals. I might do that for a few horses in the future as Im studying herbal remedies,horse genetics,etc. (Im not sure what I want to do yet, lol, but it WILL be with horses ;P) and I think it would be alot of fun. Problem is if I did it for alot of horses I would fall in love with them and not want to give them away, lol. Thats why Im thinking I will just do a few for myself, lol. ;P

Simm · September 2011

I just want to say that your Bam Margera banner ROCKS.

Garnet · September 2011

@Myst: Yea, I'm gonna have that problem too. Getting attached, but I also know that I can't keep them all and they need someone that has time to play with them and love them all the time, not just every now and then when they aren't busy with another dog ya know? @Simmeh: Thanks! Coast made it for me! =D

Mileysmybaby · September 2011

Garnet wrote:

@Myst: Yea, I'm gonna have that problem too. Getting attached, but I also know that I can't keep them all and they need someone that has time to play with them and love them all the time, not just every now and then when they aren't busy with another dog ya know? @Simmeh: Thanks! Coast made it for me! =D

Yeah haha. I would be sad to see them go still though.

Garnet · September 2011

Yea i guess lol everyone ive talked to so far have loved the idea!

Garnet · October 2011

Okay so im gonna make a new diagram with the layout of the new buildings and after Friday night my resolve to do this is even stronger! So my boyfriend and I went to the county festival with my brother and his two kids. My niece had a bobo on her ankle and the scab came off and it started bleeding so my brother pulled into a gas station and bought some band-aids. Well he parked out by the gas so he wouldn't take up the spots by the gas pumps and when i looked in the side mirror i saw the CUTEST little female rat terrier walking in the grass with NO collar or anything! I wanted so bad to run grab her up and give her love.. She was super friendly too! My brother came outta the store and she lowered herself to the ground and wagged her tail and scooted over to him and he rubbed her belly before getting in the truck. Then she scurried over to the truck getting gas and the man bent down and picked her up and started scratching on her and giving her love IN the backseat I heard a little girl screaming (nicely) to hold the dog so the dad ACTUALLY put the dog in the truck with them and the little girl and mom immediately started laughing and petting on her! They even took her home with them =D That made me happy that their are people like that! So now... Yea I am determined to do this. Every dog deserves a moment in their life that like!

EmmeZoec · October 2011

Just a tip, make sure the dog IS a stray before you scope it up and take it. I have had a dog become lost before and to no some one would just scope him up and take him because they could would devastate me. At least try and find the owners before you say oh it must be a stray. Dogs can get out of their collars.

DiamondPuppy0809 · October 2011

EmmeZoe wrote:

Just a tip, make sure the dog IS a stray before you scope it up and take it. I have had a dog become lost before and to no some one would just scope him up and take him because they could would devastate me. At least try and find the owners before you say oh it must be a stray. Dogs can get out of their collars.

That's what I was going to say too. Chances are, that dog wasn't a stray. Especially if it was running up to people wanting attention. I can't have a collar on my Chihuahua all the time because it wears off his fur and same with some harnesses. If he got out, someone could easily just take him due to his friendliness and not even bother to wonder who's dog he is. I would be so upset if no one tried to find me, his owner, and return him. So if you ever do start this business, a good idea would be to take the dog back to your facility and start looking for his owner first. Fliers and posting "found dog" on a website or something would help tons. Have a policy like a shelter does; You'll keep the dog for 2 weeks and if no one comes looking for him, you can start trying to rehome him.

Garnet · October 2011

Yea our county has its own website and i was going to post missing dog photos and stuff on there before re-homing dogs. The only reason i know this dog was either abandoned or a stray is because there are absolutely NO houses around where this store is at. I know how dogs slip outta their collars trust me.. my akita does it allll the time and its SO frustrating! I got to the point, that he wears two collars now. one that has his name and my number then one that is connected to his runner. so when he pulls outta the one connected, then he still has the one on with his name and my number...

EmmeZoec · October 2011

Dogs travel... far. Really my dogs can go up to 5 miles away in an hour, more if they had a reason to run but they never go far.

Trianna · October 2011

Garnet wrote:

The only reason i know this dog was either abandoned or a stray is because there are absolutely NO houses around where this store is at.

Also, it might not have wandered away from it's home... It could have jumped out of it's owners car and ran off. It happens rather often. Chances are if it was friendly and healthy looking it belonged to someone, and it basically ended up dog-napped.

Frostbight8 · October 2011

Well.. That's only one of the scenario's that could've been. You all say it was probably somebody's dog, but people do (especially in this economy, and the costs of everything..) just let their dog's go. Especially in a place like that. No collar because they don't want him being returned. It still makes sense.. he was friendly because he was used of people. Just like you can't assume he was a stray, you can't assume he wasn't.

Garnet · October 2011

Thank you frost

I just couldn't think of a way to put that as nicely as you did xD

Howdy, Stranger!

Figured it out! Need your help though!

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