Jackson Heights Life

Our pup was interviewed at Camp Bow Wow, and we were very impressed with the facilities and the staff. So many other borders we've taken him to don't give him the attention that Camp Bow Wow did. They even gave us a follow up phone call to check in on him and see how his first stay was. We were very pleased and already scheduled a stay over Thanksgiving when we'll be out of town. Highly recommended!

We were at the grand opening too! Wasn't it cute? We're finally using them again tomorrow night for an overnight visit. I'm just so impressed with their level of care and attention. When we went to the grand opening, Elizabeth- one of the owners, recognized us (and more importantly, our dog!) right away and came over to say hello, even though that was the first time we visited since the interview. They are such nice people!

rainbow pets boards but first they "interview your dog" to make sure he/she's friendly and will get along with others nicely. You also need all shots etc.

They let dogs loose in large grooming area and enclosed back yard.  There are photos on their site.  I take my toy poodle there for monthly grooming and shop there.  It's nice, modern, clean, friendly.

http://www.rainbowpetsupplies.com/

And an invitation to disaster.

Your description of the protocols suggests a set-up for a dog like yours to be injured, or worse, in a dog-fight.  It does not sound as if there is sufficient supervision for a scene like the one you describe.  Further, if this establishment *does not specialize* in the care of dogs in boarding, but does this as a *sideline*, and in such a commercial setting - - it is not good.  I would pretty well guarantee you that there is no one there at night, either.

Would you board your *child* at a place that sells *supplies* 

Yearly innoculations?  DISASTER!  Anyone who is recommending (let alone insisting!) that you vaccinate your dog yearly is advising you to incrementally destroy the health of your dog, court many horrendous, painful, heartbreaking and expensive problems that are a result of over-innoculation, potentially shorten the life of your dog, and demonstrating how little THEY *know* about anything regarding the care and health of dogs!!!

Far better that you contact a competent, experienced, noted professional, dedicated to the care of dogs.  I may be of service to you at  evedemian@yahoo.com  .  Please feel free to consult with me, for a much better solution to your care needs for your precious canine companion.  I am a behaviorist, specializing in canine companion animals, who has trained service and therapy dogs (48 Hrs did a piece on our practice, in a show concerning using service dogs for panic disorder) and was, most recently, the technical advisor on a book called 'May I Pet Your Dog', by Stephanie Calmenson [see my referral on her website, for the book]) and I board client dogs *in my home*.

But you said they have overnight staff. Why aren't they answering the phone?

It's just too easy for a place to say they have overnight people on site. When I leave my precious babies someplace I want to be able to call at 11:00 at night and find out how they are adjusting. I expect a phone to be answered.

Hi, Brian.

I'm afraid the poster you quoted is a bit off-base.

1. Bordatella vaccination is given one of two routes- intranasal (drops in the nose) or injection.  I personally prefer injection, but both routes are safe.  I have never heard of the vaccine causing lymphoma.  Period.  Dogs get lymphoma as a result of genetics (some breeds are prone to it), or just as a case of shit happens.  Just like people. 

2. Bordatella (kennel cough) is basically "croup" for dogs... infectious tracheobronchitis.  It spreads like wildfire in a doggie daycare or kennel.  I vaccinate dogs yearly for it.  Some kennels require vaccination every six months!  (I personally do not, but I will give the vaccine twice a year if the facility requests it).

3. I don't believe in Every Single Dog getting Every Single Vaccine yearly.  There are a few new 3 year vaccines which have been released (canine distemper vaccine and canine/feline rabies vaccine)... After the first year, I begin putting dogs on a 3 year vaccination protocol for these specific shots.

4. Some vaccines require yearly administration... Lyme vaccination, Bordatella vaccination, Leptospirosis.  Those I give yearly, every year, after evaluating each dog on a case-by-case basis.  For example:  a hunting dog in NH that spends a lot of time outside but is never sent to doggie daycare, I would recommend Lyme, Lepto, rabies (by law), and 3 year distemper.  I would not require kennel cough vax.  A shih-tzu couch potato that never goes outside and has been litter box trained, I would recommend rabies (by law), distemper, and kennel cough vaccination (because everyone knows those dogs will get boarded if the owner goes on vacation).

Unfortunately, there's a lot of folks on the internet with an agenda to push... namely that veterinarians are in a conspiracy to over-vaccinate pets because of being greedy, or that vaccines cause cancer (or any disease of the week).  Bottom line:  I vaccinate my own personal animals with the same schedule and frequency using the same products.  If anything I was using was tied to cancer, I simply wouldn't use it.

Example- certain feline distemper FVRCP vaccines have a higher than normal rate of causing cancer at an injection site (any vaccine administered to a cat could possibly do it, but the odds are minuscule).  Some, however, have been implicated with having higher rates of vaccine induced sarcomas.  I refuse to administer those.

There are some vaccines out there which I believe are worthless.  And you can QUOTE me on this.  Giardia vaccine, Ringworm vaccine.  Feline Infectious Peritonitis vaccine.  Those are all a No Go at my station.  A veterinarian that recommends them is either working for a corporation that requires them or hasn't done their research.  Period.

Of course, I get to make my own rules about vaccines because I own my own veterinary hospital.  However, these guidelines I've described are common practice among modern veterinarians.  I meet a lot of people who believe that you shouldn't vaccinate your pets... or children.  And now polio is re-emerging as an infectious disease in the world.  I occasionally see parvovirus because people don't get the early puppy shots when the dogs turn 6-8 weeks old because they thought "their dog weren't exposed to it" in the environment.

Most of the stuff you read on the internet is a personal opinion of the person posting it and cannot be backed up with double-blinded scientific trials and solid data, even if they say "it's common knowledge."  If someone tells you that you've been raising dogs wrong for the last twenty years and THEIR way is the one true right way, why should you believe them without solid data?

But then again, I'm a scientist and not a member of a conspiracy.  I hope this helps.

I stand firmly by my recommendation for Camp Bow Wow. I know exactly what I need with regard to dog care and they satisfy those needs. The web cam provides much more than fun entertainment. It provides an inside look at what your dog is doing as well as what care and supervision is being provided. We used this feature to evaluate the suitability of Camp Bow Wow for Blackjack's needs before we ever went through their doors. Naturally, we also use it when he is in their care. What we invariably see is staff either in the play areas with the dogs or immediately outside the play areas. We have seen them intervene when they judge that play may be becoming too rough and we have seen them also provide frequent hands-on affection to the dogs in their care. A web cam is the best alternative to actually being on the premises and watching your dog play in person.

Blackjack himself provides evidence of how well Camp Bow Wow is satisfying his needs. Although he normally walks nicely at heel & sits waiting to be invited before passing through doorways, he pulls at the leash as we approach their facility. As we said earlier, he loves it!

I feel that the subject of inoculations is a bit off topic and would have been better addressed in a separate thread where opposition to inoculation might not be seen as self-promotional. Nevertheless, since it has been brought up here, I feel compelled to respond. As someone who lost a puppy in the past to distemper (he was infected before receiving the vaccine), spends a considerable amount of time in the woods upstate (i.e., possible rabies exposure), and who allows my dog frequent access to other canines, his health and well being is of primary concern. Both the North Shore Animal League & our private vet recommend inoculations, including semiannual bordatella. However, since the recent posts did cause me concern, I asked a friend who is a vet in New Hampshire to comment. The following is his response:

Hi, Brian,

I'm glad that Camp Bow Wow is working out so well for you and Blackjack.  I hope that it continues to serve your needs.  For a variety of reasons, however, it may not serve the needs of other dogs or satisfy the requirements of every dog-person, and options are always nice.

What I can offer, by way of response to your assessment of the overall quality of what this venue provides, is to tell you that you, as a kennel customer, present your (limited) experience, whereas I, as a dog-care professional, with extensive experience, going back decades, present the benefit of cumulative information, from a vast variety of sources.  I will also assert that unless you are a behaviorist, a qualified dog-care provider, or an experienced dog handler, you have no way of recognizing "risky business", when you observe it.  You have also made mention of "intervention", in situations that were becoming aggressive - - but then what?  You have not told us what their solution is, in this situation.

You have only commented on a single aspect of the Camp Bow Wow offerings, that being the dogs running around a great deal, which seems to please you entirely.  But you do not mention many other things that are crucial to proper dog care.  Since we are talking so much about how much the dogs *run around* - - WHAT - - for example - - ARE THEIR PROTOCOLS AROUND THE ISSUE OF *BLOAT*? 

Do you know anything *about* bloat, and how common it is in connection with *kennels*?  Do you know how important cleanliness of feed and water pans is?  How and when, what temperature, and what amount, of *water* is given to a dog that's been exercised that way?  When, relative to such exercise, dogs may be *fed*, without incurring risk?  What are the feeding protocols?  What are the sleeping arrangements / supervision?  What do the dogs do when they're *not* running around, and how and where and in what way do they do it?

You come forth with your one instance, regarding your, individual, dog.  I bring the knowledge accrued by association with *thousands* of dogs and case histories.  How do you compare that? 

This is a *neighborhood*-oriented website, but have this discussion on a *dog*-oriented site, and at the mention of "kennels", "bloat", or "innoculations", the tragic horror stories would begin to *pour* in!  I hear them all the time, because ot the business I'm in.

As I have caused you sufficient concern for you to have inquired with your vet, I feel that I owe you address of both your reply to what I wrote, and to your vet's response.

And oh, my!  First I must comment on something (else) that you might think should be in another thread - - but it is just a quickie response:  the North Shore Animal League IS BY NO MEANS AN AUTHORITATIVE SOURCE ON *ANYTHING*!  The North Shore Animal League is a *tax shelter* for the Lewett family, that owns part of the town of Port Washington, and among those who have done rescue (as I have, for over forty years) well-known to be outright charlatans, with a disgraceful record.  The A.S.P.C.A., when under contract to the city, had a dossier on them as long as your arm (even though they then, incongrously, out of desperation, released purebreed animals to them - - and that is *another* story!).  My personal experience with North Shore was that when they irresponsibly handed out animals to anyone at all who would take one, at one of their 'free-dinner-free-watch-free-tank-of-gas' promotional come-ons, and those animals were then *dumped*, still wearing their North Shore tags, and North Shore was contacted, in regard to the return of these animals  -  -  *they patently refused to take them back*!

That being said, I see that your veterinarian friend has attempted to discredit me "a bit", but has, essentially, done a lot of hedging and double-talk, including condoning a harmful procedure, because it is "common practice", yet has revealed a half-way admission of the veracity of what I have told you.

As for the veterinary take on this subject, I see that this vet (whom, for the sake of clarity, I shall refer to as "he", though it may very well be a woman; if so, my apologies) has been quite prudent and careful in rendering his response to your inquiry, and has misinformed more by condescention, casting of aspersion, and gross omission, than by flagrant untruth (although there is some of that, as well, particularly as regards Bordatella vaccine).  This practitioner straddles the fence on the truth pertaining to the issue of vaccines, and suggests that I am an "extremist" (which I am *not*; I did not say that I object to innoculations; I object, with *"scientific"* reason, to *repeated*, *unnecessary* vaccines on an animal already with immunity; I object to *improperly administered* vaccines, and improper administration schedules that harm animals) to distract from the fact that he subtly and grudgingly *agrees*, to some extent, with what I have told you, to the degree that he will render an admission.  It is a very non-definitive statement.  I will not make the same.  I will make definitice statements about those things that I know definately.

Veterinarians make 24% of their yearly income on unnecessary innoculations, and who knows how much more as a result of the illnesses they cause.  I do not.  My business caters to the well-being of animals; it relies on *well* animals, not sick ones.  Therefore, I have no vested interest in promoting harmful innoculations. 

There are also highly respected *homeopathic* veterinarians , surely also "scientists" - - an entire cadre of them, from Martin Goldstein on - - who would oppose such casual regard to the consequences of yearly, unnecessary, incorrectly- administered innoculations, and who would cite *comparative* analysis, of the number of animals that die of a disease, against the number who die as a result of the vaccinations for that disease.  Surely your vet does not mean to discredit *those* *scientists* (Goldstein is a microbiologist).

Here's a little SCIENCE lesson for you (run this by your vet):  YOUR DOG CAN ONLY BE 100% IMMUNE TO SOMETHING.  HE CANNOT BE ANY MORE THAN 100% IMMUNE TO ANYTHING.  THERE IS *NO MORE* THAN *100%* IMMUNITY.  *100%* IS *AS* *IMMUNE* AS YOU CAN BE.

I've said that four different ways, just to make sure you really *get* this.

Now - - *that being the case* - - when your dog is 100% immune to something  -  -  *why* is your vet calling you in for a yearly innoculation for that?

If your vet is your dog's health-care advocate, even if you beat his door down, *asking* for more shots - - *why* would he agree to administer them to an animal he *knows* has *100%* immunity to that disease, *particularly* when he *knows* that by doing so he hazards permanently damaging or destroying your animal's health?  (And then charging you for that!)  And *why* is your kennel participating in this unconscionable scam, that puts your dog at risk?  (The reason is *self-interest* via *no* legal liability, based on *outdated* standards).  Moreover, why would this vet allow a *kennel* to dictate health-care protocols to *him*, when *he* is a *veterinarian*

If your dog has had the standard vaccination series, even once, let alone twice and three times, or more - - HE IS *100% IMMUNE* TO THOSE DISEASES, and all you need to prove it is a yearly *BLOOD TITER* READING.  Let any veterinarian contest this!

As for Bordatella vaccine - - there most definitely *has* been a link found between intranasal application and the instance of lymphosarcoma, starting in the gland mass beneath the jaw, in even very young dogs, *not* "genetically predisposed", and *why* is this vet vaccinating *"yearly"* for it when he has admitted that the vaccine onlly imparts a 6-month (alleged) "immunity"?  Why vaccinate for it at *all*, then???  Cha-ching, cha-ching!  (That's the cash register you hear, folks!  This is how vets are *trained* - - not only to practice medicine, but to do so in such a way as insures a thriving *business*).

Regarding leptospirosis, the classic form of the disease does not require yearly re-administration.  The *new* form of the disease, that emerged a few years ago, is something I alerted my clients to, and recommended innoculation for, with extreme care taken in proper administration, that being *no other vaccines given for at least ten days, if not two weeks, before or after that vaccine*. 

Considering the fact that one of the aspects of my profession is to stand in judgement of veterinary management, I am not surprised at all by the tone of this response.  But I have been doing what I do for many years.  I wonder how, relatively, experienced your vet friend is.  "Shit happens" is a very poor disgnostic response from a medical practitioner.  I do not pay my medical practitioners to tell me that "shit happens".  It most certainly *does*, particularly in the event of gross mismanagement of care.  Then shit *really* happens.

I am *not* a veterinarian.  I do *not* have to lie to protect or justify the protocols of the veterinary profession.  I have no interest in pushing unnecessary, injurious, costly veterinary procedures, and I have not been trained to include harmful practices to ensure vigorous business.

Perhaps this veterinarian has missed the fact that I am an animal behaviorist, when he refers to "scientists" versus "a member of a conspiracy"; surely a veterinarian would understand that my branch of *science* requires a through knowledge and understanding of *all* matters pertaining to the animal, *starting*, first and foremost, with the *health* and *nutrition* of the animal, and issues thereof. 

It is not a "conspiracy" to be up-to-date in clinical knowledge, in the best interests of the subject of that knowledge, for which one advocates, and to educate the relevant public, in regard to these matters.  Accusers of "conspiracy" assume an adversarial position to challenge, frequently because they have something to conceal.  Abuse, and generation of business by unnecessary innoculation, is the veterinary industry's dirtiest little secret.  Don't take my word for it; check out the subject yourself, in something of substance, for the layman, like the Whole Dog Journal, a highly competent and significantly respected publication, that would be difficult to discredit as being "conspiracy propaganda".

But, whatever you do - - remember the vital questions: "IF MY DOG IS 100% IMMUNE TO THESE DISEASES, *WHY* DO YOU WANT TO GIVE HIM MORE SHOTS?"  And, "IF YOU GIVE HIM MORE SHOTS, HOW MUCH *MORE* IMMUNE WILL HE *BE* THAN 100%?"  -  -  And ask them of your vet, next time yearly innoculation time rolls around. 

THEN - - *ASK FOR A *BLOOD TITER* PANEL, INSTEAD - - and you will see, by the antibody readings, that your animal needs NO MORE SHOTS, and nothing more than that yearly blood titer to prove immunity. 

As for dog care facilities - - anyone who is worthy of your trust should be sufficiently concerned about the animals they care for, to be knowledgeable, and *currently* informed.  That means that they should be asking for nothing more than a BLOOD TITER panel, for dogs that have already been immunized.

People should not be compelled to put their dogs at serious and unnecessary risk in order to board them; it's that simple.  It is unnecessary, it is irresponsible, and it is not in the best interests of the clients (or, customers, in the case of a kennel, as opposed to a service business), canine or human.

Finally, regarding the assertion of "self-promotion", I most certainly *do* promote myself!  I am one of the most competent, qualified people in my field of endeavor, and I see no reason to be coy about this, or to be shy about offering my services.  I know what I offer clients, and, most importantly, as this is my primary interest, their dogs.  I am *not* in competition with boarding kennels.  I run a *service* business, with which boarding kennels cannot in any way compare.  Boarding kennels are commercial operations; they have *customers*; my business serves *clients*.  There is a great difference.

I want people to know the options that exist for them, and how to make informed decisions.

Given the many years that I have devoted to the well-being and humane treatment of animals, and the caliber of the business that I run, those who know me understand very well why I am self-confident, and always, first and foremost, acting in the best interests of those animals I serve, that being the mission statement of my practice.  I run a full-service business, where I *teach* my clients how to read a dog food label, what to expect by way of vet care, how to ascertain the quality of those businesses and practices that serve them and their dogs.

As for *any*thing "spreading like wildfire", this has never occured in (either my erstwhile rescue facility or in ) my home, in the many years that I have cared for animals - - and that is not a matter of lucky happenstance, but of expertise, conscientious attention and effort, and immaculate protocols.

The only "agenda" I have, to "push" is the well-being of creatures who cannot speak for themselves, that they not be exploited in cruel ways, for convenience or the sake of someone's pocketbook.  I don't need to make animals *sick* to make my living; I make a decent living *advocating* for them.


P.S.  If anyone wishes to cast aspersions on my credibility?  First - - find something I'm *wrong* about!