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 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.