What Is the Best Way to Prepare a Boarding Kennel for a Storm That Knocks Out Power Overnight?

Decide your shelter in place threshold before the season starts

The first decision is not what to buy, it is what would make you leave. Moving thirty or forty dogs out of a building is far harder than most owners imagine: you need vehicles, crates, a destination that will take intact and reactive animals, and enough hands to load safely in bad weather. Because of that, the overwhelming majority of kennels plan to shelter in place and treat evacuation as a last resort. That is a defensible plan, but only if you have written down the specific conditions that would override it, such as a mandatory evacuation order, water entering the building, or loss of the roof over the runs.

Write down who makes that call and who they contact when they make it. A plan that says the owner decides fails at two in the morning when the owner is out of cell range. Name a second decision maker, keep a printed phone tree, and make sure the person on the overnight shift has both the authority to act and a clear list of what they must not decide alone. Do this in the quiet season, because the week a storm is named is the week you will be answering the phone instead of writing procedures. Related: What Makes Pet Owners Trust a Boarding Kennel With Their Dog?

Keep reading: How Do Boarding Kennels Avoid Double Booking During Busy Holiday Weeks?, What Vaccination Proof Should a Boarding Facility Require Before a Pet's Stay?, Why Do Deposits Reduce No Shows for Pet Boarding Reservations?. See how PetStayr helps you pet boarding reservations and kennel availability.

Temperature, water, and light fail in that order

Ventilation is the risk that catches people out. A closed masonry building full of dogs in summer heats up quickly once fans and air handling stop, and in cold weather an unheated block with wet floors gets uncomfortable faster than you expect. Whatever backup power you invest in, size it around ventilation and heat first, then the well pump, then refrigeration for medications and food. If you have a generator, install a proper transfer switch rather than running extension cords through a doorway, store and rotate fuel, and run it under load on a schedule, because a generator that has not started since last October is a decoration.

Water is the quiet one. Many rural kennels are on a well, and a well pump without power means no bowls, no hoses, and no way to clean a run at four in the morning. Fill every clean barrel, tub, and jug you own before the weather arrives, and keep a stock of drinking water separate from the wash water. For light, headlamps beat flashlights every time, because your hands are full of leads. Stage extra slip leads, spare collars, muzzles for the dogs that need them, and a few soft crates near the door so nothing has to be located in the dark. Related: Why Does a Trial Day Before a First Boarding Stay Prevent Problems Later?

Staff the building overnight and plan for the people too

Someone stays. That is the whole plan in three words, and it is the part that is hardest to arrange, so arrange it in advance. Two people are meaningfully safer than one, both for the dogs and because a single staffer injured at three in the morning has nobody to call for help inside the building. Sort out storm shift pay before the storm, not after, along with human food, drinking water, cots, phone chargers, and a vehicle parked where a falling tree will not trap it. Set a check in schedule with someone off site so a missed message actually triggers a response. Related: Where Should a Kennel Put Cat Condos So Boarded Cats Stay Calm Near Dogs?

Expect the dogs to behave differently. Darkness, thunder, and unfamiliar noises produce barking cascades, and storm phobic dogs will try things they would never try on a calm Tuesday: chewing at gates, climbing, bolting through a door held open a second too long. Use a lead on every dog for every movement, count heads after every rotation, and check every gate and exterior door twice. Keep a printed run sheet with each dog's location, diet, medication, and two contact numbers, because your booking screens are on the same power and internet as everything else in the building. Related: How Far Ahead Do Most Families Book Pet Boarding for Vacations?

Tell owners what is happening before they have to ask

Send one short factual message before the weather arrives to everyone with a dog in the building and everyone booked in the next few days. Say whether you are open, whether you are sheltering in place, that the building is staffed overnight, and when they will hear from you next. Then meet that promise. Silence is what generates twenty phone calls to a landline nobody can answer at two in the morning, and it is what turns a well handled night into a bad review. Tell arriving families in the days ahead of a storm what your policy is if roads close, so nobody is negotiating in a lobby with a leash in one hand.

Afterward, close the loop in writing. Send a brief recap of what happened and how the dogs did, handle extended stays caused by closed roads under a clear and consistent rule rather than case by case improvisation, and be generous about the small charges. Update your records while it is fresh: mark the dogs that turned out to be storm phobic, note which runs got loud or cold, and record what you ran out of. That last list is the real value of the whole night, and it is what makes the next storm ordinary.