Copperhill Boarding Kennels, Sleaford

We are new to the area and had to investigate some local dog kennels, Copperhills was recommended to us. When we went to look around Copperhills, we were given the full tour by one of the KennelMaids. We saw the kennels, the outside runs, the food store and the office. We were satisfied with what we saw, and we booked our 2 dogs in for later in the year and we were given a price of £460.

I later rang Copperhills to ask if we could bring our dogs in a day early as our flight had been changed. I was told that was fine.

On the day we dropped the dogs off we were met at the driveway gate by Mr de Negri-West who was clutching a bunch of papers, some of which he tried to complete whilst standing outside. We handed over £300 in cash which he counted whilst standing on the driveway, I thought that very unprofessional. He told us the balance was £230 payable when we collected the dogs.

I couldn’t quite work out how we went from £460 plus another day of £27 for 2 dogs sharing to £530.

We had been told that photos and videos would be posted on Copperhills Facebook page, so we checked it every day. After about a week and no comments or photos of our dogs I posted a message on their Facebook page saying that we were concerned we hadn’t had any news.

An automatic response was posted as an answer saying that we could phone during open hours if we were ever worried about our animals. However, we were in a time zone of plus 8 hours and my internet connection wasn’t very reliable, which made that almost impossible.

The next day there was an approximately 10 second video posted on their page showing our dogs with some others outside running about. Whilst we were delighted to see that I was annoyed that I had had to ask.

About a week after that, 3 photos were posted on their Facebook page of our dogs in their beds.

That was it, we never had any more information, photos or videos of our dogs. This did nothing to put our minds at ease.

On the day we were due to collect our dogs we were delayed outside the airport for 2 hours whilst the car parking people located our car and brought it to us. Then we had to change a flat tyre on the motorway. So, at 4 minutes past 3pm I rang Copperhills from our car to say we hoped to be there by 3.30pm. We were still on the road back from Heathrow at the time.

The phone was answered by Mr de Negri-West who snapped at me saying that he had me booked in for 3 o’clock. I attempted an explanation, but by this time I was in no mood for being complacent.

When we eventually arrived at the kennels Mr de Negri-West brought the dogs out to us. It was clear that other that after the first visit to look around we were never going to set foot inside again.

Our dogs are used to being in kennels and, of course, are always pleased to see us. But, this time, we had never seen anything like it, one dog was verging on hysterical. It was way past 7pm that evening before they calmed down enough to eat.

We noticed that they must have been bathed as one dog was still damp, which did make me wonder if she’d have still been in the bath had we arrived at 3pm.

Once we took their bedding and put it in the car, it became obvious why they had been bathed. Their beds stank, absolutely stank. If they had slept on those the night before, which of course they did, I can’t imagine how those dogs would have reeked when we collected them.

My husband asked Mr de Negri-West for an invoice for our £530. He dashed off and returned with a page that did nothing to explain the charges, just the dates and the final figure, no detail whatsoever.

That evening we noticed that one dog had an injury to her ear, that wasn’t mentioned by Mr de Negri-West.

Since then both dogs have been very clingy, even when we are out walking and let them off their leads, neither is keen to be far from us.

Since they were just a year old these dogs have been in kennels 2 or 3 times a year. The owners of those kennels, which is of similar size but with fewer staff, posted videos every day of the dogs in their care. We never worried. They came home clean and happy and nowhere near hysterical. How I wish they were near enough for us to use again.

If you have a couple of big dogs and do not mind them getting dirty and smelly then it is ok, but with a little dog I find the kennels dark and damp & drafty. The heating comes from a single bulb over there bed the walls of the kennels were dirty before my dog went in. Not very luxurious in fact very old building in need of a overhaul. No seperation of big dogs and little dogs so big dogs can get very close to little dogs.