What we will not claim
The bordetella vaccine is not a guarantee against kennel cough
What you will see advertised
“Fully vaccinated facility — your dog cannot catch kennel cough here.”
What is actually true
We require bordetella within the previous six months, because the City requires it. It reduces how often dogs get kennel cough and how badly. It does not stop it.
Kennel cough is not one organism. Bordetella bronchiseptica is the one the vaccine is named after; there are several viruses that produce the same cough and the vaccine does nothing about most of them.
So a dog that has had the vaccine, in a building where every dog has had the vaccine, can still go home coughing. It happens here. It happens everywhere dogs are together, including the pavement outside your building.
What we do about it is ordinary and dull: air that changes rather than circulates, hard surfaces cleaned between groups, a dog with a new cough out of the groups the same hour, and a telephone call to you rather than a note at the end.
What we do instead
If your dog comes home coughing, telephone your veterinarian and telephone us, in either order. We will tell you what else was in the building that week, because that is the question your vet will ask.
The other nine
One argument in ten parts. Each is a sentence you might see advertised, and a plainer thing that is true at this lodge instead.
Are those dates free?
The calendar shows every night, for every suite class, with how many are left and what that night costs. Nothing is paid on this website: you pay when you collect.