World Class Kennels

Where is the «BETTER THAN IT GETS» 6-​Yelp Star Button?
As far as my pups go — They are priority number one when I leave town.
Since I have no kids, my dogs are my «kids». They go to work with me. They sit on the sofa and read with me. They like to watch Animal Planet with me. And they sleep with me. I would much rather pay someone the cost of a hotel night’s stay to come hang with my babies when I’m away (ALERT all you hungry dog sitters! I’m a SUCKER) than take them to the vet — so when I plan a trip, I factor in 2x the hotel cost just so my fur babies can sleep in my bed.
On my recent trip to Turkey, however, the thought of being out of the country, a 14 hour plane trip away, for two weeks, and with not much access to the Homeland made me think twice about having a pet sitter come to the house. What if my dogs escaped the backyard? What if the pet sitter didn’t lock the doors when she left? (Cash can open doors, let himself in, grab a beer from the fridge and chill like Ice Cube on the sofa — no lie) What if something happened to them, medically, and I wasn’t here? All that made me search for the best place to leave them for the 13 days I was gone.
I came up with World Class Kennels in Harpersville, and I couldn’t have made a better decision. I live OTMx2 (don’t laugh you In Towners! You don’t need a passport to get to my hood!), and World Class Kennels is a bit further down 280 — but this place is pretty. Lots of room to roam — and if you’re a dog, especially one who was bred to chase lions in South Africa, that’s a «good thing». Their kennels are spacious and private — they have concrete walls so all the dogs are not barking back and forth at each other. Each of the kennels has a little cot and blankets (we brought our own bed and woobies — they were in 7^th heaven!) They have automatic watering devices — so there’s no thirsty-​ness going on. We opted for the indoor-​outdoor version, which has a little door to the outside yard that they can come in and out of at will. Cash warmed right up to that idea as soon as he got there — in and out and in and out and in and out. They also get to play three times a day in the big yards — they have three separate yards, in case your pup doesn’t play well with others. AND — they even have themed rooms (UA and AU, Sylvester and Tweety, Pippi Longstocking), with little beds and stuff in case you have one of those fluffy frou-​frou fur babies.
All the amenities are wonderful. And the fact that they have choices for play time is great, but when it comes to the lil ones, pet care is important to me. My Beagle has an ear infection (another reason I was hesitant to leave her with someone at the casa). She apparently had quite a flare up while I was away. Sharon Kidd, the owner, called my vet and had meds sent over, and administered them. Since we didn’t leave food (my babies aren’t picky eaters), she thought that maybe a change in Sunni’s diet might help, so she changed her diet, and since it worked, she sent some of her new food home with a note and the name of the local Seed & Feed of where to find it (McEwen’s — but that’s another review!). She took the time to care about my dogs.
When we have to leave them for a weekend at the vet, they come home tired, neurotic and stinky. Cash and Sunni enjoyed their visit — they were well rested, nobody had any eating issues, they smelled like they did when they were dropped off. Their blankets and bed were freshly washed and folded.
The BEST part??? I walked in the door from my 24 hour day of traveling at midnight. My fur babies were at my front door, courtesy of their Pet Taxi Service, at 7:30 in the morning while I was making my coffee.
Next trip away, my kids are going to World Class!!!