Hi,  Does any one out there know of any good kennels in east sussex?  How does one go about finding and choosing kennels?  Are there any tips to look out for?

Many thanks

Not my area I am afraid, but the best advice I can give is visit as many as you can, make an appointment to walk around and have a look as a prospective boarder, kennels are happy to do this, if they won't allow you to look around rule that one out.

Ask people in your area whom you bump into whilst dog walking aswell.

There is that old saying 'You get what you pay for' too. It took me 3 different visits to find my perfect kennel, so don't worry about wasting people's time, it is important to find one that will be clean, offer good exercise and have caring staff, phone all your local kennels and make those visits and if not happy then go a little further a field.

Can I just say that don't make an appointment, go on speck, any good kennel won't mind you doing that. I did that myself and found only one that said they only allow visitors with appointments so I ruled that one out.

There is an excellent kennel in our village that has recently been obliged by our local council to allow visiting and collecting within very defined hours to avoid conflict with neighbours over noise, the dogs of course tend to get rather noisy when they think it may be their people coming :) so I would say, if drop in visits are not allowed I would ask why as there may be a perfectly reasonable explanation and if they offer this one you can always check with the council that it is true :)

I know of kennels who'd be very anti people turning up at random times expecting to look around; not because they've got anything to hide but because of security.

i work at knnels and although we dont ask people to make appointments for viewing, we do have strict viewing times, so it is always worth phoning up to ask what times they are open for viewing otherwise you may have a wasted journey

Have you checked with your breeder? I was talking to mine about another issue and it turns out the sire's kennels offer a boarding service and they are supposed to be fantastic, they really spoil the dogs and he'd be with his extended family. Your breeder might know someone who is good and is experienced with your breed. (assuming they're local).

Talking to your breeder could be a really good idea. Because my breeder loves to have "her pups" back for holidays.

:rolleyes:Monty's background is a bit dubious, he's a Scottish Terrier, but we rescued him from a puppy farm situation.  Thanks for the ideas though.