This morning, Bill and I took Zane and Arran to a new Hunde Pension, just for a tour and initial visit.  We met with an English speaking staffer and told them all about our dogs.  She checked out their vaccination records and showed them the “rooms” where the dogs stay.  To be honest, it kind of reminded me a little of a prison, but I guess since dogs have no concept of prison, it would be alright for them.  Each of the rooms has a door which allows the dogs to come in and go out into the big pens.  I noticed the room we looked at smelled very clean, which is a good sign.  They also have security cameras and access to 24 hour veterinary care.  The pension is located near the Frankfurt Airport, which is a good thing.

Although we used to use Hunde Pensions a lot the first time we lived in Germany, we now take our dogs with us a lot of the time.  We got used to it after living in Stuttgart, where pet boarding is in shorter supply.  I’m not sure how often we will use this dog hotel.  To be honest, we liked taking them to Dog Holiday in Stuttgart because it was very obvious how much the owners loved their work.  It’s hard to top Max and Kris.  We may even take them to Stuttgart if we’re ever on a road trip heading south that takes us through there.  The boys will stay at Dog Holiday in May, when we go to Stuttgart to see Elton John.

I was glad to see the staffer at the Tierpension Birkenhof got down and petted our dogs.  She seemed very knowledgeable, even when we talked to her about Zane’s and Arran’s mast cell disease and why I only got them the legally required rabies shot instead of updating them on all of their vaccines.  Vaccines activate the immune system and mast cell cancer is a sign that a dog’s immune system has gone haywire.  Besides, our dogs are old now and probably have immunity to most of the major diseases.  I promise, I am not an anti-vaxxer, but I do think we vaccinate pets too often.

The parking area…  It’s a large facility that has apparently been in business for 30 years.  The online reviews are mostly good, with a few notable exceptions.

I’m not sure what else we’ll do today.  The weather is good.  Maybe we’ll go look for another restaurant.  Or maybe I’ll just go to bed and read a book.  The possibilities are endless.