In every phase of my life I’ve always referred to the transition to a new phase as my next life. As more and more restrictions are put upon our dogs, and thus our lives, and age creeps up, and possible retirement looms we need to consider our next life. Many of us have been downsized and getting a new job isn’t easy as we get older. What can we do which will enable us to be at home with our dogs and still make a living. Enter the “ let’s run a boarding kennel” idea. Maybe, but be wise about your choice.
Do you want a turn key kennel operation? That means literally that you turn the key in the front door and you are in business and making money from day one. These do exist but you can’t simply go to your neighborhood realtor and find one. Generally it means relocation. It also means working with a kennel specialist who also understands the economics of the business. It is usually a two pronged sale, the house and the business. Sometimes it is a long search before you find the perfect house combined with the perfect business and the perfect location. Often you have to compromise somewhere. Do your homework. In most cases the properties are found online, sometimes in dog publications.
One of the most difficult things is seeing whether this kennel can make you a living. It is not as easy as looking at the bottom line of the tax return. The taxable income of a small, home based, business is not the same as the bottom line of your current W-2. Most kennels are priced based on the gross income, not the net income. Many of the property expenses are paid by the kennel. Often the kennel pays the property owner, you, rent. Often you will collect a salary, deductible to the business as an expense, reportable as your private income, utilities for house and kennel are often combined.
One thing that is easy to assess is how well the kennel is run. No kennel should ever stink, regardless of the weather, help being sick, etc. There should be no fecal matter in the runs. Water should be clean. Often houses are a different matter. The houses are often less than spotless, but, as with the kennel, it should not stink. Should not have fleas jumping on you. The house dogs should be contained.
Another option is simply retirement. A dog friendly area is a must. No sense
selling your home in NJ or California only to find you can’t live peacefully
with your dogs in the location you are considering.
We are all facing age. Many of us are also facing health problems. We need
to plan what is going to happen to us and to our dogs.
The inevitable end isn’t going to a retirement home in Florida and
giving up our beloved dogs. Nor is it going into an assisted living facility
where we are the only ones who understand the terrible loss that having to
live without our dogs can be. To many older fanciers our dogs are our lives,
we don’t want to give them up. We have been dog people all of our lives
and can’t imagine living any other way, BUT what do we do if we need
short or long term help?
Haven’t most of us seen an older fancier who has fallen on hard times?
Most have too many dogs and failing health. Many have limited finances but
enter shows anyway. Getting along by skimping either on themselves or on the
dogs. These are the ones who end up living in a room in the kennel, or dying
in a filthy hovel, alone, with the dogs seized by the local authorities.
I have witnessed decent people, with excellent quality dogs, going to jail
for bad checks, written to show and promote a good dog. Spending their last
days lying in an unmade bed in a room of the kennel, drinking, and reliving
the glory days through the scores of show photos lining the walls. We have
all read newspaper accounts of people found dead in their homes with no one
there but their dogs. The dogs they “loved” so much they had 50
of them living in cages because they were too old and ill to take them out
and clean the crates and runs.
We are a healthy lot in the main, but illness or a fall can get the best of us down. It doesn’t have to be the end of our active lives. Short term assistance by people who do understand our involvement with dogs can get us over the hump and allow us to live independently for many more years.
I think we would benefit from a place, one to 25 acres, where many fanciers can each have a home, on an acre or two, with a small kennel. We can live close to others who also have dogs and have access to other people who understand. We can all check on each other’s welfare without having to live in each other’s pockets. In our area we have an e-mail network. We are blessed with a member who finds either funny or inspirational messages and e-mails all of us every AM. We are all supposed to hit reply to all so everyone knows that we are OK. If someone doesn’t answer the message one of the members of the group calls to check and make sure we haven’t fallen or had a heart attack.
What I envision is a place where there are neighbors who can alert a trained kennel person to take care of the dogs while we are incapacitated. A place where there is a person who can take care of the house and yard, in short a roving housekeeper. This is not for the care of those who should be in a hospital or who need daily care but for the security and short term care to help us live at home in safety and security longer.
To start I have a piece of land in the North Carolina foothills that would be suitable and I’d be willing to head up the first one. It is a 5 acre lightly wooded place, with a ton of road frontage. A homesite could be anything over 1 acre. The only restrictions are no mobile homes except log ones and all dogs have to be kept fenced unless on leash. If it works we could also have a community building where we could hold classes or get togethers . Ultimately I would love to see many such communities scattered over the nation.