Social Media Follies

Hello NYC Dog Families,

Apparently someone has a malicious Instagram and Change.org accounts maligning Glencadia Dog Camp and sending follow requests to our followers on Instagram. This campaign is entirely baseless. Not one serious fight, no outbreaks of any significant disease, no injuries and no deaths at Glencadia for many years: this record means safety at Glencadia is excellent.

Last week a 13-year-old poodle named Lincoln was staying with us. This elderly gentleman took a turn for the worse for no obvious reason. He didn’t eat and seemed to have less energy. We contacted the owner immediately and asked if we should go to the emergency room vet in writing. The owner declined, picked up the dog two days later, then put the dog to sleep.

This series of events is of course a sad time in the life of Lincoln’s owners. However, Lincoln’s demise no more had to do with his long stay at Glencadia (with a downturn at the end) than if a human were to book a room in a hotel room and have a stroke. Who would blame the hotel? There was a time when people would blame their neighbors for the death of their cow – witchcraft allegations. This situation is similar in that something bad happens and people can displace their anger. We all can benefit from interspection and humility and not, preferrably, spend time trying to hurt others when there is no possible benefit to anyone.

Glencadia Dog Camp has been in business since 2005 and hosted more than 50,000 individual dog stays, meaning that the dogs got in a van, went to the county, then went back home thousands of times. There are more than 3,000 individual dogs who have stayed here over the years. Dogs live an average of 12 years or so. Given the number of dogs hosted here, the life expectancy of dogs here at camp is far longer than when they are at home.

Indeed, we do something that is special for dogs here. Our world is designed for humans. Dogs are on leashes, confined in dog parks, or bored at home with little to do. Here at Glencadia, we allow dog maximum freedom to wander inside and out in large areas, to interact and play with supervision. I have a blog post about this relating to this article in Vox.

Over 18 years of dog boarding, we have learned, grown, and have an absolutely fabulous safety record. Internet mobbing is no fun and I would advise the wise to take anonymous posts with a grain of salt.

The full range of dog emotions and abilities is difficult for dogs in this human world, but imminently possible in our dog-centric corner of the universe. Here is an article I wrote on that subject.

Also, I don’t know what Lincoln’s family hope to achieve here. We’re not going to go out of business – in fact, we turn away customers at such a high rate due to capacity issues we have a bit too much business really. And a recent price increase did not solve this problem as we remain significantly cheaper than the less convenient and less technically saavy competition (but also run by fabulous people who care about dogs and run terrific operations from which I am sure we have much to learn!). We didn’t do anything we need to change. We aren’t going to start putting dogs in crates.

There is absolutely no point in this campaign of negativity. It’s sad when a dog passes, and in grief, we might make some choices we would not in other circumstances. We did nothing wrong. Nothing about our operation can conceivably be influenced in any way by this campaign. In terms of our excellent and extremely safe dog care, our record is incredible, when you think about 18 years of dogs getting in vans, running around, playing, then going home. No accidents. No escapees (that we didn’t find quickly!). No serious fights in several years. We’re doing it all right.

So… I called Lincoln’s owner and hope we walk this useless negative campaign back. He was a sweet little cockapoo who visited Glencadia several times without incident and our rep here Phil called many times –  recorded calls 5 minutes, 8 minutes, etc. – and there was really nothing more we could have done.