Some dog owners say their pets get better treatment than their human counterparts.
“[The staff isn?t] this nice at my own doctor?s office,” said Lee Talbott, 54, of Montgomery County, picking up her 8-month-old terrier, Bruce, to calm him down during a visit to Rocky Gorge Animal Hospital in Laurel.
“You?re OK, honey. Be cool.”
A veterinary assistant with a file in hand comes to the waiting room to take pre-examination notes of what?s going on with Bruce.
“If the doc doesn?t give him a chill pill, I will,” said Talbott, who cooked poached chicken last week for Bruce?s dinner in an effort to calm him.
In 1950, the facility was 1,000 square feet. In the past year and a half, an 18,000-square-foot building was constructed next door. It?s equipped with surgical suites, dental suites, intensive care units, exam rooms, a full-service laboratory, pharmacy facilities, digital radiography, ultrasound and even a computed tomography scanner.
Soon, radio frequency identification technology will be added. As a test, Bruce is taken to the back of the hospital, where an RFID microchip is installed in his collar to monitor his whereabouts during his stay.
Microchips also are placed in armbands or lanyards worn by staff members, and antennas pick up the radio signals in order to record where dogs and staffers are at all times.
“I?m wearing one around my neck right now,” said Jennifer Trujillo, chief of operations at Rocky Gorge. “We?re making sure it?s comfortable for team members to wear.”
Most kennels make sure their dogs get enough exercise. “But how does the owner really know?” asked Cherie Dodgson, resort services manager at Rocky Gorge. “This is a way to back that up.”
The radio identification technology should be fully operational early next year, Trujillo said.
