Halfway across the country while on vacation in St. Louis, Baltimore-based consultant David Rasmussen, 40, checked the Internet a few times each day to watch his 18-month-old dog, Sedona, on a webcam, making sure she got along with other dogs and drank enough water.
“It?s good to know that while you?re doing something else, [your dog is]being treated well and having fun,” said Rasmussen, who uses Charm City Dogs? day care, where as many as 40 pups are making puddles for staff to mop and chasing showers of treats that are tossed into the indoor pen.
Like a growing number of dog owners, Rasmussen chose a kennel equipped with webcams. Although many owners simply miss their dogs, others are comforted by the security measures a webcam offers to ease concerns about highly publicized complaints against pet day cares.
» A 2008 case is still pending in Prince George?s County, where a Maryland family?s dog was mauled to death at Precious Pups Kennel, said Rodney Taylor, chief of the county?s Animal Management Group.
» In 2007, dog groomer Celeste Rainone, 53, a Shrewsbury, Pa., resident, was convicted in the death of Rajah, a poodle, and sentenced to 90 days and three years of supervised probation.
» At Preston Country Club for Pets in Columbia, a pug died a few years ago after it was put in a holding cage with a hot dryer that had a broken timer.
“We had groomed that dog here 38 times, and we had never had a problem,” said Preston County Club owner Fred Wolpert, who couldn?t recall the exact year. “It started to pant, got hot, and we assume it had a heart attack.”
Wolpert then checked the timer himself, found it wasn?t accurate and has since used manual dryers, he said.
“The groomers always want the latest thing to make sure they?re doing a better job,” said Wolpert. “So every once in a while you get a thing like a cage dryer that?s supposed to shut off at eight minutes but shuts off at 10. It?s like any other business, where you?re constantly looking to be more effective and update equipment.”
Still, dog owners want to be reassured that accidents aren?t common occurrences.
“The webcam allows you to see what kind of treatment [the dogs are getting] and keeps everybody on theirtoes,” said Rasmussen. “Everybody is always more careful when webcams are around. You don?t want to end up on YouTube.”
Webcams also allow clients to check out the day care or kennel before bringing in their dogs, said David Crowther, owner of Charm City Dogs. “It?s also a great marketing tool.”
However, bad things can happen at home, too.
With 20 percent of the animal population having a latent disease, a dog can just as easily get sick at home, said Dr. Kim Hammond of the Falls Road Animal Hospital.
“Far too often we blame the facility rather than the natural numbers,” he said. “It?s an ugly picture [to put a webcam at a grooming station]. There?s hair everywhere. People are using webcams for entertainment, so they don?t want to see five inches of hair and poop on the table.”
