Employees and the 200 dogs they’re currently taking care of at the on Old Columbia Pike were entering day three without power on Monday.
The center was one of still without power since Friday's storm.
Employees said they have not notified pet owners of the power outage situation as they don’t have a phone connection.
If people want to pick up their dogs, they should do so, employees said. If a pet owner is on vacation and would like their dog picked up, they should ask a friend to pick up the dog.
Nickie Ice was inside at the front desk on Monday morning, her face glistening with sweat as she worked. The temperature inside the main building of the pet hotel was the same as outside. The smell of the dogs lingered in the air.
Highs are supposed to reach 92 Monday in Columbia.
“They’re fine,” said Ice when asked about how the dogs were dealing with the heat, “we have water.”
Ice said they’ve been giving the dogs tons of water and checking on them constantly.
As for the employees?
“In a word, it’s hot,” said Josh Arnold. “Hot, sticky and gross.”
Outside, at a picnic table, about 10 employees were taking a break and drinking cold bottles of water.
“You have to go outside to cool off,” said Mark Covington, of Columbia.
“The worst part is with 4th of July coming, we’re super, super busy,” said Brett Phillips of Columbia.
“We’ve had people bring their dogs here and say it’s too hot for their houses,” said Andrew Mayrovitz.
“It’s been an experience for sure,” added Phillips. “We’ve just been trying to keep [the dogs] cool without giving a crap for ourselves.”
Phillips pointed to the power lines behind the building. They were down and laying against one of the outbuildings on the property. Employees said they are still waiting on someone to come and fix them.
“We’ve done our best to clear out the trees down there,” said Phillips.
Some minor relief was on its way on Monday morning in the form of a new generator that had just arrived, according to Quan Harper, the kennel manager.
“We’re going to use it to power some of the smaller air conditioners,” said Harper.
For more of Patch's storm coverage check the following stories:
Please tell me you are kidding!!! Speaking of ignorant, to not expect more of a place of business that is taking care of your pet is quite ignorant. The kennel is in the woods. To not expect that one day a tree may fall on the power lines and take out the power is quite ignorant. To not plan for this with generators, index cards with owner contact information, etc, is even more ignorant. Before you start insulting other posters please take a minute to think first. This is a business. Every business owner should have a disaster recovery and Continuity of Operations Plan. Clearly they had neither.
Whoa. No need to call me names. The explicit reason given for not contacting owners was that phone lines were down. Read the article, genius. Oh, and go to Hell. Furthermore, any business that doesn't keep record of back-up contact information doesn't deserve to exist. Who are the ignorant idiots now?
My dog is doing just fine, better then expected considering the circumstances. The staff at Preston has always handled my dog with good care. Hats off to them for continuing so even in an emergency. And if I may chime in on the generator talk- while I agree that a back up system should of clearly been in place beforehand, it would take multiple generators to run a facility that large. Not a simple $5,000 one either. We're talking $50,000 plus per generator probably. Not as cheap as you'd think. Preston's a fine boarding facility with a staff that cares. I'd hate to have people get the wrong idea. My dog was there for 8 days and is perfectly fine. The 20 or so that I saw outside looked happy to. Good job, Preston.
Dogs, as well as people for that matter, existed for thousands of years without air conditioning. These whiners are typical of what is wrong with our society today... everybody thinks they are "special" and deserve exceptional treatment but they aren't willing to assume ANY responsibility. You are they type of people who want "all the kids to get a trophy."
Their excuses about outages after any storm is ridiculous. If you had been at a hearing on the 24th younwould have heard somebody who was in Taiwan during a typhoon and they didnt lose power. This so called rich area loses power on sunny days. It's ludicrous to have to buy a generator. Are we living in a third world country???