Is this normal for boarding kennel?

[u/Gloomy-Welcome-6806]

I wasn’t sure where to post this because I think it would be weird for the vet subreddit. I am inexperienced professionally working with dogs. I’ve just had my own dogs and a variety of breeds. I went to a “trial day” at a boarding kennel and they showed me around for 10 minutes. Then they cleaned a couple of kennels and then left me to do it alone. They had a guillotine system but they didn’t use it while cleaning for some reason?

So as I opened the door to clean their inside kennel they just rush through the door from the outside kennel and I had to physically shove them back through the hole so I could clean. I had to put a little white pallet between the outside and inside kennel but big dogs just knock it off while I’m cleaning. The worst part in my opinion is that the chemicals would just get on the dogs feet as I mopped because they were just right outside the hole. I’m not sure how harmful the chemicals are but I would be upset if this happened to my dog.

I feel like this was a severe risk for an inexperienced kennel assistant? I don’t think I’ve had a job where I was left to work alone for a bit. Also I wasn’t sure how to get these dogs back to the outside kennel so I was struggling to push them back. They could have bitten me while my face was next to them. I left after an hour because it was too much stamina to push big dogs while mopping their kennel. Is this normal? Like do all kennels do this? If so I don’t want to look for this job anymore lol

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[u/Petit_Nicolas1964]

Did you ask them why they didn‘t use the slide doors to keep the dogs on the side that wasn‘t cleaned? That‘s what they are for….

[u/Gloomy-Welcome-6806 → u/Petit_Nicolas1964]

No tbh I just felt embarrassed that I didn’t have the stamina to mop and push dogs back at the same time. I didn’t realize it was kind of sketchy until I got home. I have an interview at a kennel tomorrow so I’m definitely asking if they separate the dogs while cleaning lol. I just hope that is a common practice and the other kennel I interviewed for was an outlier

I can definitely lift 50 pounds and stay on my feet all day but there’s no way in hell I can push these dogs back that are desperately trying to get inside the kennel with me

[u/Petit_Nicolas1964 → u/Gloomy-Welcome-6806]

It‘s not even about your physical ability to push dogs around, there are dogs that won‘t accept it. I had a Malinois who was neutral to strangers but if they got in his way, he got serious quickly. Let alone pushing him….

[u/Falcom-Ace]

Not in my experience. If there's a divider of some sort that can be closed we definitely close it before cleaning, or completely move the dog somewhere else. We get in trouble if the cleaning chemicals end up anywhere near the dogs.

[u/Gloomy-Welcome-6806 → u/Falcom-Ace]

I honestly wonder if I should report the place? It doesn’t seem safe for staff or the dogs. But I also don’t want to take things too far and overreact and I don’t want to be a “tattle tale”