Doggywood – Dollywood Dog Kennel Review

We have a very small 4-pound Chihuahua named Missy. She is highly loved and is a major part of our family.  Because she is pretty much attached to my wife just as my wife is too her, we take her with us on any out of town trip that is longer than a day.

  This obviously adds a whole new level of planning and expenses every time we go out of town. We need to account for kennel expenses and at some of the hotels, we stay at, be okay with paying the ridiculous up charges for dogs. That’s another discussion for another day.

Kennels, in general, are not one of those places we enjoy letting Missy stay at while we are out at theme parks or other events to which we are not allowed to have dogs. This can cause a little stress for us as we feel extremely sad when we leave her there, feel extremely guilty about it, and worry about her constantly.

There are so many thoughts, like what does she think of us? Does she think we abandoned her? Those beautiful little eyes just shatter your heart when you close the kennel door. It’s truly heartbreaking when you love the dog so much.

On the positive side, we had a great experience with Doggywood, which is the Dollywood Theme Park Dog Kennel which is located outside the front gate of the park. So this is our review of the time we used the kennel in June of 2018. 

Our Dollywood Kennel Review

As I do whenever I start planning a vacation or a long trip, part of my research was seeing if they had a decent dog kennel or dog boarding place at or near the park. I was extremely excited to learn that Dollywood had just that.  A small little kennel called Doggywood.

So, at this point, I began reading up on the information on the website and noticed that they had 12 kennel runs that were 4 feet by 6 feet. At the time the prices for those were $25 a day. I also noticed that they had another option called cottages. These are 5 feet by 5 feet gated rooms inside the main entrance of the Doggywood building. These cottages were $35 a day at the time, which for be on the expensive side for most.

I always somewhat cringe when I hear kennel, but the dog cottages really intrigued me. Hmm, maybe I thought, this park gets it. Maybe that they understand that our furry little friends are a major part of our family and we should offer them more than just a kennel. After all, the dogs are on vacation, too right?

 So, after doing some research I was pleasantly surprised and couldn’t believe that these little cottages were just that. And thought Yes, this is exactly what we need to get for Missy.  Although I thought it was a little pricey, I still decided that this is what we were going to do. I was going to rent one of these cottages to see how Missy reacted to it.

After reading more on the kennel in other review sites. I quickly noticed that it is recommended that you set a reservation for the kennel as they fill up fast. I was glad I did, especially for the cottages as all of them were reserved for the day.

Not having a kennel for the day for Missy would have made the day a difficult for one of us as one of us would have had to go back to the hotel to stay with her. We felt the walls were too thin in the hotel to just let her stay there by herself.

The day finally arrived, and we first arrived at Doggywood Dog Kennel with Missy. When we walked in you could feel the air condition in the place which was good, cause the temp outside was already in the high 80’s. Which if you own a Chihuahua might be a problem. They love warmth. So, we were smart as we usually are and brought her favorite blanket with her favorite toys. She loves to cuddle underneath the blankets and the toys we thought would help her feel at ease.

The lady was very helpful, and we had to fill out our information as she found our reservation. Once the paperwork was filled out the lady took us to Missy’s Kennel which had a card with her name already on the door of it.

The moment I saw the cottages, I was so relieved. It was perfect and looked adorable. The small bed at the back of the space was also cute and looked like Missy would have a great place to chill while we enjoy the Dollywood theme park.

We prepared some water in a dish and put down some food for her in another dish. Then placed her and the blanket on the bed and slowly backed out of the cottage. Even though the place was cute she did once again melt our hearts with that puppy look.

Although I felt bad, I didn’t feel overly bad, cause the place had my approval. It was great. Although I still think it is a little pricey, for the pet experience, I felt calm and the place was a welcoming sight.  I thought it was amazingly cute at the 4 cottages they have all have their own unique theme and look, so cute.

So as the day progressed my wife would go visit Missy as access to the dog kennel was right out the front gate, which made it extremely easy to go visit her and take her out. Unlike other parks that push the kennel away from the park, the location of Doggywood is perfect. It makes it easy to visit our dog several times throughout the day.

Overall, we didn’t use the kennels, so I cannot speak on those as we never went into that section of the kennel, but the cottage experience was an A+ in our book.  I don’t know the volume of dogs they handle, but I hope they expand the cottage section of the kennel to offer more dogs a better kennel experience. It was great.

Some Tips for the Dollywood Dog Kennel

• Call ahead and reserve a spot. They don’t have many kennels so if you chance not setting up a reservation you may be stuck with a space to board your dog.
• Bring your proof of vaccinations.
• If your dog likes the warmth, bring a blanket for her or him.
• Bring your food and dishes. They will provide water, but it’s up to you to bring the food.
• If you can afford, get the cottage, you’ll feel better in the park and you’ll worry less about them.

Hope you enjoy this Dollywood Dog Kennel review. Help us get the word out and share this post now. Keep an eye out for other fur friendly experiences, kennel review, and tips.

You can find more information on Doggywood Dog Kennel Right here:

https://www.dollywood.com/themepark/guest-services/Doggywood.aspx