And for some pets it will come this Christmas, says Katrina Burroughs, with a five star holiday to rival that of their owners.
​
Panting for Christmas in Antigua, but can’t face the soulful stare of the furriest family member as he is packed off to the kennels? We may take the welfare of your dogs and cats as seriously as that of our children, but while the kids can be taken long haul or parked safely with granny, the animals sometimes have to be entrusted to institutions that look disconcertingly like prison camps. What if your dogs and cats could be having their own activity holiday while you are away? Or spa treatments and sessions with personal trainers? Or stay in luxury accommodation with their every need catered for? The Caribbean holiday is beginning to look a whole lot closer…………..

Mark Thompson and Gillian Quek offer their canine charges an experience somewhere between a health farm, obedience school and playgroup at The Dog House. Once a week dogs are taken aboard a customised, air conditioned bus, complete with toys, snacks and piped music and travel from London to New King’s Road (most clients live in Chelsea, Fulham or Knightsbridge), down the M4, deep into south Wales.
​
The idea of Activity Holidays for dogs came about as the couple were looking for a way to leave their London lives behind. Gillian had worked in the art market and Mark, who had been in events management, had earned pocket money from lunchtime dog walking. People started to comment on how much better behaved their dogs were after joining his walks and word spread. Gillian remembers: ‘When I first saw Mark in the park it was like watching the Pied Piper of Hamlin. He had 20 dogs off the lead and they were all following him’. They moved to Dinas Farm in Carmarthenshire in 1997, swapping their cramped London quarters for 400 acres of wooded trails, streams and pools, steep rocky paths and flower dotted meadows.
​
So what kind of regime can your best friend expect there? That all depends whether he is a puppy, a lively young dog or a decrepit old chap and whether he is there for a week’s activity holiday, the two to three month gun dog training course or companion training (five weeks). Mark says, ‘We take each dog as an individual. The young, athletic ones can have a real charge around. Old crotchety dogs can have a more sedate time’. Mitzi, an ancient, half blind, semi deaf Dachshund, is perfectly happy to hang out in the office for much of her stay.
​
What they all get, young and old, is plenty of canine and human company. Up to 45 dogs can stay at peak times, sharing two to a room (depending on breed, how well they are getting on with the other guests and available space) in their chalet style accommodation and the daily round of activities includes up to five walks and an individual play session, all of which offer handlers the opportunity to reinforce good behaviour. As a result, most dogs will come back from their stay fitter, more confident and with better manners.
​
Not exactly pampering, then. Indeed, Thompson say that a good proportion of the dogs sent to The Dog House have been overfed before they arrive. Tara, a seven year old Alsatian, has a target weight of 33 kilos, but arrived this summer at a lardy 42. Over a six week stay the Thompson’s helped her slim down to 35, and her owners received a very stern memo outlining the health risks of obesity. Improvements in fitness apart, some behavioural quirks can be sorted within a week’s stay. Gillian says ‘eight out of ten dogs that come here jump up when they are pleased to see someone. The majority don’t do that when they leave’. Hercules, a handsome Great Dane form Hampstead, is a regular guest. As a puppy, he used to ‘knock people over like skittles,’ but now keeps all four feet on the ground when he greets his owners. 
​