Communication breakdown causes chaos at kennels

THE biggest thing about the four-day power outage at the Gippsland Paws and More ‘luxury accommodation for dogs and cats’ at Poowong last week wasn’t the loss of power.

It was the lack of communication; by text, mobile phone or email that caused chaos.

“We were alright without power. We’ve had that plenty of times and we’re ready for it,” said Sam Tonkin, finally catching her breath on Sunday.

“It was just a matter of moving the generators around for the water, the fridges and other services.

“The problem was not being able to contact anyone.”

The luxury kennels had 20 dogs and 10 cats onboard when the storm hit about 4.30pm and the power went out, and they were expecting more to arrive in the ensuing days.

“We couldn’t contact them, and they couldn’t contact us. Some people wanted to cancel their bookings. Others wanted to come and pick up early. It was tough to know what was going on.”

The power came back on at about 4pm on Friday and things got back to normal, progressively, over the weekend.

“It was a lot more work, of course, without the power, but the lack of communication was the big one.”

The “guests”, the pampered pooches and pussies, were totally oblivious of the pandemonium and still managed a lovely holiday at perfect Poowong.