Settling in kennels

[dominique]

Ok, my kids have been booked into kennels for a fortnight and of course it's taking the edge off of the old holiday excitement. Is there any thing I can do to make it easier on them?
I've got DAP spray, natural yogurt for stressed tummies, old blankets that smell of me, plenty of toys and I'm going to introduce them to Sue who runs the kennels before we leave, so that she isn't a total stranger. It's a very small kennels with only eight runs and she looks after them all herself, so I'm hoping that they will settle. Sue will of course be furnished with a 400 page instruction booklet on how to care for my dogs. Poor women.
Any extra advice would be gratefully received. Many thanks in advance (I hate going away for just this reason )

[Lisa]

Have they been before? If not the only thing I would recommend is you book them in for a nights trial run over the next week to see how it goes. If there then are any settling issues you can address them before hand.

[dominique]

Whoops I forgot to mention that I'm doing that anyway. If they do have problems would you be able to give me some advice, and what sort of problems would you expect? Zakka has been before but only for the weekend (and that was with his 'brother' Alf, and Ruby's never been anywhere apart from at home. I'm assuming that when they go for their trial it's best to make no fuss of them when we leave, but is there anything else we should be doing? Ahhhh too many questions and worries!