It would have to be trust, like not lying to me!
Well, I had been using a place for over 25 years, without any apparent problems, but I had never left my dog there for more than a week or so. When I got hurt in '07, they were in there for about a month, while I was in rehab after knee surgery. I called them every couple of days, to check on them, and always got the same answer, "Oh, they're fine!". So I got home and a friend of mine went to pick them up, and on the way home, he calls me and said, "Hey, they really don't look too good!". I ask in what way, and he says, "Well, they are really skinny!". So they get home and King was about 10 pounds underweight, and Molly was even worse! They looked like they didn't eat for the whole time they were there!
I was pretty angry, and after I put down two bowls of food, and they started scarfing it down, I called the kennel, and asked them what the hell is "fine", if they weren't eating! They said, "Well, they are older dogs (They were 9 and in great shape), and they sometimes are skinny!". I talked to the owners and they knocked off about 25% on the bill, but I will never, ever take a dog of mine there again. If I can't even trust them to tell me if they are eating or not, how can I leave them there again? Soon after they got back to normal weight (Molly has never regained the last five pouns she lost), I began looking for a day care place that I could board them at, and after King getting tossed out of the first place after a disaster of a "audition", I've found a place that they like (well, Molly tolerates it), and they definitely will eat at, and I can trust them to tell me if/when there is something wrong. They called me to tell me that Molly had been bitten on her left ear pretty badly when she got in between two dogs that were not getting along. King wasn't one of them, so that was a relief. They both really like the people that work there, and that helps with me not having to worry when I leave them there. At almost 13, they are about the oldest dogs in the regular sections, and they watch Molly (King needs no help as he's one of the "bosses", and isn't frail in any way) to make sure she isn't getting pushed around or too stressed. She's stressed just going out of the house, so this is important. They have taken her and put her in with little dogs, as she has no stress problems with tiny dogs at all. With bigger dogs, especially barking ones she gets pretty strung out after a few hours.