FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

WHAT IS DOG DAYCARE?

It is an organized and closely supervised setting for friendly dogs to interact and play in a cage free environment during the day.

The purpose of Dog Daycare is to provide stimulation, exercise, and socialization. Dog Daycare can provide excellent socialization opportunities with other dogs and people. Busy owners often arrive home tired and are unable to give their dog the amount of exercise and play needed to maintain good physical and mental health. Without adequate exercise dogs may develop bad habits as a way to release their pent up energy such as destructive behavior, incessant barking and can regress in their housebreaking. Dog Daycare can also help relieve the stress of separation anxiety your dog may be having.

What we wish we could do all day...PLAY! Much of the day is spent interacting and playing with other dogs and toys. There are times when they eat, rest, take a nap, and are walked outside.

The evaluation is for your protection as well as for the people and dogs at Daycare. This evaluation helps to determine if your dog is friendly toward other dogs and people and therefore a good candidate for daycare. Obviously, since daycare is cage free, this screening process is very important to assure that no aggressive dog will be accepted into our center. This time also allows for you to tour our facility, and ask any questions you may have, and for you to tell us what your needs and expectations are for your dog.

We have a grassy area behind our building where we walk the adult dogs at least three times per day. We take the puppies out as often as needed.

If you would like us to feed your dog during the day, please bring in his food. We will confine him for about an hour to allow him to eat and digest his food. Occasionally, we reward positive behavior with treats, if your dog is not allowed to have treats, please let us know. We ask that you do not bring in your dogs' toys. The dogs know the difference between "their" toys and toys that we have at daycare. This can cause territorial issues which can lead to altercations between dogs.

We have four separate playrooms that can accommodate approximately forty dogs. On any given day your dog will be placed in a group with 5 - 15 other dogs.

There is no need to separate males and females because at daycare we only have one sex - "FIXED"! But seriously, this is very important to avoid aggression and hormonal issues in a cage free environment. We will separate small dogs from big dogs or young from old if needed. Obviously, a four pound Pomeranian can be unintentionally injured by a 175 pound Bull Mastiff. However, we have found some large and small dogs love to play together. Some larger dogs seem to understand their bigger size, and therefore are more gentle while playing with little ones. This is determined on a case by case basis and is discussed with the owner. We know the personalities of each dog and divide them into playgroups according to the dogs that are in attendance that particular day. The group dynamics change with each dog introduced to the playgroup and are constantly re-evaluated.

The key is prevention. This is why the dogs are constantly supervised. We reward good behavior and discourage "overly rough playing" which can escalate into aggression. If an accepted dog exhibits unacceptable behavior, the dog is given a timeout and the owner is informed of the concern. We will then work with the owner to resolve the problem or the dog will be removed from daycare. Usually if there is a problem with two particular dogs who don't "get along", that problem can be solved by putting them in separate playgroups.

Our Puppy Pre-School program works with each puppy individually on potty training, name recognition, leash training, sit, down, stay, come and socialization with other dogs. While time restraints would prohibit us from spending that much time with your adult dog each day, we are happy to reinforce any training that may be in progress at home. If there is a special concern you are having, let us know and we will work with you to try and correct that particular behavior problem.y.