Should Dogs Play All Day at Daycare?

I’ve collected some information from the experts regarding choosing a daycare for your furry friend, and why we value our exceptional standards as a leading facility in the pet care industry.

There are many factors involved when considering doggy daycare, but I’ve boiled it down to three: Your dog, the facility and the staff.

Your dog. Just like people, dogs have different personalities and have had different experiences while growing up. With a wide spectrum of who each dog might enjoy spending time with, it’s important to understand whether your dog would enjoy playing in a large group, or perhaps may enjoy some quiet alone time with a staff member.

The Facility. There are many amenities that go into providing a great and safe environment:

• A dog’s play area needs lots of room and places for dogs to opt out of interaction if they want to go off by themselves and rest.
• The facility must be clean, sanitary, and safe, outdoors and in. All daycares should have a plan to respond to a fire or other emergencies.
• A separate play are for smaller dogs and for young pups
• There should be a place for the dogs to nap

It is important to understand that dogs need to sleep during the day. There must be a quiet secure place where the dogs rest for at least two hours each day.

According to trainer Kathy Sdao, businesses that brag that they never have the dogs off the play-floor misunderstand their responsibility to provide a balance of activities and rest. It’s unhealthy for dogs to play with each other, uninterrupted, for eight or more hours a day. It can create problems such as bullying, barking or impulsiveness.

The Staff. A great daycare facility must have:

• A high staff:dog ratio (at least one person for every 10 or 15 dogs)
• Staff should be well-versed in reading dogs for signs of stress, discriminating between appropriate versus inappropriate play, and how to effectively but kindly manage the behavior of both individual dogs and a group of dogs
• The best dog daycares conduct a thorough behavioral assessment of all new dogs
• A policy should be in place if a dog bullies others, or initiates a fight
• Staff should be conscious of size differences and separate the dogs into different play groups if necessary

Source: Patricia McConnell & Kathy Sdao