Comments on: How To Evaluate a Doggy Daycare

By: Christopher Vuong

Christopher Vuong — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 20:20:40 +0000

Regular brushing and combing will help stimulate blood supply to the skin, giving your dog a healthier coat. Most dogs love to be brushed. Brushing your dog can be like a good back scratch to him. It’s a great time to bond with your dog, and he’ll love the attention.Brushing helps remove dirt and pests, untangles knots and spreads the natural oils evenly through the coat.

By: How to Get Six Pack Fast

How to Get Six Pack Fast — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:08:30 +0000

Not that I’m impressed a lot, but this is a lot more than I expected when I stumpled upon a link on Digg telling that the info here is awesome. Thanks.

By: Is doggie day care right for your dog?

Is doggie day care right for your dog? — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 12:16:01 +0000

[...] How To Evaluate a Doggy Daycare – advice from Christine Hibbard, CTC, CPDT of Behind the Behavior Blog. [...]

By: Arthur Best

Arthur Best — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 06:54:01 +0000

This post has good and valuable information, Is nice to see some good articles like this one, thank you.

By: Amy Samida

Amy Samida — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 20:24:00 +0000

I own a dog day care, and am in contact with many, many day care owners. Almost all of them provide a structured day with play times, nap times, potty times, etc. Dog’s thrive on routine, and any professional day care operator knows that. Without nap time, dogs are too tired in the afternoon and get grumpy. I’m not sure what dog day cares Julie is familiar with, but if they don’t provide structure, they are not professionally run.

I was very happy to see that I am fulfilling all the qualifications Ms. Hibbard suggests. This is a very well written article. All of my dogs are quickly conditioned to a whistle, and know that it means race to me for treats. It really helps in managing the group. We also don’t allow excessive barking, and use positive methods to prevent it. Barking is stressful for both people and the other dogs, and it’s important to try to keep the volume down.

We do lots of clicker work here. I try to talk to owner’s about what problems they have with their dog(s) at home, and since I love to train, I try to work on them as just a little extra service I can provide. I am happy to say that “my” dog’s go home tired, not from stress, but from a fun, fulfilling day in a quiet, upbeat environment. It’s very rewarding to have the owner taking them out the door at the end of the day while the dog looks back at me wistfully because it’s not sure it’s ready to leave.

There are lots and lots of well run day cares out there. I hope prospective clients follow these suggestions.

By: Julie

Julie — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 23:26:09 +0000

Thanks for a great article. I think it’s also important for owners to recognize that just because your Fido came home exhausted, this doesn’t mean that s/he had a good time or that it’s even healthy for the dog.

As you pointed out — A structured day is critical, but usually overlooked. I’ve yet to find a doggie day care that really provides a good and balanced day. It just seems that most of the dogs spend the entire day in a high arousal state and stressed out because there are too many dogs in too small of a space.

Sure they come home exhausted, but in all honesty, it may not be much different than what you see when you visit your local animal shelter where the dogs are all amped up because of too much stress and arousal. I’ve taken many shelter dogs home for fostering and they are usually exhausted too — but I’d never say it’s because it was having such a great time at the shelter