Every dog owner needs help from time to time with dog care. It can be challenging though to choose the right option for your dog, with so many different types of care available. With more and more doggy daycares than ever before, what should you look for when choosing a daycare option for your dog?
Ask lots of questions
Ok it might seem pretty obvious that you should ask a lot of questions of anyone or anywhere that’s looking after your dog. For a professionally run doggy day care, questions should include, but not limited to:
- How many staff per dog? (Minimum standards are 1 full time staff per 10 dogs - see official guidelines)
- What do you do if dogs don’t get along with each other?
- What do you do if a dog is in season/heat?
- Can dogs go into a private space and not be bothered by other dogs?
- How often are the dogs individually checked over and/or given attention by staff?
- What kind of walks, outside the daycare area are the dogs given?
- If an indoor facility, how often are the dogs taken out for toilet breaks?
- If an outdoor facility, what happens in bad weather?
- How is the health of dogs attending assessed (so your dog doesn’t risk illness)?
If you are unsatisfied with any of the answers then look elsewhere.
And they should be asking you too!
The sign of a good day care is if they ask you questions as well. They should be confirming your dog is vaccinated, up to date on worming and flea treatment at a minimum. They should also check if your dog has the right temperament and personality for daycare.
Insurance
It’s very important that any place that provides dog daycare has appropriate insurance. Even if your dog is insured, it may not fully cover, for example, damage to property if you are not in charge of your dog at the time. They should be able to show you documentation and explain what their insurance covers.
Visit
The best way to get a feel for a daycare is to go and visit it. If they are relaxed with you popping in at any time, that is ideal, as you want to make sure they’re not just tidying up because you have warned them you were coming! Have a good look around and ask:
- Does it look clean?
- Do the dogs look happy (not just the ones bouncing over to say hi, the quiet ones too)?
- Are there a lot of dogs in one space?
- Does it feel controlled?
- Are you confident that the staff could manage any issues correctly?
- The space must also look like a space where your dog wouldn’t hurt themselves, and not get bored.
- Could your dog comfortably take a nap?
- Are the spaces suitably split up to keep small dogs, puppies and/or older dogs safe?
- Is there enough space for each dog?
- Are dogs supervised with toys?
If anything doesn’t look right, be sure to ask more questions.
Is doggy daycare right for your dog?
No-one knows your dog better than you, so you are the best person to make a decision when it comes to dog care. It could be that daycare isn’t for your pooch and that’s ok because there are other options.
Maybe your dog would prefer a 1:1 situation without the noise, where they could have a cosy snooze on the sofa, lots of walks, attention and only socialise with other dogs on their terms.
An option that provides this is BorrowMyDoggy.
BorrowMyDoggy is where borrowers look after owners’ dogs not for money, but simply because they love dogs.
A borrower can provide your dog with 1:1 attention for company, walking or both.
With BorrowMyDoggy you can meet other dogs too, which is a great way to socialise your dogs and make human friends too! All our premium members are verified, insured and have access to our 24/7 vetline, so find out more now.
After feeling traditional doggy daycare was “quite regimented”, Cider’s owner, Lesley, was so happy to find a BorrowMyDoggy match. For her, it’s been a
win, win, win. I’ve found people live close by that love dogs in the way that we do. It just so flexible.
Dog-lover Steve joined BorrowMyDoggy so his children could spend time with a dog, and matched with the gorgeous Cider, a Wheaten Terrier. As he says,
Cider loves my kids. They’re desperate for a dog, and this is the perfect way of them getting some doggy time.
McTavish’s owners Greg and Kelsey from Scotland say:
When we take McTavish to doggy daycare, we’re not really sure what kind of attention he’s getting. They’re kind of locked together in one room and it can just sort of be like a kennel or something. When he goes there, he would come back a little bit shell-shocked, so it has been amazing to have people on BorrowMyDoggy who genuinely really like being around him and are giving him one-on-one attention. You go to work knowing he’s in good hands and he’s going to have a fun day.
