Day Care Questions

[missbattenburg]

I am thinking of trialling my nine month old springer at day care - more as an ad hoc option so that there is somewhere he is familiar with that I can use for the odd day out where he cannot come with me.

Not having used day care before I was wondering what questions people had asked/checked when they chose which day care to use for their dogs?

Are you thinking of using a professional day care center or a dog walker that also does day care?

I have visited the former but use the latter. With large daycare centres I would want to know how many dogs they take (the one I looked at could take up to 30 at a time), how they match their personalities and how much rest they get given the number of dogs.

I use a dog walker so again ask how many dogs they take but I would hope it wouldn't be many, what walks they go on and will there be any periods when they are left alone if they are walking other dogs.

Other things to think about is whether they need to feed your dog. Cancellation terms and whether they pick up and drop off etc. ?police checks (can't remember the name) if you give them a house key, public liability insurance etc.

Thanks Bitey. It's more the latter I was thinking of. He has a walker already but she doesn't do day care and I was thinking it might be good for him to have someone different - just for the variety of being with different people and dogs.

For some reason I would not have thought about him being left while they did other walks so that's a good catch.

BiteyDog is left only for a short time but he gets 2 walks a day and company in between so comes home happy and tired. As you plan to use a dog walker type set up I would ask for a general breakdown of the day he would have so how many walks, how many dogs on each walk, whether they are left alone and how many they have for daycare throughout the day.

P.s. mine loves it and loves the dog carer. I get the odd pictures of him and his 'pals' enjoying themselves or curled up asleep on the sofa.

I provide daycare, walking and boarding with Dog buddy, one of my friends does it too and looking at other carers profiles it's seems that genuine dog loving people that do it (as its home based we don't actually earn that much money, so most people wouldn't be in it for the money if you know what I mean).
Also heard people recommending Tailster.
Both of these companies provide insurance if something happens with the dog in care.
I only take 2/3 dogs max... wouldn't be able to cope with more in my house! My friend just take one :)

The doggy daycare centre was use takes up to 50 dogs a day. It is extremely well managed though and the dogs all seem to be calm and relaxed. They split them into small groups of compatible temperaments and ages. I put my 9month old terrier there for socialisation and she loves it. She is also exhausted by the end of the day.

Brill, thanks everyone!

I use group daycare but only if my other 2 ladies are full. I use them ad him so they can be booked if I need them last minute
Group daycare is fine and Ddog comes back exhausted ( and smelly) but I do prefer the tic he gets from a smaller environment

I used daycare for my beautiful doggy. It's brill and he loves it. Questions I'd ask - do they insist all dogs are vaccinated? Do they insist all dogs are neutered? Do they walk them or just let them out in a field? Are they licensed with the council? Are they insured? Do they have a plan in case of emergency (eg what if a dog breaks a leg and needs to go to vet... What do they do with all the other dogs?)

As you can tell I'm a bit of a neurotic pet owner but I have to say it's brilliant, he comes back exhausted and we have been going there for years now :-)