Doggy Daycare, is it a terrible thing?

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I put my puppy (5 months old) into daycare for one day. I need to do this to get some work done and also because I will need a night in kennels in a couple of months, and thought this would be a good way to test how he might be & get him used to the people. The daycare said he was great, sent me photos and he seemed to love it. The plan is for him to go one day a week. However, I mentioned it in passing to his dog trainer who said they don't recommend it for any dogs as they pick up bad habits. Is it really that bad?

Our puppy loves his doggy daycare. He goes once a week and gets so excited he leaps out the car and charges in. He took a few weeks to settle, he's 8 mths now and he has so much fun he doesn't want to leave when I pick him up now. The staff clearly all care about the dogs and know each one very well. We sometimes get pictures and a little update on what they have done that day and who they played with! There is around 30 there a day but they have different rooms depending on size/age/temperament etc.

It has definitely made him a lot more confident with other people and other dogs. For us this was to be temporary while he was young, as we work from home and needed a day where we could focus completely but we will happily keep sending him for the foreseeable.

I think you can judge how happy your dog is and if its good for him. A lot of people crate their dogs when they are out. This sounds a bit like they do that but there is someone supervising and can give them attention, exercise etc. If our dog didn't settle, was obviously stressed, picked up bad habits etc we would reconsider daycare but at the moment its doing him the world of good.

My 7 month old pup has been going to a lovely day care once a week but I wish I’d put her in more and ignored the advice to keep them at home as much as possible. She now cannot cope at home without us being there. She’s gotten too used to being around us all the time. If she’d had varied care from early on I think this would have helped and met her social and play needs. Being at home all the time is making her less confident because she’s just not interacting with enough other people (and yes she was well “socialised” in the critical period). She mopes around when she isn’t getting direct attention as she’s just too used to it. Different in other countries where there is a few dogs and they muck about around the farm all day long. But a sole dog who is extremely social with just a few humans…over attachment is now ruining our experience. The polar opposite advice around dogs is so unhelpful.

She’s really young yet. My dog wasn’t reliably ok alone until she was around 18 months and more grown up. That’s pretty common. She was worse during adolescence. Now she just sleeps when we go out and barely looks up when we go. We’ve built time slowly and carefully.

Neighbours dog, similar breed, left 8 hours a day from 8 weeks to ‘get him used to it’. Stopped howling eventually. Stopped destroying the house eventually. Has scars from self mutilation. Can’t leave the immediate area as too fearful. Poo pooed me when I suggested he may need more support to be able to be ok alone.

Puppies and adolescent dogs do not cope alone. Even the independent breeds. It’s just development. Nothing to do with being around too much and everything to do with age and teaching pup to be alone.

Ours rotates them so they have play time in their group. Down time in the kennel alone or with a close buddy if they have them and then back around. There are four different paddocks with agility type stuff, and an inside play area.

tbh it’s more like a nursery than my kids nursery ever was.

oh and there are definitely more than 7 staff there at any time.

and further edit. They do a lengthy introduction and assessment period before agreeing your dogs care (and acceptance!) so they do place them carefully

the place is fully camera covered so I can check in any time I want to see what’s going on.

Never used one but there's one down the lane from us & the dogs there are barking, non stop, all day long. One of mine seems to get very distressed hearing them & barks back, have to say I agree with her, it isn’t happy playful barking coming from the daycare place.

I do.
Most dogs don't do well in kennels, they need to be with people not shut away .
DDog goes to a small well known to all of us boarder, a close friend or MIL if we go away. If none of those options are available we don't go on holiday without him. He will NEVER set foot in a kennel.

My boy went to doggy daycare from 6 months for 4 days a week
..this was 7 years ago. It was a small service with their 2 dogs and 2 others max for daycare. The owners interviewed me and met my dog to see how he got on with theirs.
My dog loved it. He learnt to be part of a pack. I trusted them implicitly. Sadly it ended as they retired last year and by then he was going about once a week.

My boy is going to go to another small daycare just once a week as I think it's good for him to have pack life as a sole dog at home. Personally I wouldn't send him to a big place with 30 dogs.

We use the same one we used for our previous dog, who was 6 when she started going, due to work reasons (2 days a week). I was quite reticent and had already discounted two daycares in the local area because the answers to my initial questions weren’t something I was happy with (how many dogs? What happens if two dogs don’t get on? etc). I’d more or less given up on the idea and was looking for a dog Walker instead, when a customer at work was talking about the one they used. For every question I had, the Owner had 3 more! He was so thorough, it was really reassuring. We were welcomed in to look at the facilities at a quieter time of day - agility room, chill-out side rooms, a daily timetable with Quiet Time built in.
I had no hesitation booking our current dog in at the age of 5 months and she loves it, adores the staff and is the kind of dog to give very clear signals if she doesn’t like a person or environment.
So, a long-winded way of saying do your research, go off personal recommendations if possible and if it turns out not to be suitable then have the confidence to walk away. Like a poster above, I’ve seen social media posts from other daycares in the area where it’s so obvious that the dogs are exhibiting stressed behaviour. And all the Home Daycares bar one seem very amateur and not what I’d be looking for to take care of an active working breed.

I know this is an old thread that's suddenly perked up, but in case anyone was thinking about it, I agree that daycares are variable, but a good one can be amazing. My 8 month old has been going since he was 5 months old. He started with one of their satellite carers so it was just him and her older dog. Now if she's away he goes to HQ, where they have more dogs, but also more rooms and more carers. I had a 45 minute interview before they took him on and he had a meet and greet at both places. They are wonderful. He is kept separately from any dogs that are in the least reactive to him as an intact male, I get photos and daily reports, including who he's played with (dog and people), and once when he was struggling to nap one of the carers actually got in the bed with him until he settled. It's been really good for his dog-dog social skills, and as it's just him and me at home, for giving him other 'main people' in his life. Ask for local recommendations!

See this is an old thread but also more recent interactions and thought I'd add my experience. I had a Covid pup and when he was 9 months I started looking at daycares because he would have to go when I went back to work. The first two were a nightmare- first was an industrial type place with loads of dogs and he was completely overwhelmed and stressed and I removed him fast. Second was a home boarding but a relatively small space. They rejected my dog and I was upset at the time but with perspective it was completely wrong for him- too many dogs and he wanted to play all the time and was disruptive. Third time we struck gold with a small home boarder / day care where she was quite selective about the dogs but had two high energy friendly dogs herself and lots of space. There are so many models and people doing this- it's best to know your dog and what they enjoy/ stresses them out and find one that fits.

The other option for my dog was to be home alone for long days with a walker coming to break it up. I thought he's be happier with company but his littermate is very happy with the other arrangement. Trust that you know your dog and you can see if they are content!

This is an old thread that seems to have resurfaced!

I just came to add that people do need to be aware of how far their dogs are travelling. In south london I notice that loads are based in Surrey but try to pull the wool over your eyes by having an address in south london. They don’t tell you unless you question them.

They also use the narrative of ‘oh it’s just 30 mins outside London’ but fail to mention how long they spend collecting all the dogs. Then when I have googled I’ve realised it would be over an hour even if it was door to door and no other pick ups.

I think the poor dogs must be sat in the car for over 3 hours a day with owners unaware.

My dog goes one day a week and loves it. Let your dog have fun 😁🐾

I’ve just changed to a much smaller family run farm kennels that does day care and overnight boarding which in the long run will be so much easier when we need to be away without her. They are walked in small groups, let out to play and enforced rest periods too. Just what my dog needs as she would play all day long in the other place. They also teach them lead walking which is so helpful as I usually walk her off lead in the quiet forest behind our house.
I do agree that with maturity she is getting better at being alone, but I also wish we’d crated her in a different room from the beginning now, not our bedroom. She just won’t tolerate being in there now without us being in the same room because she’s never had to. So if tradespeople are around or people who are afraid of dogs, she just whines and yelps in her crate if she can hear us but isn’t involved. It’s super annoying!

That’s nothing to do with crating her in your room. You just need to slowly expose her to alone time with you not there in the room. It’s pretty easy once they are mature. But hearing people in the house is always going to be frustrating for a dog. Not many would be ok with it.

I found the daycare centres looked after my dog really well, they really tried to accommodate the specific needs he had. I would recommend it overall although it didn't suit my dog in the end. However that said, when he first started there was a member of staff who seemed extremely negative with him but once she left he was very happy. I think this could be the main issue, you dont necessarily know who will be there booking after your dog.

My worst experience was at a 1:1 at a person's house. Went once, she said my dog was lovely, got on well with her dog but she couldn't keep him there as he opened all her doors and she couldn't contain him when she left him (I was shocked he was being left TBH). She said she could have him for a few weeks as her husband would be there so he wouldn't be left alone till I found somewhere else. After the next time I took him she ignored the phone all day, when I collected him she literally pushed him out the door and said the dogs didn't get on then she ignored me after.

That night he basically stayed away from everyone, was really down. Since then he has been scared of big dogs (he's nearly 50kg, her dog was bigger) and also of men he doesn't know. He was fine before that. She wouldn't even respond to me saying I hadn't paid for the 2 sessions as she hadn't sent bank details.

I have no clue what happened, I am assuming it's something her dog/husband did otherwise she would have said what my dog had done surely!

I will never trust someone I don't know to look after my dogs alone now.

Interested to see this resurface, now we're nearly a year on. It's been great for us. When we turn into the drive of the place he goes, Boo starts getting very excited. Can't wait to get out, loves the girls there, and their experience has been great at managing some of his behaviour, Interestingly I've been speaking to another trainer whose opinion was more "I don't have a problem with doggy daycare, I have a problem with bad daycare". and she' heard only good things about the one he goes to.

So my experience is, do what you need to do for you and your dog, and listen to your dog. I'd have taken him out in a shot if he'd seemed nervous or reluctant of going.

My dogs go to a great daycare. It's very structured - playtime, agility, country walk/swim, rest time. They absolutely love it. They're so excited to get in the van it's practically insulting.