Christine Hibbard, CTC, CPDT
I’ve been surprised by how often I’ve heard dog owners say with relief in their voices, “my dog passed the temperament test and has been accepted into dog daycare”, but when I ask the owner questions about the daycare, I discover that the owners did very little investigation. As with any facility or service, it’s important to be an informed consumer. At Companion Animal Solutions, we know what we consider to be important factors in how a daycare facility is run, but I also wanted to get feedback from top end doggy daycare providers to learn more about their industry. Based on our knowledge of canine behavior and feedback from daycare owners with whom I corresponded, I put together a list of questions you can use to evaluate whether a particular dog daycare is right for you. Since we specialize in behavior at Companion Animal Solutions, I’ve focused on the issues we feel are most important for the behavioral health of your dog, but I also included some questions about general safety at the end of this article.
What training in canine behavior or dog training is the staff required to complete and what material does it include?
We often assume that just because someone presents themselves as a canine professional, that this is the case. However, there are no city, state, or federal regulations about education or experience required to work with companion animals. Some dog daycares have developed their own in house staff training programs while others send their staff to outside training classes. There is also a distinction between what education/training the owner of the daycare has completed as opposed to their staff. This is an important distinction since the owner might not be the person responsible for monitoring the dogs throughout the day.
How do they conduct a behavior/temperament evaluation for new dogs being admitted to their facility?
Again, standards for behavior evaluations vary widely. Each shelter, rescue, and dog daycare has their own process for completing this important evaluation. In general though, we recommend that the staff introduce your dog to ONE other dog and then keep adding dogs one at a time. Don’t be alarmed if the daycare may not want you present for this evaluation. There is a very good reason for this. Your dog will behave differently with you in the room (see Greta Kaplan’s excellent blog entry Why Is My Dog Worse With Me?). In an ideal world, this evaluation would happen in a room that has a two-way window so that you can observe without affecting the evaluation. If this isn’t the case though, you can still ask them to describe the process that they’re going to use to evaluate your dog.
How do they organize dogs; by size or by play style?
Size is usually the first consideration in grouping dogs for play in dog daycares. Having a general match in sizes is important to prevent predatory drift from occurring in a pack of dogs. Predatory drift can happen when play “tips” and the playmate is suddenly treated as a prey animal. For example, we don’t want 50 plus pound dogs playing in groups with toy breeds, but size is only one issue to consider. Professionals should also take into consideration the play style and temperament of the dog. I once visited a dog daycare and when I went into the small/shy dog area, there was a 10-year-old, 60 pound dog in the room. He was an older, tired, laid back guy who fit in better with the small, shy dogs than he did the rambunctious area where many of the other dogs his size spent their day.
How do they “structure” the dogs’ day?
We recommend that dog daycares provide a structured day for their charges. You provide structure for you dog at home and it’s important that your daycare also provide your dog with structure. This is one of the best ways to ensure that your dogs’ time at daycare does not result in behavior problems your dog wasn’t exhibiting before they started attending. There should be playtime, potty time (in a separate area), rest time, snack time, etc.
How do they handle behavior problems like barking, jumping up, and dog fights?
We have reams of scientific evidence that dogs learn most effectively using treats, toys, and play. Using spray bottles, electronic collars, scruff shaking, and rolling the dog on their back causes stress not only for the dog being punished, but for the dogs in the same space as the dog being punished. Stress produces cortisol (in dogs and in people) and cortisol negatively impacts learning and behavior . Some dogs handle these types of methods better than others, but why take a chance on behavioral fall out such as higher generalized anxiety and fear? Behavior problems that can arise at a dog daycare can be handled simply and effectively without using force, fear, or pain. Ask your prospective dog daycare provider how they handle simple problems such barking (no spray bottles please), jumping up (no kneeing the dog in the chest), and dog fights (using a loud noise or strong citronella spray is the preferred way).
Here are some questions you can ask about health, safety, and disaster planning:
Do they require proof of vaccination and negative fecal float?
All reputable dog daycares require proof of vaccination and a negative fecal float.
What safety training is the staff required to complete?
Is the staff certified in first aid or CPR?
Is the staff trained to handle emergencies?
They should have a disaster/evacuation plan in place and available for your inspection.
Does the facility use a “safe” word?
No one should be able to pick up your dog without providing a staff member with your dog’s safe word.
Do you have other questions that you think are important for an owner to ask of a dog daycare provider? Do you have ideas for making dog daycare as fun and behaviorally rewarding as possible? Do you have thoughts on owners’ responsibility for making doggy daycare a positive experience for everyone? Let us know. We love hearing from our readers!
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 🙂
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.
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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.
As a new puppy owner I like all the knowledge here. I really want my furry friend to be properly trained and have a healthy atmosphere to live in. Many thanks for the information.
Hi, I am just wondering why when you are talking about behavior & temperament of the dogs, do you happen to be showing 2 Pitbulls or Bully type dogs looking aggressive? It looks a bit stereotypical to me & for someone who owns a Pitbull I am not sure whether to take offense or not. Especially when in all my years I have found that Poodles & Chihuahuas are WAAYYY more vicious than any Pitbull I have ever encountered…which have been many! I hope this way unintentional which I’m sure it must be. Thanks!
I selected that image because it is two dogs playing WELL together. No aggression there at all. If you’ve read our other articles, you know that we do not discriminate against particular breeds: https://companionanimalsolutions.com/blogs/are-pit-bulls-inherently-dangerous. We love Pit Bulls and are against breed specific legislation: https://companionanimalsolutions.com/blogs/seattles-proposed-breed-specific-legislation. Thanks for reading Behind the Behavior!
As a daycare owner I find great interest in what you say and i don’t agree with all. As with children not all dogs react the same way to discipline. I find the water bottle to be a very good deterent for many dogs, A loud eh eh also will work and sometimes a time out. I also do not believe in crating the dogs for naptime. We turn the lights low in the dog areas and let them relax most will lay down and rest. Many of my dogs have never been in crates and crating for naps causes great stress.
A question that I would want to know before I leave my dogs at a daycare is the number of humans to dogs in the space. I feel there should always be at least 2 humans in the space, just in case two dogs need to be separated, but I also feel like if there’s 8, 10, 15 dogs, or more you need to have a set dog:human ratio. Maybe 1 human for every 5 dogs. And perhaps even some guidelines such as while all humans should be watching all dogs, each human should have a specific set of 5 dogs that they are “mostly” responsible for.
Also, in a daycare that has structure for nap time and snack time, is it at a set time each day and if your dog showed up 10 minutes before nap, they have to settle and nap? Or is the structure on a rolling basis determined by the arrival of the dog to the daycare, so that 2 hours after arrival, they’re moved to a smaller space, have a snack and a nap for 30 minutes, then 2 hours after they’ve returned to play, another round…
Really? Are there dog day cares that use “scruff shaking, rolling the dog on their back, punishment, force, fear, and pain” to handle behavior problems? Those are serious and outrageous implications.
Julie wrote: ” 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.”
To Julie: I am part of the dog day care owner community with members from day cares around the world and they routinely discuss how to balance the dog’s activities, keep the arousal low, reduce stress, etc. It is the #1 objective. You clearly have not spoken with many, if any, day care operators.
Joanne, that sounds great! Which daycare do you own and where are you located???
Yes,I think If you decide your dog is a good candidate and has been evaluated and accepted into a daycare, it’s a good idea for you to stay and observe for a bit the first day and on occasion after that.
Thank you for this article! i think it is important for people to be VERY through when looking for a daycare for their dog. However, after working at several of the local day cares it is not something i recommend to anyone. Not only does each of them have one or two of the big no-nos mentioned here but rarely are staff held as responsible as they should be or trained thoroughly as they should be. They will tell potential customers everything they want to hear but they don’t act accordingly. At the last one i worked at there was a fellow coworker hitting dogs and even after i went to management several times nothing was done about it. On top of that they over used shaker cans to the point where dogs were terrified of certain people or the shaker can as a whole. After everything i’ve seen in boarding and day care environments at multiple places, i’d never be comfortable leaving my dog at one again, or recommending it to anyone.