In a kind of continuation of the home alone puppies discussion, I am curious about the usage of dog daycare options for puppies. The main concern is the too much exercise belief. Is it bad for their joints, etc? How long at daycare is too long? At what age could they be considered a candidate? (Finn is almost 5 months old) I have had Finn at daycare a couple of times and he seems to enjoy it. Is it beneficial for puppies or could it cause them to have an elevated excitement level at home on days they *don't* go to daycare? I was discussing this with my parents and was curious what everyone's thoughts were.
Rolo goes to daycare 3 half days a week. This is 5 hour slots. He is always tired when he comes home but they have structured playtime and restime. I dont think he is over excited when he doesnt go but in a previous post i mentioned about him not settling. I dont think the two are related i just think hes so tired after daycare he will settle quicker. But he doesnt seem Too excited for not going to daycare. I understand the exercise risks however the risk of mentally imparing him by leaving him alone all day every day is more risky to me. I must also add, i take Rolo to socialisation on a saturday at the same place. Its basically a big field where they play and interact with owners often doing training whilst other dogs in the vicinity. His excitement levels have been elevating eacg week and im going to have to reduce this as he almost broke my arm and pulled me over this weekend trying to pull his way to the field. So he does know where hes going snd what its for.
Corona has been going to daycare since she was fully vaccinated, once or twice a week. I use 2 different facilities that both have structured play time and rest time. When she doesn't go, she is not overly excited, of course, she gets her two 45 minute walks on those days, one in the morning and one after dinner. She is now 7 months old. I use one daycare specifically if it's just for the day. The other we use, when we will be away overnight for work. That happens probably once or twice a month. She loves both, tail is wagging hard as soon as she figures out where she's going!
It all depends on the way that the daycare is run. Our daycare has a separate puppy section that has only puppies in it. Once puppies are old enough they graduate to the grown up section. Both groups are heavily supervised. In the puppy area they do short training sessions including brain/puzzle games, tricks and a lot of 'keep calm'/self control training, short play sessions and sleep sessions throughout the day. Puppies are there for the whole day. I would be using this service without hesitation if I had a puppy.
WOW. I haven't seen anything like that here in San Diego and there are zillions of daycare facilities. Maybe I should start up a business
When I was looking for day care for Homer I contacted a few dog walkers, two said that they were unable to take on a young puppy as his walks would need to be shorter than the dogs they had. Another dog walker was recommended who worked as a team with her husband and grandson. They were able to have different groups for dog walks, and Homer went with some smaller older dogs on his walks that were quieter than the group of more active dogs. From time to time he's had to go back to quieter lead walks with the slow group when he's been injured.
Hiya, It definately has its place but I think it needs careful consideration. I have stopped using it now after using 2 different places.There isn't a huge amount of choice here when I've eliminated many of them based on cleanliness and supervision.The first was too overwhelming for Dexter,the groups became too big and the arrival was stressful .The day he jumped back in the car and hunkered down at the back of the boot was the day he was telling me he didn't want to go anymore.I looked into a second one which was more closer to Obi's set up,(which I think is marvellous by the way) and Dexter went for a while but he was stratospheric/hyped up excited ( think dolphin leaps higher than my head) when I collected him which I hated.He again started showing reluctance on daycare day ...to see him hiding on his bed when I am routing out a kong from the freezer is unthinkable but that was happening. It was about socialisation not daycare for us as there are so few off lead opportunities and ,I also wanted to have the security that if disaster ever struck and I needed to leave him in kennels he would be able to cope....he wouldn't ,he hates all the barking and noise .
I am so glad this thread was started because we are going to see a possible day care for Harley next Thursday. I have only managed to find one so it is going to be tough if we don't like it because that will mean no day care for Harley for a while. I have made a list of things to check for and ask about from this thread already. The lady said they only have a spot on Wednesdays and Thursdays, so Harley would be limited to twice a week. What is a bit of a problem is that the drop off is nice and early but the pick up is an hour before I even leave work. And I do think to myself, is it for people that work half day? Because I don't work long hours, I finish at 16:00. I will have to see if between DH and I we can figure something out. Otherwise I must fetch her at lunch time and drop her at home on those days, but it does mean extra pressure and stress on me and if we have an emergency at the hospital I may be stuck. I am hoping for Harley to gain some extra stimulation and exercise from playing with other dogs. She is now 22 weeks. And I have to still emphasize, she is a very good pup. She is not hyper and in the back of my mind I am starting to think she is maybe sick...but I will logically dismiss my hypochondria by proxy. She eats well, sleeps well and plays. She is just a calm pup - when she isnt zooming And besides her play and walks I am starting to do training with her every night, just practicing things from puppy class and I am also watching the Kikopup vids on Youtube. Harley really enjoys it and she calms down and focuses.
