Hello all My girl has always been very submissive. She has been socialised well from a young age but has experienced two not so friendly dogs out on walks & this has really knocked her confidence. After the first incident we took her to training sessions our trainer organised & within a few visits she was doing well. She goes out with lovely doggy friends on walks & loves playing with other dogs at doggy day care (who are brilliant). After a rather feisty dog charging her last week she seemed ok, but having dropped her off at day care as normal yesterday it took them an hour to get her In the paddock with the other dogs, they were super patient with her, brought a quiet dog out to her & eventually got her in. After a while she relaxed & started playing & being her usual happy, zoomy self. She has only ever had positive experiences there, small group & never left unsupervised. My question is do I continue to take her to day care to ‘get over it’ or will this make her worse? Like I said she was soon back to normal & perfectly happy once she settled.
As dogs get older, they often get less interested in playing with other dogs in general. I think a lot of adult dogs would rather just relax at home than spend the day with other dogs - where they might not get a chance for any downtime to relax. If she isn't happy to go there, despite not having a particular bad incident, maybe it's just not something she enjoys anymore. Another thing, is that stress can be difficult to identify and different dogs show things differently. You mention that she is zoomy at the day care - if she spends a lot of time running round in circles zooming, it might be a sign that she's stressed or overwhelmed, and not playing. Just a possibility to consider! I think it's possible that it could get worse, you could see how she reacts next time, and if she does the same thing, consider not taking her anymore.
Thank you lucky dog, she appears to enjoy play usually & only goes once a month so it’s not a regular thing. She is a very lively happy girl so was just using the word zoomy to explain this, she zoomies whenever / where ever the mood takes her lol. It’s very well run & they ensure the dogs get plenty of down time, with a small number of dogs, but yes of course if I think she wasn’t enjoying it I would certainly not take her. I might ask them if I could take her & spend an hour or so there with her to see how she is, I can then see if she is feeling overwhelmed?
I absolutely agree with @lucky_dog. I am sure they are a great doggy day care, they sound very patient and caring. That's really good. What I would be thinking is that right now it may not be the right environment for her. Now,I hope I am not worrying you, only if I knew what I know now, I would have taken a very different approach with Casper, who struggles with groups and busy doggy areas. Do you have a local dog walker that could take her out for solo walks? Or maybe with just one pal? As has been mentioned, often dogs are happy with a good hour's walk mid morning, followed by snoozing the day away on the sofa. I know that's Casper's idea of heaven!
Thank you Beanwood, yes great advice. They really are excellent, they spent ages with her helping her relax. She has a dog walker visit 3 / 4 times a week who brings a friend for walkies & Mollie adores her. I was just trying to vary her ‘entertainment’ I suppose & up until yesterday seems to of loved going occasionally. But at the end of the day if she has now has decided it’s all too much then I respect that, just wondered why it was such a sudden change, guy at the day care said it was very out of character for her.
Hi all, thought I’d give you an update. So I spoke with my trainer who suggested I approach the daycare to see if they would be willing to let me stay with Mollie for an hour, in a quiet area, away from the others to see how she reacts, after an hour take her home, then repeat the week after. If she showed interest in joining the others or anxiety that will then tell me if day care simply isn’t for her. I messaged them Wednesday, disappointing that I’m yet to receive a reply from them. Suppose there is the slim possibility they haven’t received my message, but they always reply within a few hours when I’m booking her in. So we are sticking with more visits from her lovely dog walker & the one or two friends that join her, at least I know she really enjoys that. I’m really disappointed the daycare don’t seem interested in helping, suppose it says it all! Moral of the story is that I need to listen better to what Mollie is telling me.
Just wondered if there's anything hormonal going on, but probably not. I don't use daycare, looks like you are doing the right thing with increased visits from your dog walker. So difficult isn't it, to find the right set up/person?
Thank you Selina, it’s almost like a phase she’s going through but suppose that’s expected now she’s an adult. We are very lucky with our dog walker, very professional & kind & most importantly Mollie loves her. She’s been visiting since she was 6 months old so knows her really well. At least I know mollie enjoys it.
