Sorry if this is long. My fiance works shift work so there are only a couple of days a month where both of us work. When deciding to get a puppy the plan was to take her to doggie day care on those days that both of us work. We worked our vacation around for the first two months so that one of us is home with her and now the time has come when we need to start taking her to day care. Of course I didn't find this site until after we got our puppy (KALI) and have since found out that doggie day cares aren't the best thing for pups. Anyway, we took her earlier in the week to a doggie day care to try it out for a half of a day. They have several rooms and split the dogs up depending on their activity level. She seems to have a really good time. They had a pool and they said she was in and out of it all afternoon. We brought her home and she was extremely exhausted. I had asked the staff for her to get extra breaks since she was a puppy and they assured me that she did get breaks. So even with breaks I am afraid this might be too much for her. Specially since next week my fiance has to work over time and there will be two days in a row that she will have to go to daycare. So I have been looking for alternative because I can't take any more time off work right now. I found a kennel that is highly recommended and the owner breeds, trains and works a lot with the local retriever club. Their form of day care is the dog is kenneled in an indoor /outdoor kennel. 3 or 4 times a day they are taken out to big fields to play with the other dogs for an hour or two. I feel this is better than crating her all day than having a dog walker come over and let her out for an hour and feed her lunch. I know a lot of people frown at this situation of having to use day care but I would really like your input. thanks
The kennel sounds the best option as your pup will get to rest as well as get to play and socialise with other dogs. The other option it to get a dog sitter someone to come to your home let the pup out and play or walk her. I agree the doggy day care is not for pups who need time out they do sleep alot when young.
The kennel sounds the ideal solution and the owners should have good knowledge of how to look after your pup. There is also home boarding where your pup could go for the day. Not all home boarders take very young pups, but maybe worth investigating. Just make sure they are licenced with their local council. Also, the kennels should be licenced too.
Is it possible to have a dog walker come twice a day? They can let your pup out to toilet and then take them for a walk someplace in the neighbourhood, play some tug, and leave them with a nice stuffed Kong you've left prepped and ready. Two of those trips a day should be fine, I'd think?
Kyko has been going to daycare once a week since he was 12 weeks. Our daycare is like the kennels you mentioned he gets breaks in kennels & they get to play supervised at all time with dogs that are similar in play style & size only, this often means that he gets to play with the owners German Shepherd puppy who is the same age as Kyko. We chose this facility as all the others in the area just had a free for all & they were out in a massive pack all day every day. This is also where he goes when we go away so we know he likes it there, he gets very excited when we turn into the road where daycare is. It's a small family run facility where they dedicate their whole time to being around the dogs. It doesn't seem to have had an adverse effect on his behaviour, he behaves the same even after he's been there albeit he sleeps very, very well that night
I dropped her off this morning and your facility sounds just like the one we are trying out. The owners were there and they were so excited about having a chocolate lab. They proceed to then show me pictures of all their chocolate labs over the years. They also said that they might take her up to the house to play with their puppy since they didn't have any puppies in the kennel at this time. I ended up being late for work this morning because I talked to them for so long. Hopefully she likes it and they take good care of her. My husband is really against having dog walkers come to the house and we are hoping that eventually we will be able to take her less and less when she gets older. Thanks everyone for all your advice. I really do take note of everything that I have been getting from this forum.
it's so hard to leave them isn't it? Kyko started just on a morning for a few weeks as we can't leave him alone or he barks the house down, then we went to a full day. I was a nervous wreck the first time I left him and actually messaged to check he was fine, then the same again when he went for the 1st full day. He was there for 12 nights in March & again I was scared how he would cope when it came to be being kennelled overnight & again I needn't have worried they uploaded pictures onto FB and he wasn't missing us at all. They also say he never barks or cries when left in the kennels even though he does at home, it's obviously to do with there being other dogs around him in the neighbouring kennels. We sometimes now put him in an extra day on a weekend if we want to go get our hair done & things like that
Yes it's very hard to drop them off!!! The other place had cameras and I would sit and watch her all day which wasn't good for my work. I picked her up yesterday afternoon and she didn't want to leave. The owner said she was good and played well with the others. She was no where near as exhausted as she was coming home from the other place. Which is good because I feel the other place was too much for her and didn't have any structure. It was a mad house for dogs. While driving down the drive to leave the farm the husband stopped me and told me I have a really cool dog and I could tell he was genuine in saying that. I really needed to hear that after the weekend I had with her. My husband has been on nights since Friday so it was a long weekend and I was struggling with some training. She is only 15 weeks and I sometime have to be reminded that although she frustrates the hell out of me she is a good dog. The biting is less, she hasn't had an accident in the house in weeks, she hasn't chewed up anything major and for the most part she does listen. She has come a long way from the first week we had her. Which the whole week I spent most nights crying, asking myself why did I do this?? Again this forum has helped me so much!!
So pleased this forum has helped you. I can't really be of much help to anybody as Kyko hasn't chewed anything, only bit once or twice & slept right through after a week. The only thing I think he struggled with is peeing in the house, can't quite remember how long it took as it's now a distant memory but he was over 20 weeks I know that much. Other than not being able to leave him alone he's been a perfect puppy. Myself & sister often say we haven't had the true experience of being a puppy owner & if we ever get another we'll probably get a rude awakening
Hello, and thank you for this useful thread. My husband and I are first time lab puppy owner. Lucy is a black, working type, 7 months old. VERY high energy. We wanted a dog that would enjoy come running with us when fully grown and keep us active. The reality, so far, has been so far from what we had envisaged. We both work full time and it has proved impossible to work at home with her around. So we found a day care centre which she loves and to which she goes five days a week. She’s a lovely dog, very sociable and the day care has really helped with that. The downside is that she spends very little quality time with us (she’s usually asleep in the evenings), and I’m struggling to form a bond with her. Even though I do all the care, feeding and training, we don’t get much back from her. She’s good enough at training and recall, but that’s just because she would do anything for food.... Perhaps we are expecting too much, and she will grow to be a less destructive dog (our garden is a horror show of beheaded flowers, pulled up plants and holes in the grass and flower beds), and create a stronger bond with us. I realise only now this was not the right breed for us. As much as we love her, and our all of our time effort and money into giving her the best life, she doesn’t see us as fun as day care. We’ve given ourselves another 12 months (when she’ll be 19 months) and review where we are. It’s felt just a lot of stress and effort for no companionship and bonding. What a shame, we had wanted a dog like Lucy for so long. If there are other people out there who have to use day care daily, how have they built a bond with their dog? Lucy having entered her teenage phase is making everything harder work, maybe, but we feel very downhearted and have seriously considered rehoming her. She’s a very sweet puppy who would make a stay at home family very happy (so long as they are not garden proud!). We’ll wait another year before we decide. Any advice? Is it just a phase? Does it get better...? Thank you
Have you read other posts on here about how difficult puppies can be and problems people have had with bonding with them? It's quite common and may make you feel better as most of them seem to 'turn out right in the end'!
we've had an extremely easy time with Kyko as a puppy, no destruction & no biting, just generally very chilled in the house. The only real problems we had with him was his over excitement with other dogs. We were working hard on that & was getting so much better. However now at 13 months adolescence has hit. Although still very chilled out in the house, he's taken a step back with walking past dogs, has gone terminally deaf & has had to go back onto the long line of shame. Sorry I can't help with the bonding, as he goes to daycare only once a week & comes to work with me 2 days a week. I also had a pretty much instant bond with him
Hi, 7 months is hard work! Working line labs can very hard work and they are very active and need exercise and mental stimulation. The first thing that springs to mind is that maybe 5 days a week at day care is over stimulating your pup and she maybe learning to play at a very high level or becoming over stimulated ? Do the dogs get down time at the centre? It is pretty normal for a dog to just sleep after interacting with dogs all day or just being in the company of dogs during the day, so the fact that she just sleeps when home I would think is nothing to do with not bonding with you? Also, perhaps you are asking too much from her, I'm not sure what you mean by not getting much back from her? It sounds like she enjoys training with you, especially if food motivated! You could use the time you have to be with her to train, having fun at the same time!
It might just be an age thing rather than a day care problem. My dog is 2 years and 3 months old and I'd say although the worst of his horrible behaviour has been over for some time, the affectionate, lovely side of his personality is only just beginning to shine through. In the mornings he won't even go outside for a wee until he's had enough cuddles. This is so different from how he was at 7 months old when he only cared about food and destroying things.
