We took our dogs to daycare once a week this summer. I'm glad we did. The place we took them was part of a vet clinic and the people that work there LOVE animals... They hadn't reached a point of indifference because they were around them all the time. The place was immaculately clean and very spacious. Someone was out with the dogs at all times or could observe them through several observation windows. They had means of seperating the small dogs from the big and slowly introduced the more timid dogs to the pack. The "baby sitter" threw balls and played with the dogs, kept all messes cleaned up. They gave the dogs an hour of "quiet time" in the middle of the day so as not to wear them out too much. It was a really, really good experience. Pepper didn't warm up to the idea as well as Josie. He's a very mild dog and I think all the big loud dogs kind of scared him. But it seemed to help him become really friendly when new dogs come to our house. Josie, on the other hand, threw herself into it so much she is a bit TOO friendly and often scares other dogs by her overbearing personality. Kind of funny. She got along great in the big dog pen. That scared me at first, but the people that run the place were SO careful and SO responsible that I came to really trust them.
Check it out real good. I'm sure you'll get a good feeling or a bad one.
Smiles! |