Is Doggy Daycare Good for Your Dog?

It may sound like a great idea, but Is Doggy Daycare Good for Your Dog?

Our Experience putting Blake is Doggy Daycare

As far as we knew, things are going well for Blake at doggy day care. We filled in his online account initially with his injections and profile (declaring that he was a rescue Patterdale terrier). We saw him playing nicely with dogs on the videos. He was coming home what seemed to be very content and tired! Here’s Blake on a good day at doggy daycare!

This was concerning for us because each time we had collected him we were told that he had been good today. In fact, it was quite upsetting to see especially unexpectedly. Yet if he had he been good why was he wearing a muzzle?!

Looking at his Behaviour with his Trainer

Following this, we decided to have a 121 with his trainer for feedback. She didn’t feel that Blake was aggressive and although we all understand the need for muzzling dogs to prevent fights, Blake’s trainer agreed that we should have been informed. He is from a rescue background and had not been trained to take a muzzle by the people at home who he trusted.

But when we looked more carefully at the videos Blake didn’t always seem OK or confident. We saw a lot of barking from Blake while the other dogs were playing. Initially we thought it was a play bark, but his trainer thinks it could be a stress warning to say ‘I’m here, leave me alone!’ He was also feeding off the energy of other dogs and getting over excited.

This muzzle incident(s) combined with his trainers analysis led to our decision to take him out of Doggy Daycare. If it’s stressful for him or if the daycare are not updating us on his progress, we decided that it’s not the best thing for Blake for now. Instead, we are going to take him back into his classes (which have now started up again during lockdown) and socialise him with our trainers dogs in a controlled environment. Perhaps doggy daycare will be back on the cards in the future.

Benefits of Doggy Daycare

• If you work long hours it means that your dog does not have to be left alone all day
• Socialisation with other dogs