Caper had his second day of daycare today and first obedience class in the evening. Wow, he made me SUCH a PROUD MOMMA! When I picked him up, the staff were telling me how great his play manners were, and that he is the best husky they've ever had.

Then at obedience, he totally proved my fears wrong. He came back to me when I called him away from the other dogs, no lunging or barking, calmly stayed by me, sat/laid near me while the instructor was demonstrating, and perfectly performed every command without me having to fight for his attention, even though the student next to us was lunging and barking at him! Granted, he already knew the commands, but for him to focus to this degree around DOGS - Amazing!!

The instructors were amazed that he had such a sharp response to commands despite being a husky and complimented him so much that I'm sure he would be blushing under all that fur if he could understand. It even turned out that one of the instructors had heard about Caper from her friend who works at the daycare we go to 25 miles away. She said that her friend was right about him being the best behaved husky she'd ever met!

We're both all smiles over here. I hope next week will be just as good!

Isn't daycare awesome?!

aw congrats!

That's awesome, congrats!!! We started taking Kai to daycare a few weeks back and it has also made a world of difference. We're able to exercise her a lot before and after work and we had a walker come twice a day while we were at work, but it couldn't possibly match the exercise she gets at doggie day care. Definitely speaks to the notion that a tired (well exercised) husky = a well behaved husky

I  daycare!! Jen, I am so glad I took your advice on that one. He is a whole different dog, a whole lot calmer and less desperate. When we get home he is so pooped he'll just collect his evening marrow bone then go straight to his crate and sleep!

Seanbruett, I agree!! I religiously run/walk/off-lead play with him for 2 hours every single day and he is nowhere near as satisfied as he is after the dog park or daycare. Seems like there must be a dog-socialization component that needs to happen along with the physical exercise component on a daily basis to truly tire him out, which doesn't always get emphasized when people talk about husky exercise.

Lol! I love it when Dizzy puts himself to bed. Its about a 15 min walk home from daycare so we walk home, feed him, he gets a drink and puts himself to bed. After a nap in his crate, he'll come out to his other bed and enjoy a bully stick. It has really cut down on the puppy biting stuff too. Aside from being tired, he's just more fulfilled and happy that he gets to be with other dogs all day. Now when we go to the dog park, he's the one that is sending all the calming signals.

Lol, it's a miracle worker I tell you! How many times a week do you do it? I'm thinking of doing it twice a week to start off with, it's just a bit expensive at $35 a day. I really like the place we started going to though, it has a webcam that I can watch him on from my phone (which totally feeds my obsessive need to know how he is doing, lol). I love that even his speed of tail wag and licking is slowed down when I come to pick him up in the evening

We love day care for our pups.. They end up going about once a week to once every two weeks. A lot of it depends on the weather.   I can't believe it cost you that much we pay 35.00 a day for two dogs..

He goes 2-3 days a week. 2 is enough, but my hubby travels so every now and then I send him for a third. This week he went Monday, yesterday and today. My hubby is flying out to Indy this am, so Dizzy went to daycare. :)Everything here is expensive. Their normal rate is $45 a day, but I buy a 10 pack for $390, so it works out to $39 a day. I was paying a walker $20 for an hour play/walk session 5 days a week, so I stopped the walker and do daycare instead and the cost is about the same, but the daycare is so much more beneficial for him.

Edit - I should clarify that my hubby normally works from home when not traveling, so he walks Dizzy during the day.

NewComer wrote:

Seems like there must be a dog-socialization component that needs to happen along with the physical exercise component on a daily basis to truly tire him out, which doesn't always get emphasized when people talk about husky exercise.

I think you are absolutely right about this. Even an hour at the dog park will take the edge off his behavior. I notice he is much more content after dog-socialization, so its contentment vs. exhaustion. I guess they are team dogs, so we should consider that when discussing their needs, but it never occurred to me before. Whenever I've had dogs in the past, I always had more than one, but Dizzy is an only child and will be for at least a few years, so I need to fulfill this need as well.

ljelgin wrote:

I can't believe it cost you that much we pay 35.00 a day for two dogs..

Yep, that's the high costs of california living for you. I can only imagine what it's like in nyc. I bought a 20 pack to bring the cost down to $28/d, but am still chuckling to myself that it's more than the human daycare rate of $10-15/d.

wpskier222 wrote:

NewComer wrote:
Seems like there must be a dog-socialization component that needs to happen along with the physical exercise component on a daily basis to truly tire him out, which doesn't always get emphasized when people talk about husky exercise.

I think you are absolutely right about this. Even an hour at the dog park will take the edge off his behavior. I notice he is much more content after dog-socialization, so its contentment vs. exhaustion. I guess they are team dogs, so we should consider that when discussing their needs, but it never occurred to me before. Whenever I've had dogs in the past, I always had more than one, but Dizzy is an only child and will be for at least a few years, so I need to fulfill this need as well.

Yes, contentment = calm, well-behaved husky. exhausted = temporarily incapacitated husky. Caper will also probably be an only child for at least a few years so the weekly daycare and dog parking will be a permanent part of our schedules, along with play dates if we can find a good match. I've considered getting a second dog.. when people hear this they warn me "it's like kids - having two is more than twice the work" so I'm sitting tight for now

I wish there was a doggie daycare here (and a cheap one at that!) I think that would make all the difference with Chess and his constant crying! He gets plenty of exercise. He goes on 2 mile runs with my neighbor every single day! Plus he's about to start exercising with me in the mornings. He plays during the day when he's not asleep but he still cries and cries. Doggie Daycare seems to be what he needs

How old is Chess and how long has he been crying?

He's just over a year old and he's been doing this for a couple of days now. Its mostly in the evenings.