What are the main things to look out for when finding a good daycare? What are some of your experiences with the facilities? How has your dog reacted or changed due to going to one?

I've never sent a dog to daycare before and I'm in unfamiliar waters with this idea. Kavik isn't old enough yet, but I want to start looking. Right now he's adjusting to my apartment after a couple weeks of socializing with the family. Now I'm the only person he interacts with and soon i'll have to start crating for long periods of time him while I'm at class and studying. I want to give him a chance to burn off his energy and play with other dogs and people, basically to support his mental health and mine. Huskies are such social dogs and Kavik is very friendly and loves people and other dogs.I don't want him to become fearful or unsure of what to do when meeting others later in life.

Of course I'm still planning on running him at least twice a day around campus when he is old enough and he gets lots of love from me. Any tips would be appreciated.

My ideal daycare after working at one for almost 6 years now...

Structured time outs during the day or "group rotations." Dogs who are constantly bombarded by stimulus all day long are going to get agitated quickly and need time to relax. "People" don't like that because they think the point of a daycare is to take them out of a kennel throughout the day... But in the end it is better for them to have a break.

Webcams available during the day in all areas. They shouldn't have anything to hide.

Tours available without an appointment. We have walk in hours from 10am-4pm 7 days a week. Again- shouldn't have anything to hide.

People/dog ratio should be manageable.

Personally I like smaller daycares with smaller groups of dogs. Or multiple rooms with smaller amounts of dogs. Having 50+ larger dogs packed into 1 room is a disaster waiting to happen.

Spayed/neutered restrictions.

Freedom to feed your own food from home.

arooroomom wrote:

My ideal daycare after working at one for almost 6 years now...

Structured time outs during the day or "group rotations." Dogs who are constantly bombarded by stimulus all day long are going to get agitated quickly and need time to relax. "People" don't like that because they think the point of a daycare is to take them out of a kennel throughout the day... But in the end it is better for them to have a break.

Webcams available during the day in all areas. They shouldn't have anything to hide.

Tours available without an appointment. We have walk in hours from 10am-4pm 7 days a week. Again- shouldn't have anything to hide.

People/dog ratio should be manageable.

Personally I like smaller daycares with smaller groups of dogs. Or multiple rooms with smaller amounts of dogs. Having 50+ larger dogs packed into 1 room is a disaster waiting to happen.

Spayed/neutered restrictions.

Freedom to feed your own food from home.

6 more years of kennel/daycare/training experience agrees with every word here. If my dogs are going to be in daycare, I would absolutely require the daycare to meet those standards, with the exception of webcam.

Where in Texas are you? I'm in Houston - we take Roo to My Canine Country Club in Katy.

Where in TX are you? I can google some daycares a d see which appeal to me the most...

Thank you for all of the info, it's really informative and helpful, just what I was looking for.

I'm in the Waco area if it helps.

My big thing is them having a fenced outdoor area, the biggest daycare in our area doesn't and it's disgusting, the dogs are allowed to go inside.

My requirements for daycare:

The have the fenced yard that is open to them all day

Feces is picked up immediately after a dog goes

They only allow 20-25 dogs

They have a time out room for the dogs if they start to get overwhelmed or are bothering other dogs

They have a separate area for smaller dogs if they aren't getting along

Dogs must be spayed and neutered if under 6 months, UTD on shots and on flea and tick preventative



One thing I don't like about our daycare is that they don't allow pit bulls or anything that resembles one, but I think it's for insurance issues.

@Jennet&Embry: I can't imagine a daycare not having a fenced in outdoor area, and it's a shame they don't allow pit bulls. They are sweet dogs when treated right.

I see a strong trend about cleanliness, small numbers, and structured break time. I'll keep those in mind while looking.

This place sounds nice http://www.dogdaycarewaco.com/

their facebook has tons of pictures https://www.facebook.com/DogtopiaWaco

We have a Dogtopia location in my area too, it's very nice but expensive here.

In the county I live in all Pit bulls are banned in any dog park or day care situation. You also have to have a special license and pay a premium. And surrounding counties will not allow people in certain cities in my county to adopt a pit bull. We have a large number of dog fighting rings in some of the high crime areas. If you go to our county animal shelter it's very sad and depressing.

You're on the Indiana side, right? That sucks about all the pittie restrictions. My parents live in Will County and have a pit mix, and they don't have to do anything special for him.

blueeyedghost wrote:

You're on the Indiana side, right? That sucks about all the pittie restrictions. My parents live in Will County and have a pit mix, and they don't have to do anything special for him.

Yeah I am on the Indiana side, but its a county regulation that bans them. Gary, IN is notorious for dog fighting so for that the whole county pretty much bans them from parks, and surrounding counties won't adopt pits to anyone that lives in or around Gary for that reason.

@Jannet&Embry: That daycare looks nice and isn't too far. I'll do a walk in and check it out when I get the chance. Thank you for the recommendation.

@jschrader: I didn't know pitts were so harshly banned, that's a shame. It's sad jerks often train them to be aggressive fighters, it gives the breed a bad rap. Around here, as far as I know, they just jack up your insurance for owning one. Same with chows, rottweilers, and dobermans.

jschrader wrote:

blueeyedghost wrote:

You're on the Indiana side, right? That sucks about all the pittie restrictions. My parents live in Will County and have a pit mix, and they don't have to do anything special for him.

Yeah I am on the Indiana side, but its a county regulation that bans them. Gary, IN is notorious for dog fighting so for that the whole county pretty much bans them from parks, and surrounding counties won't adopt pits to anyone that lives in or around Gary for that reason.

That sucks, such a shame that there are people like that out there.

Probably not the popular opinion here but I think banning breeds prone to dog aggression in a daycare setting is a plus in my book. That being said an owner of a "bully breed" shouldn't trust their dog with a stranger with a bunch of strange dogs. Socalization for "bully breeds" should be with trusted level headed known canine "friends" rather than trusting a company to do it for you.

^ I'm with Kristina. Everyone on here knows I love my pits, I worked for a pit rescue and helped rehabilitate a lot of the broken ones- but let's be honest... Daycares do NOT pay a lot of money and a good majority of daycares are people fresh out of highschool and they barely receive any training on dog handling unless they learned themselves. There were a quite a few dogs at my work when I trained at the kennel that when they were there, Koda did not go. Or if a particular person was supervisoring the big dog play, he would not go. Quite a few of the people had no idea how to handle the more challenging dogs. My favorite dog ever was a neopolitan mastiff named Trajan- my boss banned him because the staff wasn't trained well enough to know how to redirect his attention when he is getting too overly stimulated among other things that could have easily took care of the "issues" he had.

I'm very careful with daycare with my dogs now being as I can't monitor from within like I use to. I only take them on slower days, never during holidays, and when I know particular staff work because I am paranoid as eff from working with so many morons.

I'd recommend trying to find a more mom and pop place than a franchise/corporate due to the fact a mom and pop shop can be more selective, is not driven by a higher power, and probably is not as chaotic in numbers.

Heather! wrote:

^ I'm with Kristina. Everyone on here knows I love my pits, I worked for a pit rescue and helped rehabilitate a lot of the broken ones- but let's be honest... Daycares do NOT pay a lot of money and a good majority of daycares are people fresh out of highschool and they barely receive any training on dog handling unless they learned themselves. There were a quite a few dogs at my work when I trained at the kennel that when they were there, Koda did not go. Or if a particular person was supervisoring the big dog play, he would not go. Quite a few of the people had no idea how to handle the more challenging dogs. My favorite dog ever was a neopolitan mastiff named Trajan- my boss banned him because the staff wasn't trained well enough to know how to redirect his attention when he is getting too overly stimulated among other things that could have easily took care of the "issues" he had.

I'm very careful with daycare with my dogs now being as I can't monitor from within like I use to. I only take them on slower days, never during holidays, and when I know particular staff work because I am paranoid as eff from working with so many morons.

I'd recommend trying to find a more mom and pop place than a franchise/corporate due to the fact a mom and pop shop can be more selective, is not driven by a higher power, and probably is not as chaotic in numbers.

Great point. I had forgotten how often the Daycare would turn over staff. I think I was mostly comfortable because the Daycare Manager understood that if a dog got hurt at daycare, we would have her ass quickly. Her and one staff member were always good, but some of the rest, I can now recall, I personally requested to have terminated.

Now you're starting to scare me off the daycare idea, but its good to know the cons as well as the pros.

Every facility is different. My dogs were never injured at daycare, despite the staff being fairly under-trained. I would just keep a close eye on the daycare you choose. I only one time ever pulled my dogs from the facility as a result of my feeling that the staff was inadequate. I communicated my issue to the manager, and she resolved my issue quickly.

I would watch the web cams on a routine basis. Lola started daycare when they had few clients. I got too comfortable and I was getting good reports. Because I didn't keep watching the web cams, I didn't know that the number of dogs increased dramatically. This was too much for Lola and she got in a fight and got banned. If I hadn't relaxed on watching the webcams, I would have know this I would have done something different.