Roo normally gets walks from Stacy everyday and maybe goes to day care once maybe twice a week. Stacy will be out of the country for 6 weeks visiting family and I have to work everyday so Roo will be going to daycare from 7AM - 4:30PM everyday. She's always exhausted when she's home and the people their say she's constantly playing. Could too much daycare be bad?!? I worry because she only about 6 months old, but I don't have any real alternative exact keep her in her crate all day, which isn't fair to her.

Thoughts?!?

Personally I don't think it is bad, I wish I could put mine in daycare all day! I do keep mine in their crates all day except for the hour I am home for lunch, so they spend about 7 hours a day in the crate, and I hate it, but I cannot afford the $25 per dog per day to put them in daycare.

From someone who works at a daycare... 5 days a week for 6 weeks is a lot. I know you think it's cruel but personally it really just may be better to do it 2-3x a week with rest days at home in between. It's really too much constant stimulation for them. Not to mention the bad habits they tend to pick up.

My gut was saying it would be too much. But, having her in her crate for that long I don't think she'd be able to not go to the bathroom in there.... So, that's a concern as well.

Could you have a dog walker come by to take her out on the days she doesn't go to daycare?

I'll be making some calls to some friends tonight to see if someone can help out!

Huskyluv wrote:

Could you have a dog walker come by to take her out on the days she doesn't go to daycare?

Kristina knows daycare and i would only do it a few days, im with Val, take the $ you would spend every day on daycare and find some one to come walk her on days at home, leash training would be good and then you may form a good bond and have a sitter for when you both want to leave town for a few days

I know some doggy daycare have 'nap time' so they play a couple of hours in the morning, then all the dogs go in kennels over lunch for a couple of hours and they clean up the play areas during this time. Then they are in play time again for the afternoon. Would it be possible to ask your doggy daycare for 'nap time' for a couple of hours during the day on the days you do take your pup to daycare?

thats a good idea! right now i have a friend who will come and walk her on wednesdays. so, they will break up the week nicely. thanks for the recos.

When I was working at the training kennel, I used to leave my dogs at the facility operated daycare, which was its own building and half acre of fenced areas, from 6:30-5:00ish the five days of my working week. The daycare was really very good about making sure the dogs took breaks in 4x4 runs every couple hours, to drink some water and just lay down. They even made sure to feed mine their breakfast every day for me, and always kept them on breaks for a good 2 hours afterwards for me. Every daycare is a different facility, but at least in my experience, daily daycare wasn't a problem for my dogs over a long period of time.

It depends on the facility and the staff. After we adopted Frosti, her separation anxiety made it unsafe for her to be home and crated while we were at work, so both our dogs went to day care 5 days a week for a long, long time. They ARE older than 6 months, though. I have seen the day care staff take particular care with puppies to socialize them, play with them, train them and separate them to give them down time. Not at all facilities have staff this savvy, so I'd definitely check it out and see how the facility works.

While my pups haven't picked up any bad habits, I do see that they are better behaved at home and with us than at day care. They seem to recognize it's play time and that it's limited to that context.

My dogs loved their time there so so much, that they still go back a couple times a week to play with their friends - we arrange play dates with fellow husky parents. They come home happy and tired!

if you get a dog walker make sure they are husky experienced - and know that they are escape artists too - my girl would pull on walks like no tomorrow - no one would have expected that from her calm, sweet demeanor, and for someone not knowing her, to have walked her would have be very hard to do.

I work at a doggie daycare as well. I agree with Kristina. I am able to bring Maggie to work with me even her needs breaks even though we have nap time. I only take her 2 to 3 a week. they really do need a break. we have dogs that get in fIghts and they are there every single day.

I am the resident sled dog girl. people come in asking for someone that knows northern breeds. I am that girl. haha

I also agree that it is too much, especially right now with her being 6 months. I know some people think that 6 months is when Siberian puppies are out of the woods for damage to their growth plates, but I don't agree with that. I would be very concerned about my 8 month old puppy being at day care that much. She is very hyper and would go all day every day if she could, even if she was hurting. Especially the fact that daycare is usually all play, I would be a little worried.

I agree with checking out the facility to see if they have special play groups for puppies, or if they throw em all together and let em play! There are only certain daycares around here who have certain play groups for puppies and work specifically on socialization skills, which means they are more expensive. If they don't have split groups, I would pull her out at least two days of the week.