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Hi everyone. I work 9-5 every day and often have to leave my 3-month-old pup, Luka, crated at home, as he is not trustworthy to be left unsupervised yet. He is always left with a chew to keep him busy, but I suspect he mostly sleeps during the day since the chew is only lightly nibbled on when I get back. I employ dog walkers to come in twice a day to walk Luka for half an hour at a time, and my partner comes home for lunch every day to spend an hour with him. He is never left in his crate for more than 2-3 hours. He is not fearful of the crate and goes in willingly, but whines and barks for a bit when he knows he's being left alone. This usually lasts only a few minutes.
Recently, I found a doggy daycare near my work with excellent reviews. It is a crate-free facility, and they have little “rooms" separated by 4-foot walls where they keep dogs of different activity levels in (high energy dogs are all together, puppies are kept together, older dogs, etc.) Each room has couches, beds, and other furniture the dogs can play and rest on. It is a very clean facility, and each room has a staff member supervising at all times. Dogs are also tested for aggression before they are allowed to be enrolled in the daycare.
I have never had a dog in daycare before, so I need some advice. My pup is not a “‘social butterfly” with other dogs he doesn’t know. He is not fearful at all, and is curious about other dogs, but he’s not the type to go nuts when he sees another dog. In our puppy training classes, he will calmly play with other puppies and sometimes roughhouse slightly, but for the most part it’s manageable. When we're out and about, he will approach and sniff adult dogs, but is usually more interested in saying hello to people. He does, however, chase our roommate’s adult Pug around, nipping at him, and we try to consistently discourage this behavior. The Pug does not do anything to “correct” our pup’s behavior, and instead just runs submissively, which encourages chasing. Again, we try to stop this as soon as we see our pup get the look in his eye that he's about to pounce/chase/nip. He's getting better at it, but still has many instances of misbehaving in this way when he wants to play. We're trying to be as consistent as we can.
My question about daycare is that if Luka is left with other puppies, will he learn what is “acceptable” play, and what isn’t, or will be become more rambunctious? I also want to make sure this is an environment he will be comfortable in before I make the leap. I think this would be a good outlet for all of his energy instead of being crated most of the day, but I also don’t want him to develop bad behaviors. I would only need daycare about 2-3 days a week, as my partner has two weekdays off every week and is home Luka all day. We still go for our long evening walk every day and do mental stimulation with nightly training. He is all tuckered out by 8:30-9 p.m., but it’s the daytime energy I worry he doesn’t have a great outlet for as he’s very energetic when I come home which can sometimes get him into trouble (let’s just say he’s very mouthy... typical land shark stuff.) Thoughts?
Recently, I found a doggy daycare near my work with excellent reviews. It is a crate-free facility, and they have little “rooms" separated by 4-foot walls where they keep dogs of different activity levels in (high energy dogs are all together, puppies are kept together, older dogs, etc.) Each room has couches, beds, and other furniture the dogs can play and rest on. It is a very clean facility, and each room has a staff member supervising at all times. Dogs are also tested for aggression before they are allowed to be enrolled in the daycare.
I have never had a dog in daycare before, so I need some advice. My pup is not a “‘social butterfly” with other dogs he doesn’t know. He is not fearful at all, and is curious about other dogs, but he’s not the type to go nuts when he sees another dog. In our puppy training classes, he will calmly play with other puppies and sometimes roughhouse slightly, but for the most part it’s manageable. When we're out and about, he will approach and sniff adult dogs, but is usually more interested in saying hello to people. He does, however, chase our roommate’s adult Pug around, nipping at him, and we try to consistently discourage this behavior. The Pug does not do anything to “correct” our pup’s behavior, and instead just runs submissively, which encourages chasing. Again, we try to stop this as soon as we see our pup get the look in his eye that he's about to pounce/chase/nip. He's getting better at it, but still has many instances of misbehaving in this way when he wants to play. We're trying to be as consistent as we can.
My question about daycare is that if Luka is left with other puppies, will he learn what is “acceptable” play, and what isn’t, or will be become more rambunctious? I also want to make sure this is an environment he will be comfortable in before I make the leap. I think this would be a good outlet for all of his energy instead of being crated most of the day, but I also don’t want him to develop bad behaviors. I would only need daycare about 2-3 days a week, as my partner has two weekdays off every week and is home Luka all day. We still go for our long evening walk every day and do mental stimulation with nightly training. He is all tuckered out by 8:30-9 p.m., but it’s the daytime energy I worry he doesn’t have a great outlet for as he’s very energetic when I come home which can sometimes get him into trouble (let’s just say he’s very mouthy... typical land shark stuff.) Thoughts?
