Dogs and Divas

Doggy Daycare can provide an environment that fits the behavioural needs of dogs, this includes both access to human company and suitable exercise and in my opinion this must include regular visits outside for fresh air and toileting. 

Pros and Cons of Doggy Daycare

Every dog is a good dog, but not every dog has the right temperament for daycare.

Although many dogs thrive in a dog daycare environment, unfortunately daycare isn’t right for every dog, or for every stage in a dog’s life.

It’s true that most dogs start out as very dog social or are interested and happy to engage with a wide range of other dogs when they are puppies. Socialisation is the most important time in a dog’s life in relation to its future temperament and behaviour, and therefore, their emotional resilience to whatever life throws at them, in effect socialisation is nature’s way of preparing a puppy for their life ahead as an adult dog; helping to teach them what is safe and what may be a threat to their wellbeing in the future. It is a time of great learning potential and exploratory behaviour and if we help the puppy and put enough knowledge, time, and effort into this short period the future for the dog is much brighter. In my extensive experience, I’ve found that puppies do well to meet both older dogs and other puppies as long as they are under expert dog handler supervision.

However, as dogs reach maturity, many to most dogs become more selective. A dog’s sociability changes throughout their life, just as it does with humans.

For dogs who are truly dog-social, attending doggy daycare can be a great outlet for their physical energy.

A key component of what makes daycare play safe for dogs is the supervision by trained staff who understand dog body language and behaviour, staff members are able to intervene if play becomes too rough or a dog starts to get overwhelmed.

Dogs and Divas, staff are fully trained in dog handling and canine first aid, all management are level 3 animal management qualified and all all full time staff are qualified in dog behaviour and care. 

Mental stimulation, exercise, and engagement are the primary reasons many owners send their dogs to daycare. For dogs that struggle to be alone with destructive behaviours like barking or chewing, daycare can be a great option as you work on teaching your dog more appropriate skills.

In some situations, dog daycare can be helpful for dogs who are struggling with clinical separation anxiety as a temporary solution while their families work with a positive reinforcement-based trainer, their veterinarian, and possibly a veterinary behaviourist to work through the dog’s underlying anxiety issues.

Our daycare works well because of the structured day and the framework of the playgroups. 

Instead of just taking your dog to the park where dogs of unknown health and temperament are set loose (not infrequently resulting in fights, injury, and the spread of illness)

 Dogs are assigned to different playgroups based on their size. This prevents smaller dogs from accidentally becoming injured by large dogs. We will also divide dogs by energy level or play style to prevent conflict from arising within the space.

By creating specific playgroups, we are able to maximize the potential of success of healthy play between dogs and minimize the risk of injury.

Although most thrive with daycare, daycare isn’t good for every dog. Dogs who are stressed, anxious, reactive, or otherwise struggle with interactions with other dogs are not good candidates for daycare.

If your dog doesn’t really enjoy playing with other dogs, is a senior that hasn’t grown up in daycare, or is just naturally quiet and happy to sleep all day, the loud and busy atmosphere of doggy daycare may be more stressful than beneficial.

Saying that, I’ve lost count of the dogs that have started off very timid and completely turned around with the help of the staff and making friends with other dogs so it’s best to speak to us about a trial.

However, dogs that grow up in daycare tend to go to the quiet areas to rest when they want to and then to join the play group when they are ready, the communication between daycare dogs is fascinating, even if they are from another daycare joining the pack, they know how to communicate and get along very quickly within the group.

Dogs who are comfortable and confident with good social skills around lots of dogs and people make the best candidates for attending daycare, but you never know until we trial them.

 Some dogs at daycare can become mentally and emotionally overstimulated, once they get ‘Hyped’ they can’t listen to instruction from us or the other dogs giving signals which can lead to conflict between dogs in the space as well. Even if you love the idea of your dog playing with other dogs while you are away at work, it’s important to remember daycare isn’t right for every dog.

This is the hardest thing to explain to owners that want their dog to be a daycare dog.

Trial Day

Responsible daycares will be picky about what dogs are allowed to come to daycare. This ensures their safety and the safety of other dogs in the playgroups.

To determine if dogs will be a good fit, we will ask owners to bring their dogs for a trial half day. The staff will watch how the dog interacts with people and other dogs to see how they fit in.

If your dog passes this trial half day, they can start attending daycare. Staff will continue to evaluate the dog, for puppies under 6 months we send them home with a puppy report card about what dogs did during the day, who they played with, and any behavioural or health concerns that come up.

Because dogs can’t talk to us we will always communicate any concerns that we have with you and we ask you to do the same. 

Dog behaviour 

In Doggy Daycare there are 3 main things we notice affects a dogs behaviour. 

1: Nutrition 

 If a dog is bouncing off the walls and is over sensitised this could be to do with his diet, this could be a huge factor in the dogs behaviour and suitability to socialise with other dogs. Some dog foods are full of additives and carbs that turn to sugars, it’s like giving a hyped-up child lot of sweets with lots of E numbers but giving them that for every meal! 

1: Training 

If a dog is a working breed they will need a different kind of training and these dogs love to use their natural senses and to work, not all working breeds need this but you can tell the ones that do. We always suggest positive reinforcement training, but some people get this so wrong, and the dog learns to only do things for treats.

3: Stress 

If a dog is anxious, they are not going to be themselves and not going to be having a good time anywhere. Socialisation and familiarisation is a huge part of a dogs happiness and wellbeing, training classes, experiences and doggy daycare can help tremendously with this. 

The Cost

As from the 3rd April 2023

Full Day – £26.50 Per Dog

NHS workers full day £24.50

Half day – £16.50

Half day NHS £14.50

£15.00 Trial half day.

£115.00 Weekly deal

£4.00 Pet taxi each way.

Dog walk £2.50 on top, this is weather dependant and when we have full staff cover, please book with reception.