Posts
What To Look For When Choosing A Dog Daycare
If you got a new dog, you must be very excited to welcome a new member of the family. Your dog will be your companion on long walks, or as you socialize or are on a trip. So your next considerations should be to select a suitable dog daycare and dog boarding facility. How will you know if it’s a reliable facility? It can be a tough choice as you want a service that will be suitable for your beloved pet. We agree to your concern and have collected a few proposals to get started when you are looking for dog care for your house.
Where will my dog rest, do activities, and eat?
If a dog daycare facility or dog boarding center has a good setup, they will be glad to take you on tour and show you exactly where your pup will eat, rest and play. If you find a center that is reluctant to show you around think of it as a red flag as you want to hand your pup over to a dog daycare that has nothing to hide and answer all your concern.
Who will my dog be around when playing with other dogs?
This question is a critical one as not all dogs like each other, and sometimes a smaller dog is better off playing with a little dog and not be around big dogs. Experts run a professional Las Vegas pet boarding facility, and they understand the breed of dogs and put them in playgroups accordingly.
Also, the high-grade facilities will administer personality evaluations on each dog to ensure excellent playful group arrangement.
How is the Facility? Check out for the Smell!
Once you are the facility for your appointment, feel free to roam around and check all areas where your dog will rest, play, or feed. If you smell urine, feces, and find dirt and stain around this shows the place is not under proper administration when it comes to cleaning and hygiene. This uncleanliness is not something you want your dog to deal with, and it can also make your dog ill. You want a place where your dog will find similar cleanliness as in your home. Of course, mishaps happen, particularly with puppies, but look for indications of long-neglected spots and odors.
What about accidents or sudden injuries?
Be clear and ask for full details on the facility ability and management to deal with situations where your pet face an accidental injury at the dog daycare. An excellent facility will show you exactly how they handle such a situation and will also show you that they have professionals that can deal with injuries. A professional facility also has standard operating procedures to take action if the owner is not in contact for any reason.
The facility will ask your consent usually on a vet permission form, which will let the daycare to seek care for your puppy.
What insurance cover does the dog daycare have?
Every company will have some customary liability coverage, but when it comes to your pet, you’ll want to assure that any injuries, cuts, or wounds are part of the insurance cover should your furry buddy be harmed at the doggie daycare facility. Carefully go through the contract that each daycare center provides as some will require that you carry your policy while others may charge you with deductibles if you decide to lodge a case.
Is the staff experienced?
You need to make sure the staff holds the qualification, and licenses to run the dog daycare facility. Check that the facility has the pet first aid certification. These are some critical concerns, and lack of such credentials is a warning sign that qualified caretakers do not manage the facility. Also, check how friendly the attendants are as if the attendants are happy; they will keep your pet comfortable. Follow the bonding process, where you also check the criminal background of the employees. These steps are necessary, especially if you want the employees to come to your home to pick up your pet.
Local Legislation and By-Laws
Local ordinances will differ from province to province, but there are some general provisions to watch for across regions.
First — are there any laws about how many pets will get care after at any presented time? There are boundaries and rules when it comes to walking dogs on the public area( three dogs if you don’t have a license, and six dogs to walk on with at public spaces with a permit.)
The number of dogs that can go for housing in a separate dwelling is three dogs, but in a commercial location, there are no such restrictions. Ask the facility if they have the workforce to attend to the dogs and if there is any restriction on the number of dogs at any given time.
Take into factor, the size of dogs and area of facility when learning about these figures as 10 Yorkies are not same when compared to 10 Huskies should the puppy to workers ratio be ten puppies to 1 help.
Second — for boarding, are there any laws about holding animals late? You are allowed to keep animals late night if you are a Pet Hospital or a Pet Clinic. By the provision, a facility can hold animals overnight if they carry a zoning by-law variance. Though this by-law division is seldom if ever, reinforced, asking your daycare and boarding department about this can show their professional settings and readiness to work and comply with the provincial ordinances.
If all these considerations seem a bit daunting, feel free to contact us, or check out our website for further details. If you can come up with any questions that we have not covered, leave a comment, and we are sure to add it in the next variation of this article.
Choosing The Right Dog Boarding/Daycare Service For Your Dog
Having to leave your dog alone for an extended period is no fun. Still, you’ve decided that you must, and the best option is to have your dog go to a dog boarding or dog daycare center or service. Now, that you’ve settled on that decision, the next step is to decide which of the available centers are best for you. Here are some tips to help you decide.
Four Things to Consider When Choosing A Doggy Daycare Centre
1. Get firsthand feedback
Just as how you would not send your children to just any children’s nursery without visiting first, don’t send your dog to just any dog daycare service without visiting. If you have a dog boarding and care service in mind, be sure to plan a thorough visit where you are able to see what their day will be like.
Be sure to pay keen attention to where your dog will be spending the day, with whom, and what their activities will look like.
Our protip is to go during the busiest time – such as the middle of the day between 11 am to 1 pm. This will allow you to see exactly what the daycare will be like at full throttle and consequently what your dog’s experience is likely to be like.
Here’s a checklist to consider when observing the dog care center:
1. What’s the atmosphere like?
- Are the dogs friendly, social, and happy?
- Is the atmosphere quiet and calm, or is it noisy and chaotic?
- Does the staff appear to love dogs and their jobs? Are they actively and happily engaging with the dogs?
- Is there ample room for the dogs to move around freely and comfortably?
2. Ask questions
Chances are, the senior members of staff will speak to you concerning the services of the centre. However, it is important that you speak to the dog carers themselves as they will have direct daily contact with the dogs. When you do speak with senior members and dog carers alike, be sure to be bold in your questioning. Be unafraid to ask the seemingly difficult questions.
3. Other important observations
- What is the staff-to-dog ratio? A maximum of one dog carer to 12 dogs is a great ballpark to work with.
- Do dogs get injured, and how often
- Have dogs been expelled and how often does this practice occur?
- How are toys and balls treated? Are they thrown at the dogs that can cause dogs to become competitive and nip when they are in a group setting?
- Are un-neutered males dogs over 12 months old accepted? This should not be so as testosterone in such a group setting is not recommended.
- Are small dogs and puppies bullied by larger ones? Importantly, separating dogs by size is not necessarily the best thing as smaller dogs can bond with larger ones.
3. Look for structure and commitment
Both yourself as a dog owner and the dog boarding services you opt to use must be committed to the process and structure and the process of dog daycare. After all, the best doggy daycare centres will feature some form of consistency and require a certain level of commitment. For example, at many daycares, it is required that each client send their dog at least once per week. Regularity ensures that there is some dog group dynamic is established.
4. Look at commuting and pick up/drop off times
Many dog boarding or dog daycare centres will offer the option of collecting and dropping off a dog as a part of their services offering. In this instance, one thing to carefully consider is how long the possible commute will be. For example, if the dog is being collected and returned during peak times, then commute is likely to be long, and your dog will spend much time travelling. As a rule, look for pre-peak hour start times and post-peak hour closing times that can significantly reduce commuting times.
In addition to the travelling time, it is also important to pay attention to how your dog(s) will travel. Generally, it is best for the dog daycare service to offer dog-friendly air-conditioned vehicles equipped with vet-approved crates during commute or travel. Individual crates for the dogs are very important. This ensures that the dogs do not inadvertently hurt each other during commute and that it easy to individually drop off each dog when they arrive home without risking all the dogs escaping at once.
5. Have Fun
Finally, it is important to remember to have fun when choosing your best-suited dog boarding or dog daycare centre. Instead of being a stressful experience, it should be one you can enjoy as you consider the best for your dog. After all, you want to ensure that your dog will have fun at the centre you do choose. As such, incorporating the spirit and energy of fun from the very beginning is an excellent way to go.
Here at Triton Kennels, we provide both a fun atmosphere as well as high-quality services options. As such, you can opt to contact us anytime to discuss how we can best meet your needs and those of your dog. We are excited to meet with you!
Hello from Triton Kennels!
Triton Kennels is deeply committed to breeding outstanding German Shepherd Dogs. We breed only 100% European working lines from schutzhund titled adults with normal hip certification. Our dogs have some of Europe’s finest working bloodlines with multiple Bundessieger & WUSV participants in their pedigrees. It is of the utmost importance to us to preserve the strong working abilities of this breed. The goal of our breeding program is to produce excellence in working GSD’s and outstanding family companions. We breed for intelligence, health, exceptional temperament, strong drives, a high desire to please, and correct structure. Our puppies are suitable for schutzhund, AKC obedience, agility, SAR, therapy & assistance, herding, law enforcement, personal protection, and beloved family members. We maintain a small hobby breeding program that allows us to give the time needed to devote to the care, training and welfare of each of our dogs. Our dogs have proven themselves on the competition field and in our home with our family. Triton kennels strives to produce a dog that is not only a joy to work; but also a devoted partner. We expect the highest quality in our dogs so why shouldn’t you? We hope you enjoy your visit and please feel free to sign our guestbook.