Back to School: What do you do with Fluffy During the Day?

With the new school year approaching in just a couple more days a lot of us as parents will have a sigh of relief that our summer trouble makers are back in their yearly routines and become trouble makers for the teachers from 8:00 – 3:00 (my apologies to any teachers who have my kids). But as everyone gets back into their grooves, one member of the house is usually left out and can become destructive out of boredom and anxiety. What do you do with Fluffy during the day?

If you are not sure how to keep your Wet Nose Family Member occupied during the day, then you are not alone. For most of us, Doggie Daycare seems foreign or something we wish our dogs could be part of; but your dog might be more suitable for group play than you think. Dogs are highly social animals, and they constantly want attention, and many breeds even thrive when given daily tasks. When properly introduced into social groups, many owners instantly see the benefits of Doggie Daycare. Some of the benefits that are initially noticed are:

• Your dog will be more relaxed when you get home
  • This is one of the first things we hear owners tell us after Daycare. If we equate this to us, humans, going to the gym for the first time after a long absence, we tend to want to relax because we are consuming more energy than we normally would; the same rings true with your dog.
• Your dog will tend to stop digging and chewing
  • Digging is an instant sign that your Wet Nose Family Member is bored. Some chewing can correlate to boredom as well, (and I say some, because if you leave something lying around that a lab puppy can get to, it doesn’t matter if you just made them run a marathon with you, they are going to chew it).
• Your dog will follow commands easier
  • An understanding of basic commands is necessary for any type of group play, to ensure that if they need to stop or come they will understand. A constant reinforcement of these commands will make your dog listen better, and observing other dogs obeying to the commands will only reinforce them further.

If these benefits sound good, the next step will be finding a Daycare facility nearby. A quick Google search will list several but, when choosing the right Daycare for your Wet Nose family Member there are a few distinct things you should be looking for and asking:

• Do they have a schedule for the dogs?
  • This might seem like a silly question, but without a daily schedule for the dogs to follow, it can become the quickest way to make your dog no longer want to participate in Daycare and this can also lead to fights during Daycare. The way I like to explain this to new Daycare participants is in the following way: during Daycare the dogs are running and playing more than they normally would be at your home, if they don’t get a chance to rest, they will become stressed and will no longer enjoy their experience. Dogs in their natural environment will sleep around 12-14 hours a day; it is very important for their health and state of mind to get adequate rest. (If I were to make you run on a treadmill for 8 hours and then tell you to go to work for the rest of the day you would most likely have a few colorful words to tell me; same things for the dogs)
• Does the facility have a training program for their employees?
  • One of the most important things that a facility will do to help ensure the safety of everyone in their care (2 legs or 4 legs) is to invest in their employees training. Make sure to ask if your Daycare facility has a formal training program, and what organization it is through. “The Dog Guru’s” is one of the training programs Wet Nose Lodge & Spa uses and it is considered the “Go-To” program in our industry.
• Are the dogs supervised 100% of the time?
  • This will go hand in hand with the quality of the facility’s training program. The only acceptable answer to this question should be an instant YES!
• Do you feel comfortable leaving your Wet Nose Family Member?
  • After you have asked all your questions you still have to “Go with Your Gut” feeling about whether or not you feel comfortable leaving your Wet Nose Family Member with the facility. Similar to what Smokey the Bear says, “Only you can decide if this Daycare will be the right fit for you”.

Wet Nose Lodge & Spa was voted a top 8 Daycare facility in the Spring area

Please click here for more information about Wet Nose Lodge & Spa’s Daycare Program and fill out our application for Fluffy to participate in the fun.