Doggy day care isn’t right for every dog, nor is every dog right for doggy daycare.
If you’re considering day care for your dog the first thing any reputable place is going to do is test your dog’s temperament to see if they’re a good fit. They need to be picky about which dogs to accept to ensure their environment remains a safe and positive experience.
In this post we’ll take a look at a couple of things that determine whether your dog is a good candidate for doggy day care or not.
Your Dog Enjoys The Company of Other Dogs
Does your dog enjoy meeting other dogs? If so your dog might be a good fit for doggy daycare, and at the very least they’ll probably fit in quite quickly.
However, if your dog is overly friendly and has a tendency to get right up in every other dogs business they might stress other dogs out.
Many puppies fit into this category, and while it doesn’t necessarily make them a bad candidate for daycare I would definitely suggest working on some basic impulse control and socialization skills to improve their manners before considering it.
Ensuring your dog has good manners when meeting other dogs not only makes them a better daycare candidate, it will also make all of their future social situations easier to manage.
Most daycare facilities are going to look for a social dog who enjoys the company of others who also has good manners.
Your Dog Tolerates Others
The most important factor when it comes to whether your dog is a good fit for doggy daycare is how tolerant they are of other dogs and situations.
Dogs that do well in doggy daycare can get along well with a variety of other dogs and know how to avoid conflict. They’re what many consider “bomb proof” dogs, ones who can adapt to any situation without getting overly stressed.
Dogs who benefit the most from doggy daycare are the ones who can take it all in stride and enjoy meeting new friends in any situation.
Your Dog Is Fine With Sharing Resources
One final thing a daycare is going to look for is whether your dog is good with sharing resources, whether it’s toys, food, or their favorite spot on the couch.
Now this doesn’t mean the daycare is going to have all the dogs in one big group sharing one toy, but it does mean they want to prevent issues by making sure the dogs they enroll aren’t going to be aggressive when it comes to sharing “resources,” whether that’s the water bowl or their favorite day care worker.
Some dogs guard their possessions, and this is a major red flag for things like doggy daycare.
Now that doesn’t mean your dog can’t be social, but it does mean something as chaotic and stressful as daycare for a dog who already has fear issues is a bad idea.
Tip: If your dog does have resource guarding issues here’s 5 tips on how to manage the behavior.
If your dog does have fear issues such as resource guarding you’re going to want to focus on smaller, easier to control social settings such as a play date with your neighbor’s dog.
Recommended Reading
If you are considering taking your dog to doggy daycare I recommend checking out the following articles. As I mentioned above daycare isn’t right for every dog, but some dogs do benefit from it.
Daycare Isn’t All Sunshine & Rainbows For Every Dog
Pros & Cons of Doggy Daycare
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