Identifying a Quality Daycare

The dog world is full of sweeping generalisations, which is odd for an industry which so often requires individual consideration. Many of these involve what your life with your dog ‘should’ look like - whether your dog should be allowed ‘human’ food, come up on the furniture, how they should walk, when you should let them sniff… mostly, arbitrary rules that have little to no impact on your dog’s actual behaviour.

You’ll encounter many of these opinions with just about any amount of time spent on the dog side of social media, alongside generalisations regarding things that should be avoided at all costs - among these being retractable leashes, dog parks, kibble, collars, harnesses, or rawhide. To make things extra challenging for you as an owner, some things on the list above are absolutely dangerous, unhealthy, or just not beneficial; some are okay with the proper precautions; and some are absolutely fine.

One thing you may be told to avoid at all costs is dog daycares. Like much of the rest of the dog care industry, regulation is slim to none in most regions, leaving dog guardians with the responsibility of ensuring their dogs are in trustworthy hands. Dog daycares can be environments that breed poor play skills, rude behaviour, injury, disease, and more, and there are actually relatively few dogs with the sort of temperament that fits well in them.

Yet, daycares can be a livesaving service for those with separation anxiety dogs, and the right daycare can be a valuable way to meet your dog’s needs while you work, if they have the right temperament. Even if your dog merely tolerates the presence of other dogs rather than enjoys it, for separation anxiety dogs that’s still going to be a better solution than being left alone.

But if you are going to trust your dog at a facility for eight hours or more a day, it’s incredibly important to do your due diligence and ensure that they will not be doing more harm than good. I’ve worked in four daycares over the course of my career; I’ve seen the great, the good, the okay, and the really, really ugly. And unfortunately, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell me which is which simply from a scan of their website - so let’s dig in and find out what questions you can ask to determine whether a dog daycare is worth your time.

The list below is long and thorough. Again, any place that you are trusting with a family member who cannot tell you about their experience should be thoroughly vetted, and they should be happy to answer each and every one of these questions.

What’s their assessment and introduction process like?

Most daycares will do 'trial' days, but even that can look vastly different - three real examples I've seen are: assessing the dog on-lead with a trained demo dog (safe, but restricts natural behaviour and movement and is unlike an actual daycare setting), on-lead introductions to other daycare attendees performed by the head manager (same as above, more true to the actual daycare environment but requires a thorough intake questionnaire/interview to be safe), and... throwing the dog into a full, existing group and allowing said dogs to crowd the gate while the new dog gets pushed in (unsafe, overwhelming).

The more questions you have to answer about your dog before they are accepted and assessed, the greener the flag.

How many dogs per group/handler?

You’ll see different numbers floating around for what is ideal here. Personally, anything higher than 15 dogs to a handler would be a massive red flag, but the ideal numbers would be 10 or less.

How are the dogs grouped?

It’s important that dogs are separated by size - accidents happen, dogs have disagreements, and that can become a tragedy so quickly when big and small dogs are mixed. Depending on the size of the daycare, they may have additional groupings based on temperament and play style.

How much training do the staff receive?

Anything less than four weeks is probably a red flag - though if they require any animal handling/behaviour qualifications, less might be okay. First aid training is a big green flag!

Are there any educational/qualification requirements to become a handler?

Big green flag if the answer is yes! If no, it would only be a red flag with a short training process and/or if there is no staff with behavioural expertise.

What behaviour experts do you have on staff, and what are their qualifications?

It is a huge red flag if there is no one employed there who is certified or formally educated in animal behaviour. Even if they do have a trainer, they should be properly qualified and have input in the daycare procedures (rather than simply running classes on the side).

What training methods do the staff use?

Do not trust your dog with any facility that does not state clearly and plainly that they use positive reinforcement with their dogs, and that punishment is off the table. Those methods have been shown time and again to increase anxiety, fear, frustration and aggression, so any facility that employs those tactics (shouting, hitting, shock collars, spray bottles) is likely to cause behaviour problems in your dog or may experience fights more frequently in their dog groups.

How do they deal with resource guarding, humping, overexcitement, or a fight?

Mentions of punishments should be a red flag outside of instances where they need to break up a fight. Breaks are important to mention, and a willingness to drop a dog that isn't a good fit. Prioritizing keeping a client over the health of the group as a whole is a bad sign.

Do the dogs have structured nap times?

Playing with a large group of dogs from 8-5 nonstop is not great for most dogs - they have the tendency to get overtired and fights can break out more easily. If your dog struggles with separation anxiety, you should ask if any accommodations can be made to help your dog get their needed rest without being left alone (for instance, maybe they can hang out in the manager’s office).

Do they have somewhere to go if they need a break?

It’s critical to have a space where dogs can go at any time during the day when they are overtired, frustrated, or overwhelmed. Crates or kennels are both common options here.

Are there toys/treats?

If a daycare was hitting all the green flags for all other questions, I wouldn’t be personally turned off by either answer to this question. Toys can be fine if there are plenty to go around, and treats are a good way to keep dogs mentally stimulated and call them away from tricky situations. These resources do have to be carefully managed to prevent guarding, but dogs with strong resource guarding tendencies also just may not be a good fit for daycare.

Do the dogs have a way to stay cool in the summer?

Pools, A/C indoors, etc. Bonus question: Do your staff know how to identify heat stroke?

What vaccinations do they require and what's their protocol if a dog becomes ill?

Do they require bordatella, and will they notify you/ask you to keep your dog home if they notice a cough? It’s important to note that the kennel cough vaccine is much like the flu vaccine in that it’s not 100% effective; and since kennel cough spreads incredibly easily, it isn’t a sign that the daycare is bad if they have outbreaks - but how they manage those outbreaks does matter.

What would disqualify a dog from daycare?

An “any dog is welcome” policy is a red flag. Reasons to disqualify a dog may be: resource guarding, excessive humping, hyperarousal, anxiety, or aggressive behaviour toward staff or other dogs.

Green flags:

High cleanliness standards, a thorough application and assessment process, requirements to attend weekly/on the same day each week (keeping groups consistent), limits on number of days attended in a week (to prevent overtiredness), long staff training periods, trainer or behaviourist on staff.

It is not a red flag if you’re unable to go back where the dogs are and watch the groups; having new people constantly in and out can make it difficult to keep the groups calm, which can make fights or injuries more likely.

Do your due diligence.

Don’t just trust their website, reviews, or social media. The worst of the four daycares I worked at had stellar reviews and a great social media presence.

And I’m sorry that you have to do this much work just to make sure your dog won’t come away with serious emotional or physical harm - there should be more regulation in place to protect you, but unfortunately there just isn’t.

Do you have any questions you would add to this list? Or questions for me about selecting a good dog daycare? Let me know about it in the comments!