What to Expect from Our Dog Daycare Assessments

We understand that you’ll probably have a lot of questions when you decide to take your pup to doggie daycare for the first time. What if they don’t get on with the other dogs? What if something happens? Are all dogs accepted? That’s why we’re really thorough with our dog daycare assessments. We want your furry friend to have the best time possible at our facility and that means making sure they fit in with the rest of the group. At the end of the day, the most important thing is that your pup is having the best time in their home away from home.

How Do We Carry Out Our Dog Daycare Assessments?

There are a number of steps we go through to ensure your doggo will get along well with the rest of the pups already in our care. At the Dog Dazzlers, we pride ourselves on building a fun and safe environment for all dogs and staff, which is why we want to be 100% sure that your dog will fit in (after all, we want them to have the best time too)! Our process is in-depth and we really take the time to get to know your adorable pup.

#1 It Starts Before You Arrive

Before you even arrive at our purpose-built dog daycare facility, we’ll ask you to fill out all new pup forms so we can get to know a bit more about your dog. We’ll also ask for a copy of their vaccination certificates so we can make sure everything is up to date.

We’ll then have a chat with you so you can tell us all about your furry friend. We do ask owners for complete transparency. Is your pup occasionally a little boisterous or excitable? Are they territorial around toys? Do they like their own space for a little snooze?

Being as honest as you can lets us understand how your pup will behave around our other dogs. It also lets us pair them up with their first best friend! We can keep an eye out for particular behaviour throughout the day and monitor what may be triggering it.

We can also decide in which area we’ll think your dog will have the most fun. We offer different pens for different pups (an all activity pen, a puppy pen and a senior pen). So, if your pup is the aforementioned snoozer, we might want to keep them in the senior pen a little longer!

#2 On the Day

We completely understand that new people and places can be a bit overwhelming for some doggos at the start. For others, the thought of toys, friends to play with and new sights and smells is just too exciting! That’s why, after meeting your dog’s handler for the day, we’ll give your pup their own space for 15 minutes. We’ll let them get used to our facilities and explore all of the exciting things we have to offer.

When we feel your pup has calmed down, we’ll then introduce them to their first new friend! To begin with, all interactions will happen one-to-one in the care of an experienced handler. This allows us to monitor how your pup interacts and any behaviour they display. Once they’re happily playing with their first friend, we’ll introduce them to another and repeat the process.

When we feel confident that your pup is getting along well with the other dogs, we’ll put them in a group setting to see how they socialise with more than just one animal. It’s common for handlers to let interactions go on slightly longer than normal so we can see what your dog will do in any given environment. If another dog seems to be exacerbating a situation, we’ll normally separate them to observe how your pup reacts and whether this changes their behaviour.

Our dog daycare differs from many others because we offer an array of activities, pens, toys and ways of stimulating your pup. That’s why it’s really important your dog experiences everything on the first day so we can monitor how they (and the other doggos) react. They’ll engage in plenty of playtime, rest time and enrichment games so we can see whether they get particularly excited by a specific toy, their level of dog socialisation, and how they interact with staff.

#3 We’ll Give You a Dog Assessment Card

From the moment you leave in the morning, we’ll be caring for and monitoring your pooch. We’ll be looking for signs of anxiety, how they interact with their surroundings, how they greet other dogs and whether they respond to our instructions. It’s really important to us that we give you honest feedback about how your pup has behaved and whether we think they’ll be a good candidate to join our pack!

Our dog daycare assessments card contains information about their personality, behaviour and how they played. We’ll also let you know about any additional comments that might be of interest.

Is One Day Really Long Enough For a Dog Evaluation?

All pups react to different stimuli differently. Whilst our experienced handlers can get a feel for how your dog will interact as part of the group, we’ll carry out various dog daycare assessments for the first couple of weeks just to be sure. Many dogs can feel particularly anxious for the first few days and they won’t show their true behaviour until they feel comfortable.

Is Doggie Daycare for Everyone?

We do everything we can to make The Dog Dazzlers a fun and enjoyable place for your pooches, but some dogs simply don’t take to daycare. Being around so many pups every day may be overwhelming for them, they may develop separation anxiety or they may just prefer the comfort of their own living room. Whatever the reason, forcing them into doggie daycare may exacerbate these feelings or lead to unwanted behaviour.

What Do The Dog Dazzlers Expect From Owners?

Apart from giving us as much information as possible about your dog at the beginning, we also expect a couple of other things from our pup parents. This ensures everyone stays happy and healthy. If you suspect your pup has canine cough, we ask that you don’t bring them to our facilities for at least 10 days. This ensures that the virus won’t spread to more senior or vulnerable pups.

Even though our daycare is thoroughly cleaned, viruses and illnesses are part of dogs socialising. If your doggo comes down with something, let us know as quickly as possible so we can make other owners aware.

What if Your Dog Isn’t Right For The Dog Dazzlers?

If, at some point during the assessment process, we decide your pup wouldn’t be a good fit for our dog daycare, please don’t be offended. It’s not because we think they’re any less adorable! We just know that all dogs are different and all combinations of dogs are different. Just because we think they’re not suitable at the moment, doesn’t mean doggie daycare, in general, wouldn’t work for them. We simply think that they’d find it difficult to fit in with the current group we have and the canine dynamics they’ve developed.

If this is the case, we’ll be more than happy to sit down with you and explain exactly why we’ve come to this conclusion and offer any advice.

Why Do We Carry Out Such Thorough Dog Daycare Assessments?

Dog daycare assessments are a crucial part of making sure everyone (and every pup!) has fun in a safe way. We want your dogs to be happy to come to our daycare and ensuring that all the dogs get on is a huge part of that. If we think your doggo will be a good match for our pack, you can also rest assured knowing that any dogs that join in the future will have gone through the same assessments. Your dog will be part of the team to give them the green light to join The Dog Dazzlers!

Get in contact with us today if you have any questions about doggie daycare or you’d like to enrol your pet!