Is Doggy Daycare Actually Helping Your Dog?

The Pet Parent Hotline

Host: Amy Castro
 Guest: Rich Schlatter, CPACP

Disclaimer

This episode is for general educational purposes only and is not a substitute for advice from your veterinarian or another qualified pet-care professional. Facility requirements, vaccination policies and operating standards vary by location.

Chapters

·        00:00  Hook and introduction

·        02:23  Does your dog actually enjoy daycare?

·        06:01  Which dogs are a good fit?

·        10:19  What to look for in a daycare facility

·        18:50  How a daycare should evaluate your dog

·        22:59  Day boarding, enrichment and safety essentials

·        26:46  Happily tired or overwhelmed?

·        28:45  How much daycare is too much?

·        34:36  Preparing for the first day

·        38:32  Final takeaway

Transcript

Amy Castro (00:00)

Your dog comes home from daycare and sleeps for the rest of the day. That must mean they had a great time, right? Well not necessarily. Today we're looking at how to tell whether daycare is actually helping your dog, what a good facility should be doing behind the scenes, and the signs your dog may be overwhelmed instead of happily tired. So stay tuned.

Amy Castro (00:24)

You've reached the Pet Parent Hotline, your lifeline to practical solutions for your toughest pet parenting challenges. I'm your host, Amy Castro, and I'm here to help you cut through the noise and turn expert advice into step-by-step strategies so you can stop chasing your tail and start enjoying life with pets again.

Amy Castro (00:48)

Doggy daycare sounds like a pretty great solution for pet parents. Your dog gets exercise, spends time with other dogs, and comes home too tired to get into mischief. But that assumes your dog actually enjoys being in a group environment, and that the facility is managing that environment well. Not every friendly dog is a daycare dog. Not every dog who races through the door is necessarily having a great experience or a healthy one. And a dog who sleeps for hours after pickup may be pleasantly tired, or maybe recovering from a day that was simply too much. Today we're going to help you look beyond the idea that daycare is automatically good or bad and figure out if it's actually working for your individual dog. To help us do that, I'm joined today by Rich Schlatter, a certified professional animal care provider with more than 20 years of experience in the pet care industry. Rich has spent more than 15 years managing dog daycare, boarding, grooming and training operations And serves on the board of directors of the Professional Animal Care Certification Council. So Rich, welcome to the show.

Rich Schlatter

Thank you very much for having me. I appreciateciate it.

Amy Castro

Yeah, I'm glad to do this subject because I am somebody who has never taken my dogs to daycare, but I have so many people that I know that swear by it and their dog loves it and all of that. So I wanted to kind of explore that because I think it can be you know, it's an expense. So obviously people want to make sure that's an expense that's positive for themselves and for their dog. But also there's some unknown factors there when you leave your pet with somebody else for the day. So I'm very appreciative that you're here to help us kind of work through this decision-making process.

Rich Schlatter (02:23)

Yeah, it can be stressful for owners. It is we know we're taking care of family members now. We're not taking care of dogs. The industry is completely changed. And dogs are social creatures and we are the people who remove that social aspect from their lives by not exposing them to groups of dogs. Daycare can be valuable, but it's not automatically right for every single dog. The experience has to be judged by the dog's behavior before, during and after the daycare.

Amy Castro

Yeah. Well and that was kind of the first thing that I wanted to ask you about is when I have friends that like, my dog loves daycare. How do they know that? You know, it's like and we didn't have a conversation about who they played with today. So what would be some signs that you think they're seeing that says, It seems like my dog is enjoying this?

Rich Schlatter

Well, most people don't see their dog while their dog's in daycare. So they're seeing the dog's attitudes toward the daycare facility, towards the staff. I've had people say to me, my when we're a mile and a half away, my dog starts howling and jumping up and down in the backseat 'cause he knows we're almost there. I have personally seen people open up the car door to get their dog out of the car to bring them to the building and the dog just darts past them and runs right up to the front door. Sometimes the parents get a little offended that they're, you I'm You you go, go, go with your friends, go ahead and they're a little sad, they're dropping the dog off and the dog beelines into daycare and doesn't even look back at them. Dogs don't lie, so I look at that as a fantastic review for just daycare overall. And also when you pick up the dog, is it a dog who is happy to see the owner but also comfortable in the lobby, can go from seeing the owners back to approaching the staff again? Just i there's a difference between excited and anxiety. Anxiety will will look completely different sometimes. And you know, we want to look for a dog who if I'm releasing the dog to the owner, he's happy to see the owner and then I say his name and he comes back to me and I can pet him and it goes back to the owner again and then sits and gets his leash put on. Not a dog who's just howling and screaming and just trying to get out of the facility.

Amy Castro (04:14)

Yeah. It kinda reminds me of those videos of little kids who the parent takes them to daycare and they're crying and then the parent shows up and they're looking through the window and the kids playing and then as soon as they see the parent, you know, it's a big fit. So I can see why it would be confusing to determine, okay, maybe they are a little hesitant on drop-off, or maybe they are super excited when you pick up and acting like yeah, I think we put so much spin on it, like, he was acting like he couldn't wait to get out of there. It's like maybe he's just happy to see you and I think that also adds to the questions I think that people might have.

Rich Schlatter

I think that's an excellent point. There have been times when we'll get the same dogs. It's not every dog, but there's certain dogs who will come in who will act like the parents are just abandoning them. And they stay by their leg and they won't go with us, cu you know, to come into the b into the building to walk into daycare. And I say to the owners, why don't you just walk out of the building? Dogs are very line of sight, so they're gonna react to what's immediately in front of them. And as soon as the owners walk out, I open the door and the dog just casually walks back in by themselves without a problem.

Amy Castro

Yeah, and I think that's where it comes down to the question of it's not a fit for every single dog. Like I think about my three dogs. I've got a 50-pound bulldog and she she sorta likes to play with other dogs, but she also likes to be left alone. And then I've got a little terrier that I sometimes feel like this poor thing is just dying to be 'cause nobody at our house wants to play with her. I've got two older dogs that are like, Gigi, just leave us alone. And I feel bad for her. Like I've actually thought about getting her a dog for her For herself because she just she seems like she wants to play with them so bad. And then I've got my teeny tiny little Tinkerbell who's twelve and she weighs four pounds. She didn't want to mess with those dogs. It's like get away from my bed, leave me alone. And so I think about those and I think, how would I know? Do I just assume that Gigi would be the only one that would like daycare and the other two wouldn't? Is there a type of dog that seems to be a good fit for daycare?

Rich Schlatter (06:02)

I think we need to consider the dog's temperament, their age, their social history, their health, their mobility, energy levels. Are they comfortable unfamiliar areas with unfamiliar people? These are all factors that you want to look at. You can teach an old dog new tricks. You can take an older dog and adapt them to daycare. It can be done, but not every dog is a daycare dog. So many parents want their dog to play on the playground with their with their fuzzy friends. But not every dog is going to enjoy that. You know, people we've heard a lot of I got a dog during the pandemic, and my goodness, did we do dogs a disservice during the pandemic? Yeah. People just got dogs and kept them home with them, didn't socialize them. And I tell my pet parents that imagine having your child at home, homeschooling them, never letting them play with any other child, and then one day in eighth grade saying, Okay, you're going to public school now. That's Really stressful. It's a complete change of their social structure and their life. And that's what we did to dogs. So I still see those lasting effects. Dogs that are living quietly at home, they have no dog park history. We have dogs also who are intact or unspayed females, things like that. Everything is going to affect what goes into daycare. And that's why I think you need to talk to your pet care professional and give them some detailed history of your dog and do a daycare evaluation. Let's see. Where this dog is gonna fit in. I think an educated professional is going to get information from the client, but they're also going to get information from that dog. Read that dog's body language. How's the dog interacting with you when it first meets you? How's your dog interacting with that new environment in that daycare or boarding facility? When we bring them into daycare, I always tell people, let dogs get accustomed to their environment before we even bring a dog in the first. Let them get accustomed to the sights, sounds, and smells of that daycare room before we even bring a dog in. And then It's a very, very slow introduction, bringing in one dog. How are they reacting with one? Were they good with one? No, let's try two. Some dogs are great up till eight, nine, ten dogs, but they can't be with fifteen or twenty. Every dog's gonna live be a little bit different. They're social creatures, but th they are individuals.

Amy Castro

Yeah. Well again, it reminds me of human daycare as well in a couple of ways. Number one, the whole assessment process, which I wanna dig into a little bit more too. But it also, as you were saying that, I was thinking about the fact that some people put their kids in daycare or mother's day out because it's time to start socializing. Maybe I've got an only child and other people do it p you know out of necessity. Like I've gotta go to work. I can't leave my two year old at home, so they've got to go to daycare. And so I think for dogs it's kind of the same. Everyone's got a different motivation. Are there options? Like when I think of my three dogs, I could see it's again they don't hate other dogs. I think they benefit from being around other dogs, but I think all three of them would need completely different environments. Do daycares have that like these kind of dogs go here and these kind of dogs go there or the group size like you mentioned. Do I have those options and choices?

Rich Schlatter

I think that is where a pet parent needs to do their due diligence, tour facilities, speak with facilities, and find out what's in your area. Some facilities will have one big, large daycare room. Others will have five separate groups separated by whatever their criteria may be. And we can talk about that. Also how many dogs are in each group? Do the dogs get breaks during the day? Some dogs need breaks, some dogs do not. I personally think dogs do need breaks. If you look at what a dog does at home, it plays, it interacts. It lays down, it sleeps. Some dogs just aren't going to do well with 10 hours of non-stop play, but some will. It you know, it just depends on what a day of daycare looks like. And can the facility you're looking at, can they custom tailor a daycare day for your dog that may be different from another client?

Amy Castro (10:19)

Well, and I would assume does it have to be a whole day? Like if I just wanted my dog to go play for two hours, like or is it pretty much an all-day thing?

Rich Schlatter

Most facilities will break it up and do half a day or a full day of daycare. Some will even do it by the hour. But that you know, what once again, that's a conversation you have with the facility, but Most facilities are going to have at least half a day or a full day. Usually a half a day is gonna run a four or five hour block and then a full day would be anything more than that. Okay.

Amy Castro

So let's talk about the evalu 'cause obviously it's a two sided evaluation. I'm trying to evaluate the facility and then they're hopefully doing something to evaluate my dog. Do you want to tackle one or the other of those first?

Rich Schlatter

Yeah, if you're trying to decide what facility to go to, yeah. You always want to ask for a tour. And Most facilities will schedule it. Some will let you just walk right in. And Most facilities when you take a tour, I would say most will say just you come in. Because sometimes that's not the appropriate time for the dog. We're concentrating on you and answering your questions. We're not really concentrating on the dog itself. So most people come in without the dog. I would tell pet parents if you're looking, first when you walk in, how does the staff interact with you? Because if you're not gonna be nice to me, are you gonna be nice to my dog? That's the first thing I'm looking for. Do you hear stress barking in the background? What does the facility smell like when you first walk in? Does it smell like bleaching chemicals or is i is there is there no smell? What do you see? Is the daycare in one big area? Is there a lot of concrete and chain link? Is there an outside area that you can see? How many attendants are in that facility per dog? Is there one person in there with 60 or 70 dogs, or is there one person with 15? These are questions I'm going to ask. Also staff education and certification I feel is vastly important. Is the staff certified by the professional animal care certification council? Is the staff certified by the International Boarding and Pet Services Association? What type of education or continuing education do you provide for your staff in regards to canine? Body language, canine communication, things like that.

Amy Castro

I think that is super important and it's it's funny in the pet industry because in many places there's no requirements for certain certifications and it's like, yeah, I realize that having a particular certification may not be the end all be all, but to me it tells me that you've at least met some kind of a minimum standard that I can probably check out. And you know, i I used to run into this sometimes in running a rescue and having volunteers. Like just because you've had dogs all your life doesn't mean you're good with dogs and that you interact appropriately with them. So it doesn't make you necessarily a great foster or a great volunteer. Like I think that training and certification would be something I'd be looking for for sure.

Rich Schlatter

Sure, and even going even further, pet first aid and CPR, advanced life support for dogs. What is your plan here? Does the staff have a plan if something happens to a dog? What happens? I mean, a small minor cut or something like that, or a little scrape. I get it. These things are small. Your child and my child playing on the playground, one gets a skinned knee. A lot of times there's no aggression involved. Dogs have claws and teeth, and that's how they play. They don't have hands. Sure. So we get little things like that and w I want to know that the staff is going to call me and communicate with me. Most clients won't get upset with you letting them know something about their dog. But if something different happens, if if a dog gets a more complicated injury, are you using my vet? Are you using a vet that's local? How can I ensure that my dog is going to be seen immediately? How can I ensure that you're going to get a hold of me? Are you asking me for emergency contact numbers? All things like this. I would dive pretty deep when I when I look at a facility.

Amy Castro (14:01)

Yeah. And when I'm touring and I'm looking at, let's say, a group of dogs in a room, am I looking for certain ratios of dogs to people? And does it vary depending upon the group? Like 'cause I th again, I'm thinking back on human daycare where, yeah, the six year olds might be w two teachers to twenty kids, but infants are gonna be, you know, a much lower ratio and you'd want that. Is that kind of the same thing I might wanna see?

Rich Schlatter

that's gonna vary state to state and municipality to municipality. Where I'm in New Jersey, there is none. It's just not that I agree with that, but it's just do as you may. Where if you may go to North Carolina, it's one person to fifteen dogs in some areas. Right. I've been in places where it's one person to twelve dogs. And I think that's appropriate and that's fine. You know, when you're looking in at these daycares when you're taking a tour, do you see dogs who are just hiding in the corner, dogs who are trembling? Dogs who are just sitting by the staff and not moving, hiding, you know, under their legs. Do the dogs really look like they're having fun? Are they playing and interacting with each other? And is that area clean? Also, do they have toys in there? Some dogs are toy possessive and toy aggressive. Also food and treats, same deal. So th these are safety concerns that I would also look into when looking at a facility.

Amy Castro

Yeah. And I would think the attentiveness of the staff, because I just as you were talking about it, I was thinking I would be, you know, wanting to know that whoever is in that room, 'cause you could be a, you know, a warm body in the room, but if you're on your phone facing the wall the whole time, you're not really monitoring what's happening. 'Cause I would think a huge piece of it is the interaction and watching the animals and seeing when something's getting too excited or aggression is starting to build up and you're like, Yeah, these two need to be separated and that knowledge and the attentiveness I would think would be huge too.

Rich Schlatter (15:54)

many facilities will not allow their staff to have phones with them while they're working. I like that. I also I also look for a method of communication. If someone's in daycare with my dog and something happens, how are they able to communicate with the manager or that front desk or other people in the in the building? Do they have walkie-talkies or headsets or things like that? And also, what are they doing? I I've asked questions where if dogs do have inappropriate behavior, if there's a fight in daycare, things like that, what happens there? Do they have tools and a plan to deal with things like that? Not every dog is perfect every day. And sometimes hey, I've had bad days where I'm a little cranky. And sometimes dogs do. Very, very common for dogs to get timeouts, just like children get timeouts. But I'm gonna want to know about that. And these are just questions I think people should ask. What happens if my dog is there acting inappropriately? What if my dog is mounting too much? What if my dog is having a bad day? What happens there? Are they gonna be locked into a room and that's no one looks at them for the rest of the day, or do they get moved to some type of private play program or something like that?

Amy Castro

Yeah. Well, and that kind of makes me think about too, like the whole assessment of a dog's appropriateness for either that daycare or for a particular group th if they have the luxury of having multiple groups. Like I was reading something there might have been something you sent me, you know, talking about you know, a group for older dogs where it's like, yeah, maybe they just wanna be around other dogs, but they don't want to be jumped on or or even being grouped by size. I mean, I would assume they don't put Great Danes and Chihuahuas together in the same room. Unless everybody's like old and mellow. I don't know. I don't know how that works, but I would assume there's some kind of criteria if they're gonna break them up.

Rich Schlatter

I've seen facilities that simply just go by size. Large dogs and small dogs. But I've also seen facilities that go by size, age, energy level, mobility, things like that. You may have a Chihuahua who is six months old, who is just on fire at Mach six all the time and really r running around. And then you have a seventeen year old golden retriever who's having trouble gets a little stiff and moves really slow. Obviously that big dog could not keep up with that little dog. Right. So these are the things that people want to look at. And the more options you have, the more ways you can break these dogs up. I think just the happier everyone's going to be. And I've also seen facilities that just have one room and everybody just goes in the same room.

Amy Castro

Yeah. And I would assume that varies depending upon what kind of business the person's running, what part of the country they may not have the luxury or the staff to break up into multiple groups, things like that. So that's just but Yeah. So I think that just makes it even more important for the pet parent to really decide what's the most appropriate environment for their pet. When I'm going in, let's say so I've done my initial tour, I feel like, hey, this might be a good fit for my pet. I'm assuming that the you know, where you talked about

Rich Schlatter

Facility may not provide for it.

Amy Castro (18:50)

being gradually introduced to other dogs. But what are they looking at in my dog? Just and as an example, Gigi, the one that I feel like would really love being with other dogs, she's not great with people. Like she's very fearful of new people. And if somebody tried to just, you know, pick her up or grab her leash too close, she's gonna take a nip out of So I think she probably wouldn't be accepted into daycare, but ha I'm assuming they're assessing my dog just as much as I'm assessing them. Is that right?

Rich Schlatter

Absolutely. I think that when it's somebody like Gigi, if we can't put our hands on a dog, it's very hard to provide care for that dog. You know, if if the dog was in a situation I need to put my hands or put a leash around the dog's neck or touch the dog and I couldn't touch the dog, well I think that sometimes is gonna be a deal breaker. Yeah. Where it's just gonna it's there's inability to care. But yeah, I'm evaluating a dog in the lobby. I wanna know how that dog reacts with the owner holding that leash as compared to me holding that leash. How is a dog reacting to me holding the leash with the owner in line of sight to me holding the leash after the owner leaves? Every step of the way, when I walk down the hallway to go to the evaluation area, is the dog turning back and trying to run out or does the dog seem comfortable? What do the eyes look like? What is the rigidity of the body look like? Is it loose and relaxed? Where's the tail? Where are those ears? Are they up and forward and curious and excited or are they back and back and low? Just by looking at a dog, dogs don't communicate verbally as much. It's mostly nonverbal. So once again, the education of the staff is important to be able to read that dog from the moment they walk in the building through the entire evaluation. Yeah.

Amy Castro

What types of questions will I generally get asked and what kind of information would I need? I mean, I'm assuming I'm gonna have to provide vet records and you had mentioned providing as much history so that they can figure out whether it's a good fit or what group my pet would go in. But is it all pretty much stuff that I would know off the top of my head or should I be prepared and gathering information before I go in?

Rich Schlatter (20:54)

unless you adopted a dog who's six or seven years old, let's say for an example, and you don't really know a lot of history on the dog, you know, it's sometime it gets more it gets a little bit more tough. But if you had the dog from a puppy, it it's usually pretty generally pretty easy. Okay. We're gonna Most facilities in the country are going to want rabies, distemper, and Bordetella vaccines. Proof of those vaccines from your vet. A lot of facilities now are going to be asking for canine influenza. And that's up and coming. We're seeing a lot more of that lately. But I'm gonna wanna know when did you get your dog? Has your dog done any formal training? Has it been to dog parks? Has it been to daycare? Has your dog boarded before? Do they have play dates with other dogs in the area? What's a regular day look like for your dog? When are you off? Are you off on the weekends? If so, does your dog's Wednesday look different than your dog's Saturday? Are you doing things socially with your dog? Does your dog travel with you? And if so, how do they travel? And depending on how the owner answers, I'm gonna ask more detailed questions. If you say to me, you just moved to the area and my dog has been going to daycare at this other facility out of state, I'm gonna find out the name of that facility. I'm gonna call them and I'm gonna i try to get an exchange of information how the dog acted there. And it'll give me a little bit of insight on how he may be acting here.

Amy Castro

Yeah, that's good. I think the questions are really for everybody's benefit. The more they know about your dog, the more they can determine placement or whatever's gonna happen. Because I would assume that like does daycare we've been talking about dogs being in groups, but could daycare like for my old dog that I just need somebody to watch him during the day, can it be kinda like that too? Almost like a day boarding, or does it not work like that?

Rich Schlatter

some facilities provide day boarding or day stays. And that usually entails not the all-day play structure that a daycare does, but some one on one, three, four, five times a day taking that dog out and then letting that dog lead. If you have a beagle or a hound dog, it may just want to spend most of its time sniffing around the yard. If you have a people dog, it might want to just sit on your lap and get pet. Some dogs just want to play. And I think people who are really interested in doing what's special to the dog, let that dog lead and find out what they want to do and follow. There's also other programs that are up and coming and we're seeing more and more of now in regards to enrichment being part of daycare, adding other add-ons like a Kong break where they get a Kong or they get an ice cream treat, they take them out of daycare and give them something. Some facilities have swimming and have pools and they'll take them out of daycare and do a little bit of something like that and then bring them back into daycare. And we're seeing a lot of that becoming more and more the norm than just the regular old plain old daycare.

Amy Castro

Yeah. Well, and I was wondering about that as far as amenities. I'm assuming it's like anything else where there's the resort level with the pools and whatever, and then, you know, there could be something where somebody is maybe even running it from home or like you said, a one room schoolhouse kind of thing. Are there any particular amenities that you would say would be like if it doesn't have X, it's a deal breaker? Like I obvious obviously the staff training and the CPR and certain equipment. But beyond that, is there anything else that I should really be looking that like a must have?

Rich Schlatter

I'm gonna wanna make sure the dogs always have access to clean fresh water. I want them to have a way to get out of the weather. Thunder and lightning, dangerously hot weather, dangerously cold temperatures. Do they have an inside area? And if so, is it climate controlled? At any time are the dogs going to be unattended and left on their own. That's a deal breaker for me. Someone's always got to be there. Air filtration is huge with me. I think that ultraviolet germicidal irradiation systems in facilities, I think it makes a huge difference. And I I've seen facilities that don't even require the Bordetella vaccine. To me, I think we're asking for trouble. I think even though I'm not a huge medication guy or a huge vaccine guy, I think that if your dog is going to daycare and gonna be in these social structures, I think that a Bordetella vaccine and or a canine influenza vaccine are going to be valuable.

Amy Castro

I hadn't even thought about air filtration, but that definitely can be a good deal. And I know it is in sheltering situations 'cause you never know what those vaccination situations are, but you know, vaccines aren't a hundred percent and you know you never know what things they haven't come up with a vaccine for yet, so who knows?

Rich Schlatter

I have had clients say, my my you know, if a dog comes down and people will see it, it's it's not uncommon for your child to go to school and come home with a cold. Yeah. And for your dog to go to a daycare facility and come back with an airborne upper respiratory infection doesn't mean it's a bad facility or it's an unclean facility. It just means that something was airborne and your dog happened to pick it up. If anybody's promising you your dog won't get sick at a facility, find another facility. Yeah. I guess th They're not telling you the truth.

Amy Castro

That's a good point. So if I've found what I think is a good facility, I'm I'm taking my dog there. I mean, I would assume, especially my dogs, that they would be pretty darn tired when they came home. How do I know when that's ki I guess it's kind of back to the original question. Like, how do I know that this is a good fit from the standpoint of even if my dog does like it, like if they come home and they're exhausted, is that a good thing or could that be a bad thing?

Rich Schlatter

Well, that's a double-edged sword there. Yeah. Immediately most people bring their dogs home and when they get home, they're excited to be home, excited to see the owner. But if they've had a long day in daycare and they're playing, they do crash out. I've seen dogs take a day and a half to really come back, catch up on sleep, have their body recover and have their energy level returned to normal. Signs like vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite. Persistent soreness, extreme lethargy that's extending past. These are signs of, hey, something's going on here since I brought my dog home. If you just bring your dog to daycare and he doesn't want to get in that car, the dog may be telling you something. Doesn't want to get into the building. That's maybe telling you something. But a dog who just comes home as excited to see mom and dad and, you know, lays on the couch for a day and then he's back to normal, that's probably a dog who had a good time in daycare and was just a little tired. How often do you play with your dog every single day? Yeah. Well that's maybe half an hour. Okay, we're doing it twenty times as much. And now he did it for five days in a row. Your dog is exhausted. Just let him recover.

Amy Castro

Yeah. I would assume, kinda to your point, it it depends on your lifestyle. Like I could imagine a person who has a very active dog, they run with them every day, they play with them every day, they go to like you said, go to dog parks, they have friends that they socialize with. That that kind of a dog may have less of an adjustment physically than my dogs who certainly weren't out there hoofing it every single day. Like it kinda like if I took my big butt and went to the gym for the first time and really did a workout, I'm gonna be hurting. For for a couple of days, but I would assume that at some point you would expect a level of adjustment. Is there a point where I would say, hey, this is just way too much? Like I'm thinking about my little Tinky. Like maybe I have to take her to daycare or I feel like I have to, but then she's coming home and she sleeps twenty four seven afterwards or shows some of those symptoms. At what point do I say maybe this isn't a good fit for my dog?

Rich Schlatter

I think you're gonna see signs of that at home and you're gonna see signs at the daycare facility itself. Okay. We've had dogs come in who the owners are bringing them in five, six days a week. And you can tell that these dogs just aren't getting enough recovery. There's not enough sleep for them. They come home, they eat their dinner, they sleep, and then in the morning, hey, let's get up. We gotta be the daycare at seven o'clock so the owner can go to work. And it's just too much for them. And we'll see dogs turn from really good daycare dogs to getting a little more snippy or getting a little a little more cranky daycare. And then we have a behavioral problem. So we've had clients, hey, let's say to them, hey, let's back down a little bit. Instead of doing five days a week, six days a week, let's go down to three and see if that behavior changes. Yeah. And home also. How is your dog acting? Is it taking your dog three days to recover from one day of daycare? When your dog comes home, is he doing nothing but sleeping when he's home with you? Because I don't think that's appropriate either. There's gotta be some type of normal life and recovery at home also. So w when we see this happening in daycare and we think a dog is coming too much or it's affecting the dog's behavior or health, those are conversations we have to have with owners. And then we'll find out what's going on at home also if they've seen any type of change in the dog's behavior.

Amy Castro

Yeah. It almost seems like you need to think about daycare as not so much like aligned with a human child's daycare where that's where you go, you know, five days a week when mom and dad works or whoever, and more as a playgroup kind of thing or some combination thereof. Because I'm thinking to myself, well, if I work five days a week and you're saying it's too much for my dog and maybe three would be better. Now what do I do with those other two days? I guess I get a pet sitter or come up with some other option if the daycare doesn't offer something that's more aligned to that day boarding kind of thing.

Rich Schlatter

Yeah, I mean day boarding is another option. Maybe do some days of daycare and some days of day boarding. Also if if it's taking your dog a day and a half to recover, then go to work and just let your dog recover. Let your dog recover at home. That's might be another option. Depends on your lifestyle and what that facility has to offer. Sometimes bringing your dog in and not doing daycare, but just doing a day stay or day boarding and then moving on to some enrichment where we're really activating the dog's mind and using different tools to really stimulate their senses and their mind and their sight and their vision and and obviously scent work is huge. But that'll take a lot out of a dog. It's it's like going to work. And I really think that enrichment is the wave of the future. And I think the facilities that are getting into enrichment now are the ones who are leading the pack.

Amy Castro

Yeah, that's good. It's interesting 'cause you kind of changed my mindset about what daycare really is and what's the purpose of it for the pet, that it's not just, hey, you're gonna take your dog there to stash him while you work kind of thing. And yeah, they're gonna have some fun, but it it's more of their like you said, in i their enrichment time, their exercise time, and every dog's gonna need a little bit different level of that. So having those alternatives in the back of your mind. You know, I think sometimes people feel guilty leaving their dog at home. I hear that a lot where People are like, they're gonna be all-day by themselves. And I'm thinking to myself, my dogs are happy to see me when I come home, but especially the older ones and my bulldog, she doesn't want to be running around all-day long. She's got about ten minutes in her for the day, you know, maybe in a couple of different bursts. But other than that, she's sleeping all-day. So I don't feel guilty when I have to leave her for extended periods. And again, I think that goes back to us kind of projecting our human, I'm abandoning my child at home.

Rich Schlatter (31:59)

A big mistake people make is putting human thought, human logic and human emotions into dogs. They think differently than we do. So I tell my clients that I try to explain to them sometimes here's how a dog will think. But we have clients who bring the dog because when they get home, they just are so tired from work and have other things to do that they just want the dog to just I just let's get his energy out while he's here. When I pick him up, I want him to be tired. To me, that's not the goal of daycare. It's stimulation. It's socialization, not just with dogs, with people. It's routine. Giving that dog some type of routine in its life. It's exercise. There's there's all different things. It's not just let's tire a dog out.

Amy Castro

Yeah. But I mean, to a certain degree, that is a side benefit of it, right? Like maybe if I've got a h super high energy dog and maybe I don't have that energy at the end of the day, to take them from ninety percent down to sixty percent where it's more manageable for me is not necessarily a bad thing, right? I just want to make sure I'm understanding.

Rich Schlatter

Completely where a dog needs an outlet for that energy. There's a difference between I just want pick up my dog and I want him to go home and I just want my dog to kind of just sleep. And he's just so much at home. I want to bring him to daycare. So when I get him home, I just want him to just lay over there and relax and I'll pet him and we'll cuddle on the couch. Yeah. There's a difference between that and having a dog who's a very high energy or a dog with high drive to go into daycare, to utilize the daycare as an outlet for that energy, and then come home and have appropriate behavior at home.

Amy Castro (33:29)

And I think that goes back to something that we say on the show, I've probably said it a million times, is having the right fit dog for you in the first place, that you can't expect that these other tools are gonna be a substitute for you not being the appropriate owner for that dog. So I know when we're adopting dogs out, it's always like, you know, look at the fit. What is your lifestyle? Because the daycare or whatever else is not gonna be a substitute for that.

Rich Schlatter

Yeah, we see many clients who'll come in who live in a one-bedroom apartment and get themselves a Belgian Malinois or they

Amy Castro

Yeah, I knew that's exactly what I was thinking.

Rich Schlatter

Get themselves a husky and gorgeous puppies. Don't get me wrong, but maybe not the appropriate dog for a one-bedroom apartment for someone who's working fifty hours a

Amy Castro

Exactly. So yeah, don't expect that daycare is gonna fix that problem for you. But but for a lot of dogs it sounds like it's a fantastic outlet for, like you said, energy socialization, keeping their minds engaged and those kinds of things. So a lot of great benefits. So for somebody that's listening to this and they've found what they think is gonna be a great fit for their pet. Are there any success tips that you have for, you know, getting that dog off to a good start or things that I can do to prepare for the first day of daycare? I'm thinking about like first day of kindergarten or something.

Rich Schlatter

Sure. That first day you wanna make sure if you feed your dog, make sure you feed your dog at least two hours or so before arriving at daycare. You don't want to feed your dog ten minutes before they get in the car to take the ten minute drive to daycare. Okay. Some people get emotional, they're dropping off their child, their fuzzy, furry child for the first day. We wanna avoid That stress and that anxiety that you as a pet parent feel as it goes right down the lead, right to that dog. So as soon as you come in, we want to take that dog from you immediately. We're we're just we're gonna go. A lot of the questions we do our due diligence with the clients before they arrive That first day to get the information about the dog. And we're gonna really immediately move that dog, get the owner out of the line of sight of that dog. And I tell pet parents, When you get home, hold off on food and water and treats and like that for a little while when you first get home. Your dog is going to be very excited to see you and the excitement and the running around and the panting of being home and seeing you, the dogs really get worked up. You don't want to expose a dog to water at that point. I'm always worried about the dogs just drinking too much and too quickly while they're panting. There's always a possibility of aspirating water into the lungs. And then things might come up on the kitchen floor again, also.

Amy Castro

Yeah, exactly.

Rich Schlatter (36:11)

So just as soon as you see your dog returns to normal, neutral behavior, at that point, you know your dog. At that point, you can give your dog whatever you want. And also just know that your dog is going to need some recovery time. Let him have that recovery time. Most dogs will come home, be excited. Once they calm down, feed your dog some dinner, and then usually the dogs will try to catch up on some sleep after that.

Amy Castro

Okay. Yeah, that also parallels the daycare drop-off, not turning it into something dramatic. Like matter of fact, here we go. Bye, have a good day kind of thing. Go on about your business.

Rich Schlatter

You got it. See. Good they are they are furry little children who never grow up. That's how I look at them.

Amy Castro

That's right. So I've listened to this episode and I'm thinking, hey, you know, I should investigate this. Could somebody reach out to you to help them get started or to maybe consult on, you know, narrowing things down because I'm obviously not the expert. Maybe I've got a couple of options, but I'm not sure how to make that final decision.

Rich Schlatter

Absolutely. I do do consulting with pet boarding and daycare facilities to make them just better facilities. But I also do consulting with pet parents in regards to choosing a facility that might be right for you based on your geographic area.

Amy Castro (37:21)

That's great. Okay. So what's the best way for somebody to get a hold of you to ask some of those questions and get some help?

Rich Schlatter

Well, they can email me. My email is just simply rich schlatter at gmail dot com. Okay. Or they can find me on LinkedIn.

Amy Castro

Okay, great. And we'll put those links in the show notes so everybody has the spelling and all of that. So any last words of advice for us before we wrap up?

Rich Schlatter

My last bits of advice are when you're looking for a facility, you wanna find someone and you wanna find a facility that genuinely cares and loves animals as much as you do. They're not just there for a job. You wanna find people who the care of the pets, the love for the pets, the animals themselves are part of who they are. And it's hard to find people like that, but once you do, stick with that facility, they'll never let you down.

Amy Castro

Great. Well, Rich, thanks so much for being on the show to talk about this subject. I think it's super important and I think daycare to me, and you're in the industry, it just seems like it's gonna continue to grow and explode as people see the benefit for it. So knowing what to look for, I think is super helpful, especially from an insider like yourself. So thank you for making the time.

Rich Schlatter (38:33)

Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.

Amy Castro

The big takeaway from today is that daycare is not automatically good or bad. The real question is whether it is good for your dog. Pay attention to how your dog behaves before drop-off at the facility and after coming home. Ask questions about what's happened during the day, including how the dogs were grouped, how much rest they receive, and how the staff recognize and respond to stress. And remember, your dog doesn't have to enjoy a room full of other dogs to be a friendly, social, or well-adjusted dog. And if this episode helped you look at daycare differently, please share it with another pet parent who may be trying to decide whether it's right for their dog. Thanks for listening to the Pet Parent Hotline. If you enjoyed the show, don't keep it to yourself. Text a friend right now with a link and tell them I've got a show that you need to hear. And ask them to let you know what they think. And remember, your pet's best life starts with you living yours. So be sure to take good care of yourself this week. And your pets.