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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Talk to me about doggie day care
Through a friend DH found out about Camp Bow Wow. Today we took him there for an interview/trial day and a grooming. It seems like a good place. I've been watching Chef D on the web cams and he seems to like it. I saw one girl pick him and give a big kiss, hug. I thought that was sweet and showed they cared about him. I have yet to see him lay down so I'm sure I will be getting one tired puppy back this afternoon.
That said, I really have nothing to compare it to as I've never taken a dog to daycare before.
This might sound stupid, but what should I be looking out for when in comes to daycare? Does anyone use Camp Bow Wow? What are your experiences?
The plan is to take him 1-3 times a week depending on our work schedule.
Re: Talk to me about doggie day care
I haven't used Camp Bow Wow, but here are a few of the questions I had before taking Archie to doggie day care.
What's the ratio of staff people to dogs? How are the dogs supervised? Even if dogs are submitted to an evaluation, things can still happen. I didn't want there to only be one person attempting to break up a bad situation.
How is cleaning handled? To me, it's okay to just grab messes as they happen but I also appreciated that everything where we went was scrubbed down with a dog-safe disinfectant twice a day.
Are there emergency policies in place in case a dog is suddenly injured or ill? Where we went had us sign a form stating that in case of emergency they could take him to such and such vet during normal hours and another emergency vet outside of normal hours should it become necessary.
I used to use Camp BW before moving and in my experience there are things that could've been better but it was one of the better ones we had nearby. They are all individually owned so I don't think it's fair to compare them as a chain but as far as my experience for the one we used in NYC.
Pros:
-They extended their opening and closing hours so it was easier for us to be able to handle work schedules.
-Webcams, I loved being able to check in and see what was going on whenever I wanted to.
-Always accommodating even with last minute reservations.
-Usually gives you discounts when buying packages.
-Even though their website says they have breed restrictions mine accepted all breeds (obviously as long as they passed the interview)
-Always had a resident foster dog from a local shelter and constantly hosting events & drives to help small local shelters.
Cons:
-Their employee turnover rate was a bit fast for my comfort, why weren't the employees lasting? Were they doing a bad job at hiring or were the work conditions not good?
-Webcams, double edged sword, sometimes I would look into other play areas and would see small amounts of the larger dogs (usually less frequent than smaller dogs) that didn't get much attention from the staff since they were so few. One time I even saw a dog eat poop and none of the staff even noticed or had made a round to clean up for several hours.
-Many many many times they were overcrowded, it's like they never say no. I usually felt bad for the little guys because even though they were supposed to be separated they were always mixed with the medium dogs and getting trampled my guess is so the staff would only have to supervise one big kennel versus 2 separate ones.
-We've had several issues with my girl having really deep scratches around her hind legs from being humped and when I brought up my concern to the owner he blew me off and said that she already had those marks when she came in.
-They were pretty up there on the price scale.
I can't speak specifically to Camp BW, but this is what we looked at in a daycare:
What methods, if any, do they use to correct a misbehaving dog? Ours uses an "eh, eh", and if they get too riled up, they will remove the dog and give them a few minutes to calm back down.
How are new dogs introduced? Ours puts the new dog in the daycare room on their own, and once they are comfortable and off leash, they start with one dog at a time, starting with the most mellow, and only adding another dog when the new dog is comfortable.
Schedule of play-Ours has two groups, small dogs and large dogs. They do one 45 minute play session for each group first thing in the morning, and then play sessions are 30 minutes for the rest of the day. This means the group not playing is either crated, or has down time in a suite while the other group plays. This lets them get drinks, have a snack, and provides them with mental and physical down time to help prevent scuffles and grumpy dogs. They then have an hour break from 12-1 when all dogs are crated. This is when half day drop off and pick up occurs. The second half of the day looks like the first.
Webcam-I wish ours had one, but they fit everything else so well, that this became a non-issue.
Price- We were able to get a special for the month, and for two dogs, it is $412.50 for 5 days a week of daycare over a thirty day period. One dog is normally 325, and every dog after that is half the price, but we were able to take advantage of the special.
Do they tell who your dog made friends with? This is important to us, because we would like to schedule playdates on the weekend with dogs that our dogs befriend. We have a boxer and two pittie mixes, so dog parks are not the best place to take them to play.
Overall feel of the facility and personnel- I was able to ask a ton of questions about vaccination requirements, daycare schedule, introductions, etc, and they were more than willing to take the time to answer all of my questions.
Vaccination requirements-Our daycare accepts titers, and accepts any sort of flea prevention-we use a neem oil shampoo. This was a really important aspect for us.
Cleaning processes-All dogs are crated at 4pm, and the cleaning/checkout process starts. They clean from 4:30 to 6:30, and pick up poop while the playgroups are occurring.
These are good questions. We haven't used Camp Bow Wow (although I've heard they're generally pretty good), but the two places we go have the answers to all of these questions on their website and/or in the forms you fill out when you sign up.
Of the two places we go, one is more interactive with the dogs all day. But the other place is fine - the dogs are well supervised, it's just that the dogs play only with each other. And I wouldn't go to a place without a webcam. To me it's important that the place is open about what goes on. The other thing I dislike is places that crate the dogs for a period during the day. It wouldn't necessarily be a dealbreaker, but given the choice, I would choose a place that doesn't do that, even if it's for cleaning.
Day care has been a life saver for us, both for keeping Quincy on occasion when we had to be gone all day and he was too little to stay home all day, but more importantly for tuckering him out. That puppy energy was boundless and day care takes the edge off nicely.
Quincy and Dexter, new BFFs
I used to be kris216.
I would not be cool with any of that.
Quincy and Dexter, new BFFs
I used to be kris216.
I send my pups to a small, locally owned doggie daycare with one location. They don't have webcams (it'd be fun to watch though), but I do trust them and recommend people to them all the time. It's completely cage-free and they separate large and small dogs, though they do put my beagle in the large dog group when he's there -- his lab sisters are both there, and he only likes to play with large dogs. There's constant supervision and they have large indoor and outdoor play areas, including a swimming pool in the summer and a doggie playset. It's always the same few women working there, which I like, as being owner operated makes a difference to me.
They also offer a boarding alternative, which I love. It allows the pups to go there when I'm out of town, so they go with people they know to a place they love. They're picked up in the morning by staff, spend the day at daycare (normally a late day) and then sleep at home at night. Staff checks my mail, brings in the paper, turns on/off lights, etc.
Biggest thing I love about them, and this is sappy and maybe weird: when we were moving to the neighborhood we're in now, they spent a lot of times at daycare. The owner told me she would make sure to introduce our dogs to the ones that would be in our new neighborhood (they have a loyal following around here), and explain to them they would be coming with us so they wouldn't be scared. Maybe it was a little silly, but that level of individualized care means a lot to me and said a lot about how much she truly loves the animals she cares for. So I guess I'm saying I look for people who care and love what they do, not just teens at a summer job, LOL.
I know I'm late, but we use Camp Bow Wow. Like a PP said, they are individually owned, so your experience will vary depending on your location. We take Bailey at least once every other week. The first couple times we took her, she was a little nervous (she was still very young and we were still working on socialization). Since probably the third time we took her, she gets ridiculously excited once she realizeswhere we're going and she runs to the door and waits to be let into the play area. We recently boarded her one night as a trial run for when we go on vacation in May (this was her first time being boarded.)
Here are my thoughts/experiences:
Pros:
* Our location has had the same staff since we have been going, we just started going about 5 months ago, but the employees are always smiling and enthusiastic
* They have monthly "Yappy Days", which is discounted daycare for the pups and happy hour for the parents, it's a nice way to get to know the other pet parents and meet the dogs your dog plays with
* Bailey is completely exhausted once we pick her up. She's like a dream for the rest of the night :-)
* They have events to promote adoption and fund raisers for local shelters (pics with santa for a donation, etc.)
* There are locations all over, so if you travel, you may be able to take your pup to a different location (Whether they require the initial interview or not depends on the owner. The one we go requires the interview, but 2 separate ones that we considered using while we were traveling did not require it).
* Obviously, the webcams. It's nice to be able to peak in to see how your pup is doing throughout the day.
Cons:
* The weekend hours are split, so there is a play period, then nap time for 5 or 6 hours, and they re-open and the pups play until bed time. This isn't a preference of mine, but it's better than the alternative of them being crated all day at a normal boarding facility.
* They are a bit on the pricey side, but this will also vary by your area, we have checked in other areas we were considering traveling in and most of them have been cheaper than what we pay.
If you have any specific questions about my experience, I would be happy to help. Just PM me :-).
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