Is Doggy Day Care Good For Your Dog?
By Amy Ammen and Kitty Foth-Regner

Doggy day care is the latest trend in cities large and small, where growing numbers of busy owners have signed their hyper dogs up for day-care services.

It’s a great idea – in theory, anyway.

The trouble is that the execution can be so flawed that a few weeks at one dog day-care center can turn a hyper dog into a monster … while a few weeks at another center can transform a troublesome pup into a perfect gentleman.

I’ve talked with countless owners who’ve experienced each kind of dog day care, and the difference seems pretty clear: the presence of a training component.

Owners who use training-inclusive day care rave about what the experience has done for their dogs.

“Harley is so much calmer and more obedient when he comes home from day care,” the owner of a young Rottweiler told me recently. “I’m sure it’s because of the training he gets, along with the constant supervision – he doesn’t have a chance to pick up bad habits.”

His comments are typical. So, too, are the reports I hear from many new obedience-class students who’ve experienced the other sort of dog day care – the sort that is nothing more than a nine-hour free-for-all from which their dogs have emerged either out of control or cringing from having been picked on all day by a bully or in firm possession of horrid new housebreaking habits.

Before enrolling your dog in a day-care program, be sure to check it out thoroughly. Observe the center at different times during the day, if possible, to see what sort of supervision that dogs get. If you see mayhem, uncorrected bullying or barking, or soiling indoors, look elsewhere.

On the other hand, if you witness a steady succession of training sessions – either with individual dogs or small groups – consider it a good sign.

But don’t stop there. Find out what kind of training method is used to see if it gels with your thoughts on the subject. At the very least, talk with some other owners and find out if their dogs seem to be better behaved when they’ve been in day care, or when they’ve stayed home. Ask them about their dogs’ impulsiveness, emotional control, and adrenalin levels, and how day care impacts these variables.

Is some day care better than none at all? Maybe, maybe not. Personally, if I couldn’t find a place that exercised my dog’s mind and spirit as well as his body, and used training techniques I agreed with, I would keep him at home. I would then commit myself to spending a chunk of concentrated time each evening on obedience-training and playing with him. For details, visit www.amyammen.com.

Amy Ammen is among the nation’s foremost authorities on training unusual breeds and solving confounding problems. She has trained thousands of dogs through Amiable Dog Training, Milwaukee … hosts Your Family Pet on WRRD-AM 540 … regularly appears on TV … is frequently quoted in print … and conducts seminars nationwide. Her dancing dogs are headliners at popular family-friendly festivals.

Amy has written five books in addition to her latest, Hip Ideas for Hyper Dogs – as well as in a series of DVDs and articles for major dog publications.

This is her first book with Kitty Foth-Regner, a Waukesha, Wis., freelance copywriter. The author of scores of business-to-business brochures, white papers, and direct-mail campaigns, as well as The Cure (Main Street, 1987) and Heaven without Her (Thomas Nelson, 2008), Kitty is also a pushover dog owner. She first sought Amy’s help back in 1987, desperate for a way to stop her first Bassett Hound from dismembering every book in the house. Amy’s techniques instantly provided the needed relief.

For details, see http://www.amyammen.com