Doggie Day Care

[Vanessa]

Does anyone take their Basenji to Doggie Day Care? If so, could you please tell me what kind of things good or bad you look for. I have been looking at different types of places and still I wonder if it is an ok place to take a Basenji to. I dont like the idea of creating a dog while im at work. I'd rather it run around and have fun. (while being supervised of course)
Any suggestions???

[ChaseandZahrasmom]

I use to take my Puggle to Doggie Day Care weekly before we got Zahra our Basenji. It gets a little expensive when you add another dog to the family! LOL! But they both go occasionally.

I haved looked at probably 5 or so in our area but I have to be a lot picker now that I have a Basenji. The things that I looked for is:

1.) How many staff members are there and where are they? Are they interacting with the dogs and watching them or are they just sitting on a chair?

2.) Cleanliness. I walked into one place here earlier than I said I would be by, there was a small room when you walked in where they kept the smaller dogs while the bigger dogs where outside playing and it was covered in dog pee and poo. The dogs were actually running through it. The outside area didn't impress me at all.

3.) Now that we have a Basenji I am concerned about fences at a day care. I looked at one that was close to a corner of a very busy intersection here. The fenced area was not very big and it was a chained link fence that I could invision Zahra climbing in two seconds flat. The inside was not bad but I could not get the thought of a very busy intersection and my Basenji running around in it.

4.) There is a place here that has a large indoor place for the dogs and it is very nice because it is air conditioned and heated.

The place that I really like to take my dogs to is a Farm that is incredible. They are very dedicated to dogs. There are a few horse pastures that have proper fencing around them that are dedicated to the dogs, they are seperated by size and each area is supervised. They interact with the dogs and they get to run all day except for a couple times a day when they let them take naps inside.

They also offer a pet hotel which is incredible too. I feel good about leaving my dogs there and bring home exhausted animals when I do. I know that you are in California but here is the link to the place that I like so that you can see it

www.hollyridgemanor.com

Hope this helps

Jenn

[Vanessa]

Thank you Jenn for the information. I looked at the website and it looks like a great place for dogs! Too bad its in Virginia. I love the fact that it is so large. Plenty of space for dogs to run till their little hearts are content :p
Even the prices are amazing. One place that I looked at which was really close to my office was $400.00 per month! Talk about a HUGE hole in your pocket!! But they do have a doggie web cam and the facility was really clean. Everytime I check out a different facility I tell them what kind of dog I will be getting and everyone says for me not to worry but of course I do. I tell them that a Basenji can clear a 5 foot fence without even giving it a thought. This one place that I called the owner said dont worry…even if the dog gets to the top it will get electricuted. I hung up the phone at that point. I dread leaving a puppy home alone while I am at work. I expect a change in my boyfriend and my work schedule once we get our little pup. :rolleyes:

[jessi76]

I used a dog daycare often when my dog was young, and still use it on occassion. I looked for the same things ChaseandZahrasmom's mentioned, but I also chose the one I use because it's the same place I train my dog. The staff in the daycare knew my dog from classes, they used the same training methods throughout the day (so it continually reinforced what we learned), and it was double fenced & gated… even inside.

on my dog's first day he only had a human buddy all day. then on day 2 he got introduced to another dog, close in age/size/temperment. day 3 they added another friend. They kept a file listing his "friends" so the staff always knew what playgroup to put him in. They took special care during the cold months and rainy weather to keep him warm & dry. and they only crated for 1 hr during the work day.

the place I use is $25/day, which to me and my budget is alot of money, but I also think it's a very fair price to pay for the quality of care my dog gets there, which is really most important.

If you have multiple places to choose from in your area, I'd drop by un-announced, so you can see what a typical day is like.

[Vanessa]

@jessi76:

I used a dog daycare often when my dog was young, and still use it on occassion. I looked for the same things ChaseandZahrasmom's mentioned, but I also chose the one I use because it's the same place I train my dog. The staff in the daycare knew my dog from classes, they used the same training methods throughout the day (so it continually reinforced what we learned), and it was double fenced & gated… even inside.

on my dog's first day he only had a human buddy all day. then on day 2 he got introduced to another dog, close in age/size/temperment. day 3 they added another friend. They kept a file listing his "friends" so the staff always knew what playgroup to put him in. They took special care during the cold months and rainy weather to keep him warm & dry. and they only crated for 1 hr during the work day.

the place I use is $25/day, which to me and my budget is alot of money, but I also think it's a very fair price to pay for the quality of care my dog gets there, which is really most important.

If you have multiple places to choose from in your area, I'd drop by un-announced, so you can see what a typical day is like.

Showing up without an appointment sounds like a good idea. I didin't think about that. Thank you