When we tell our friends we send our 9 month old puppy Maggie to doggie day care, we are usually greeted with a snort I interpret to mean “Are you kidding me? Dogs don’t need day care!”. Let me tell you why I disagree.
Our life before doggie day care: Bryan and I both work so that we can afford the roof over puppy’s head and afford the air conditioning that keeps puppy cool in the summer. That means that for 9 hours a day, plus 9 hours at night, puppy does nothing but sleep. What does this fun little math equation mean?
It means that all of the energy puppy gathers by sleeping 18 hours a day is expended between 5-9PM. This energy manifests itself in many wonderful ways, inclusive of but not limited to chewing anything within reach, biting (she especially likes to bite the “love handles”, not a pleasant feeling, I can assure you), digging, running outside through the mud then in through the doggie door and straight onto the couch, barking at anything that moves (or not, movement doesn’t appear to be a requirement), topped off by some crazy sprinting around the house while making strange gremlin-like noises and all be damned if anyone can catch her.
Our life after doggie day care: Doggie gets dropped off at 8 AM at doggie care, where she literally runs into the playroom and can’t be bothered by the fact that her mom/dad is leaving for the day. She spends all morning running after other dogs. She then gets a 1.5 hour nap around 1 PM, where I assume she at least stops running. The afternoon is spent following the care givers around, hoping for a treat (she is a known treat hound in puppy class).
Finally, some time between 5-6 PM she gets picked up. She walks VERY quickly back to the car, hops into the back seat, right into her crate and lies down. She doesn’t make a peep on the drive home. Upon arriving home, she calmly follows us around the house and thankfully plants herself in our lap the moment we sit down. At night, she is so tired she just waits to be picked up and put to bed. Basically, our little devil dog becomes an overnight angel.
It’s a pretty solid case to me. All of us are happier; Maggie is calmer, we feel less guilty, and we aren’t embarrassed to have guests over during the week. So go ahead and scoff if you like, but if I have changed your mind, I won’t make you admit it. Check out Planet Pooch any time you like, we won’t tell;-)