All dogs must complete a 3 consecutive day assessment prior to permanent enrolment in daycare. During the assessment days your dog will be eased into this environment slowly to make sure they are comfortable and positive associations are made. They will be watched closely for any signs of stress and to assess whether day care is suited to them. A fully completed application form is also required, please contact us and we will email you this application form and keep it on file.

No assessment required for pups under the age of 6 months

Your dogs first 3 days at daycare will be assessment days were he/she will be eased into this environment slowly to make sure positive associations are made. They will be watched closely for any signs of stress and to assess whether daycare is suited to them. We want them to be comfortable and enjoy themselves here. Daycare is not for every dog. It is best suited to dogs that love playing with other dogs. It is not the solution for dogs that have a bad history with other dogs; it will in fact worsen the problem not to mention create a dangerous environment for the staff members and the other dogs. The health and well-being of our K9 clients are a priority to us

Daycare ‘Traffic Light’ Policy

The welfare of the dogs in our care is our priority. We are constantly assessing their behaviour in daycare to make sure that this is the correct environment for them and that they are still happy and comfortable in our care. This apples to both our new dogs and the dogs that have been with us from the beginning.

As you know daycare is not for every dog, and even if they have been happy and comfortable with us up to now this doesn’t mean that it will remain that way going forward. For many different reasons dogs are no longer suitable for this environment. It can be as simple as they have matured and don’t find socialising with other dogs at this level as fun as they use to , some find daycare too much fun and get overly stimulated which can lead to them becoming more reactive. Regardless of what the reason may be we will not have dogs in our daycare if we are not 100% sure that they are comfortable , safe and happy.  Although we are sympathetic to our clients personal circumstances we cannot take this into consideration when making this decision and will not appoligise for putting the health and welfare of your dog, and the other dogs in our care first.

Although attending a daycare can be of great assistance to dog owners it should not be a factor taken into consideration when deciding to become a dog owner. A dog is a 10-15 yr commitment and owners cannot rely on a new dog being /  remaining suitable for a daycare for the duration of their life.

The  ‘Traffic Light’ Policy is a system we use to continually assess your dogs suitabilty in daycare.

Green  =  Dog is comfortable and happy. We are experiencing no issues with the dog that we cannot manage.

Amber = The dogs suitability to daycare is in question. If the dog enters the amber we will try different strategies for 4 weeks to try to get the dog to green. After this 4 wk period if no improvements are seen the dog will enter Red. During this 4 wk period we ask owners to research alternatives to daycare and have other options on standby. A dog may enter amber for a number of reasons; for example:

• Not getting along with the majority of the group
• Not comfortable being kenneled / crated
• Guarding
• For no obvious reason now uncomfortable in daycare

Strategies used to get dog back to green may involve some of the following (not exclusively):

• Reducing number of days
• Switching days
• Asking owners to drop off as late as possible (9.30am) /collect as earlier as possible (5pm)
• Attending a training course to learn more self control around dogs

Red = Dog is uncomfortable and no longer suitable for this daycare environment. We have had no signs of improvement after employing strategies.

Automatic Reds include:

• Reactivity toward any member of staff
• A bite to another dog
• Excellent jumpers! Unfortunately we cannot facilitate those dogs that can jump over the barriers into other sections of our daycare.