Doggie Day Care

Bella's 1st Report card

I decided Bella could benefit from some doggie play time. Taking her to the dog park doesn't work as invariably someone is playing Chuck-It with their dog. If there is a ball anywhere at the park, there is Bella. So although she could have time to interact with other pups, she's actually oblivious to them. Amber, her best buddy, is a mature 8-year old and though tolerant of Bella's exuberance, she doesn't want to play with her.

I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that Bella's social calendar is a concern, but in defense, we take her everywhere and she needs to be "socially acceptable." What I've noticed is if she sees another dog she is beside herself with excitement. When she does play, she's a little rough. This may be her style or she may need to play with other dogs and learn some doggie etiquette. There is only one other dog she knows who is young and energetic, but she rarely gets to play with her as Cherry's owners have quite a different schedule than ours.

I scoped out two facilities and chose Riverdog where she's taken a class. My vet takes her dog there and that seemed a mark in their favor. Another place I looked at had something amiss. What bothered me—though it was closer to home and less cost—was there was only one person to oversee the office and 20 dogs. I know how quickly a fight can break out and if the person was in the office, how quickly could she get to the fight? And wonder if there were two fights or a fight that involved multiple dogs? At Riverdog, there may be 10-15 dogs together with only one person overseeing, but the facility has four rooms and the dogs are matched according to style. If you had a quiet, older dog, for example, it would be in a different room than one with rambunctious puppies. Plus, their office is staffed by people who do not have to oversee the dogs. Multiple staff members mean that multiple people can help if warranted. I liked that.

At the end of our first visit (four hours), they gave me a little report card. Too cute! On the back they wrote: "A little shy and unsure at first, but came around after a while. Good ball player!" That's my girl—four paws up!