For those of us who own dogs, no sacrifice is too great. Known as “man’s best friend” due to the loyalty and love they give their owners, a dog can be a special member of any family. However, since most of us have to go to work or school several days per week, our dogs find themselves left at home alone. As a result, they may find themselves getting scared, depressed, or simply bored with no one around. To solve this problem, you can enroll your canine family member in what is referred to as doggie daycare. While still a relatively new concept, it is quickly growing in popularity with dog owners everywhere. If this sounds intriguing to you and your four-legged friend, here are six vital reasons to use a doggie daycare.
Great for Socialization
When you place your dog in a doggie daycare, one of the best benefits will be opportunities for socialization. Rather than being left home alone, your dog will instead have an opportunity to mingle with other dogs and friendly, experienced people caring for them during the course of the day. As a result, your dog will become much more comfortable around new dogs and new people.
Opportunity to Play
If there is one thing dogs love to do, it’s playing. By being enrolled in doggie daycare, they can do just that. Since most of these facilities offer open-play environments, they can be in groups with other dogs that are close in size and temperament, helping to put them at ease and keep them safe. Along with this, most playrooms are climate-controlled, ensuring your dog will be comfortable all day long.
Doggie Training Classes
If your dog maybe needs a bit more training in obedience and other related matters, many doggie daycare facilities offer this service as well. By doing so, they can provide training that is additional to training you may be doing at home. By getting this extra benefit at your doggie daycare setting, chances are your dog will have its good behavior reinforced throughout the day, making them very well-behaved once they get back home.
More Exercise
While dogs will have plenty of chances to play while in doggie daycare, most of the activities are specifically designed to give your dog more exercise, helping it stay as healthy and happy as possible. Often rotating between indoor and outdoor activities, dogs in these situations can be engaged in such activities as ball chasing, tunnel running, and other fun games. And just like daycare for children, doggie daycare facilities also have time in their schedules each day for your furry family member to take a nap to regain their strength.
Supervised Monitoring
When you leave your dog at home alone, there is always a lingering thought in your mind hoping everything is okay. Unfortunately, even if you are extremely careful at home, accidents can happen from time to time, sometimes with tragic consequences. Rather than worry about the health and well-being of your furry best friend, having them enrolled in doggie daycare will provide supervised monitoring throughout the day. By doing so, not only will your dog be happy, but you can go about your daily duties knowing Fido is fine.
No More Guilt
Perhaps more than anything, enrolling your dog in doggie daycare will alleviate much of the guilt that accompanies leaving your best friend behind as you go to work or school. By knowing your dog is spending its day eating, playing, and making plenty of new friends with its fellow classmates, you can feel much better about giving your dog everything it needs and deserves. And best of all, with technology making its way into doggie daycare facilities, many offer webcams. By doing so, whenever you get a twinge of guilt or worry, you can pull out your smartphone and see for yourself just how much fun your dog is having.
These reasons, along with having trained staff on hand to care for them, make doggie daycare a great option for anyone who considers their dog a true member of the family.
