We remember the nervous and shy dogs that started out with us. And the feelings of happiness and pride to see them become happy and confidence, it can sometimes be quite overwhelming. Shep, the tri-colour collie, always sticks in my mind, I remember his first day. I picked him up and gave him a kiss. I promised him he would be well looked after, and of course he was, he’s now a super confident young man, who loves day care so much. Even now, months on, when I come in to start my shift, he runs to me to get his mandatory kiss and cuddle! There are many more just like Shep who we’ve had the pleasure to work with in day care.

When the dogs or owners go on their holidays, we miss them dearly and we have a huge void waiting on their return. It’s always great to get huge hugs and kisses from them when they come home (to day care that is). Zach, the day care character, always shows us how much he misses us when he is away, he runs in to tell us all about his adventures and we are delighted to listen!

When a dog is unwell, we’ve shared tears with each other and with their owners, and wait anxiously for news that all is fine. Of course, it always has been, but that doesn’t stop us worrying. The day care dogs feel like our babies too, and we all know what it’s like when our babies are not well! Every day we carefully monitor each dog and always know when the dog is feeling off. We know them so well, it’s very easy to spot!

When a dog moves away or their owner’s circumstance change, it’s very, very difficult to say goodbye. Over the years, I imagine it will only get harder and harder, it will never get easier. The emotional bond and attachment to each and every dog we care for is very strong. We’ve shared fun, laughter, pride, joy, worry, tears, love, happiness and every single emotion in between. We are lucky to have such great dogs to care for and to enrich our lives.

Lisa and I were almost divorced by our husbands because we planned everything from how many KONG’s to what kind of KONG’s, to KONG recipes right up to getting everyone certified in Canine First Aid, safety and the daily plan for the dogs. In fact we were so excited about the idea that even after we had done the research, made the business plans and found the location we were planning and talking about Daycare while on the plane to our holiday, while on the chair lifts at the ski resort, we spoke in the evenings when dining and on the plane home again! So we can safely say that we thought and planned a lot!

Since January 2009 we have grown and worked together to build what we feel is a great Daycare facility. We are a one of a kind in this country.

I think it is vital that the dogs get the care they need everyday and that they have opportunity to be a dog with other dogs. This means giving them lots of feedback when they play nice or get something right. Activities include whistle recalls, sits for for treats, sit to get in and out of doorways, walking on loose lead outside and of course how to settle and relax.

So what makes us different from other daycares? Well if you log onto the internet and put in the phrase “daycare webcam” you will see webcams of daycares all over the world, mostly the USA and care attendants with water spray cans. The dogs are sprayed for getting too over excited, humping, barking etc. We have a different stance on this. We like to interact with the dogs, play tug, play fetch, sit and rub the dogs, use opportunities to create good feeling and nice place for the dogs to be. We have tunnels and throw toys. We do collar touches with food. We reward dogs when they are called off other dogs or toys.

We do not integrate aggressive dogs into our daycare as this would be too dangerous but we do allow shy, fearful or dogs lacking socialisation into daycare post assessment. This is where it gets VERY rewarding. We have had a number of dogs who have successfully been introduced to daycare who were afraid, shy or had other issues. Their owners report improvements on a daily basis and both the dogs lives and owners lives at home are so much easier. This is really what it is all about. And we are careful not to fix one problem only to create other problems. We take a holisitic approach to Daycare.

We have 2-3 hours sleep and rest time during the day. This is so that the dogs can learn to settle and they don’t simply get fitter and fitter and addicted to daycare as this would be unfair to the dogs and the owners. We do not tolerate bully behaviour and punishment is always in the form of loss of reward or a “too bad” and into bed. Some dogs can be resourcers and we work with them always swapping and lowering the value of items making it worth their while to give them up.

The dogs that come to us fall into several categories:

Home Alone Dogs: Dogs who would be alone in a garden or home during the day for more than 8 hours at a time. Many were stone eaters or destructive before they came here.

Puppies: Speaks for itself.

Shy Dogs: Shy of people or other dogs. Controlled interactions, confidence building and increasing coping ability are focused on.

Just to play: Dogs come just to play and be dogs with other dogs. It’s great for them and during play they learn a lot.

We love our jobs and enjoy the time spent with each dog. There are some characters here like little Charlie Power who is a Dachshund x Jack Russell, Bailey the Labrador who has gone from overweight to healthy weight range from his Daycare activities, Jake the GSP who was so afraid at the start and who can now walk out with his owners and he has learnt to play, Toby the little Cavalier cross who was very afraid and difficult to walk and the puppies who need all the cuddles they can get!

If your dog comes to Daycare with us please send us a little note explaining what you feel were the benefits and we will post it to our website.

Firstly, I want to put Daycare in Ireland in context. Up until now Daycare of the kind that is seen in the U.S. did not exist here. Yes there were some kennels offering a “daycare” service but ours is the very first of it’s kind in the country. The economy however has joined ranks with the rest of the world and has plummeted into the depths of a recession. In under a year predictions are that we will go from almost full employment to an unemployment rate of almost 10%. The financial times are scary to say the least.

But thankfully due to the fact we had such a large client base from our training classes we really hit the ground running with bookings averaging between 15 – 20 dogs per day. Our location is also key, we are placed in a new business park that sits in the biggest zone of business parks in Dublin with companies like IBM, XEROX and Ebay to name but a few as residents. Amazingly we have yet to formally advertise. A couple of emails out to our mailing list and a new page on our website was all that was needed. Additional bookings are coming through word of mouth and the rate of growth and new clients over the last couple of weeks is staggering, we now have over 60 dogs on our books. Getting the price right was key and a bargain price of 15euro per day seems to be appealing to people. This is certainly a service that people were crying out for.

For clients a by-product of placing their beloved pet into daycare is the amount of socialisation they receive. All of our clients are reporting that their dogs are easier to manage on walks and don’t get “over excited” when they see another dog across the street. This is something that of course no amount of “training” would sort out for a client and it is quite simply the fastest way to build a dog’s confidence and social skills.

Clients are reporting general overall improvements in their dog’s behaviour due to the way we interact and deal with the dogs. Certain in-appropriate behaviour results in a short “Time out”. Polite and appropriate behaviours are encouraged and re-enforced. Formal training and learning games form part of the dog’s daily routine. The dog’s go home exercised both mentally and physically.

Another unforeseen advantage for clients is that their dog’s wellbeing is constantly monitored. We have had a dog poop out an ipod cover, another pooped a slug and one pee’d a small amount of blood. We were able to report all of these things to the clients and advise a vet visit. All of these things would probably have been missed if the dogs had been in the back garden while their owner was at work.

So while we have had many people laugh or snigger at the mention of Daycare for Dogs here in Ireland, it’s a business that is set to flourish and the benefits for both dogs, their owners and society in general are immeasurable.

Some video’s of the dogs
Zak & Morpheous Playing Tug and Bailey and Chloe playing
Zak and Morpheous Playing
Sammy playing
Maeve and Laura doing Agility with ALL the dogs!!!