Doggy Day Care

[Nicole5158]

Yes, it's me again and SURPRISE! I have another question...Daniel and I both have a long commute to work and are unable to come home during lunch to take care of Byron. Thus, we have hired a petsitter to come in for an hour to take him out, feed him, play with him, etc. She also owns a newfoundland and is fantastic, but we are now thinking of introducing him to doggy day care once or twice a week and then having the petsitter come in when he's not at doggy day care. There are two day cares in the area, one is owned by a woman with three newfs and the other is owned by a woman with four berners. My question is whether Byron is too young (he's 16 weeks) right now to introduce him into doggy day care, especially when I know that he will be playing with such large dogs. In the long run, I think it's great that he'll have dogs his size, but for now I'm a little weary. I'm sure the owners would keep them from rough-housing too much, but I just don't want him to get hurt. I keep reading conflicting opinions about when you should enroll a dog in doggy day care. Any suggestions?

 

[kmmand]

I brought Bison to doggy day care five days a week starting when he was three months old. It was a large commercial place, and I had conversations with their management and with our breeder about which "class" Bison should go into - the puppy/small dog class or the big dog class. We finally settled on the big dog class because Bison is so very dominant. He had no problem with the big/adult dogs. He really thought he was "all that" . Consider his temperment and how closely he will be watched.

Kathy

 

[BluwaterNewfs]

I think you have to look at the the amount of supervision Byron will have when playing with the big dogs. I have 4 newfs in my house and when I bring a new pup into my house, they are allowed out in the yard with the big guys with either my hubby or I supervising until we are comfortable that they can hold thier own with the adults. Usually around 4-5 months they are big enough to be the others with us constantly watching. I never leave them out in the yard without checking on them periodically not matter how old they all are.

 

[Jenn]

The only thing mine learned at Doggy Day Care was to go potty anywhere they liked and ruined our potty training.

Maybe if they are older it is easier and won't untrain them.