Leaving your pup home alone while you work is a thing of the past. Some lucky pet owners can take their pets to work with them, but for the rest of us unlucky parents there is a new option, doggie daycare! From Australia to the United Kingdom and even South Africa, all over the world doggie daycares are popping up in vast numbers.
“People see their dogs as important members of the family,” explains Cheryl Caswell, owner of It’s a Dog’s Life daycare in Toronto, Canada. “They shouldn’t be left home alone all the time. The daycare gets the dogs out of the house. It keeps them active and relieves their boredom. I think it also relieves some of the guilt of leaving them behind.”
It’s a Dog’s Life, as with most doggie daycares, offers a variety of services for your pet including walking, training, and even a taxi service. So on days when you just can’t get out of the office in time to pick up Sparky from daycare the staff can do it for you. Most importantly daycare offers an alternative to leaving your pets cooped up in the house all day.
Boredom can be very frustrating for your dog and it will manifest itself in destructive behaviors like chewing on your brand new suede couch or terrorizing the mailman. Daycare gives your pet a chance to work out excess energy in a positive way through training, play and walks. It gives pets with working parents the interaction they need to live healthy, active lives.
“Dogs are no longer looked at as something that you put in your backyard,” explains Dan Rubenstein founder of The Paw Stop, Manhattan’s new state-of-the-art doggie daycare. “Do you think that anyone would have even considered a Dog Daycare or a Spa Day for their dog 25 years ago? Yet, in today’s day and age these are perfectly acceptable services and in many cases quite needed.”
Pet parents only want the best for their dogs, so every aspect of dog daycares like The Paw Stop from the building design to the staff is created with your pet in mind. Through years of working in the pet industry Rubenstein has come to understand the needs of his pet clients. When designing The Paw Stop’s playrooms he chose a durable rubber flooring to ease strain on the dog’s joints as it romps and wrestles with other dogs. He also had an air-ventilation system installed designed specially to move stale air out and provide fresh air to pets and customers keeping your dog healthy and the air smelling fresh.
“We are dealing with our customers’ family and therefore we have made it our number 1 goal to do everything we possibly can to insure that they are safe when staying with us,” explains Rubenstein.
To make sure he could reach this goal Rubenstein wired his facility with security in mind. Everything can be controlled remotely even the doors to the daycare playrooms. It is monitored by 10 security cameras, some of which double as web cams on The Paw Stop website so parents can keep an eye on their pups even when they can’t be with them. The technology isn’t just for the humans though, The Paw Stop, as with many dog daycares, has a stereo system and plasma TV’s that play Animal Planet.
There is simply too much to do at daycare for any dog to get bored, but if on the off chance a doggie client does get to twiddling his paws there is a staff of expertly trained handlers to chase and play with.
The pet industry is growing to meet the love people have for their animals. As the needs of pet parents change so will the services offered to them. Doggie daycare is just part of that change. Pets offer their parents unconditional love and affection it’s no wonder their parents want the best for them.
Leila Wheeler
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