9 years, 6 months ago-
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Hello Blog Paws Community! My name is Lisa and I’m excited to have found this community. I’m in the process of opening up a doggy day care business and I’m hoping that I could leverage the power of this group as a mini advisory board when it comes to gaining some insights into what people want from a doggy day care service! In exchange for great offers once I’m open, of course! I’m a pet owner myself – 3 dogs, 2 cats – but I’m just one person! I’m in the Philly suburbs of PA so I hope to find some local folks as well as people further away who might have different perspectives and experiences based on their own markets.
I look forward to participating in your community activities!
Best,
Lisa
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Hey Lisa, good to have you here. You sound like a wonderful pet parent – and we celebrate pets around here!
I am in NE Pa and about 2 hours or so from Philly, but I know the area.
You can also join our Tuesday night Twitter chats that go from 8 to 10 pm est and get involved there, too.
Here are some more things you can do to maximize your BlogPaws Community experience: Newbies info
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this is great thank you so much! I’m sorry that there is a delay in my replying- my “day job” keeps me pretty busy and of course I’m spending a decent chunk of my off-hours keeping balls moving on Love My Doggy Day Care, so it was a couple of days before I got back here- I missed the tweet chat Tuesday night but I will try to check it out next week! Thanks again! Dog People Rule 🙂
Carol Bryant said:Hey Lisa, good to have you here. You sound like a wonderful pet parent – and we celebrate pets around here!
I am in NE Pa and about 2 hours or so from Philly, but I know the area.
You can also join our Tuesday night Twitter chats that go from 8 to 10 pm est and get involved there, too.
Here are some more things you can do to maximize your BlogPaws Community experience: Newbies info
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There are several sources out there that I’ve found, and many existing doggy day cares have their forms online so it’s not hard to good a look at the most common things to include. If you’d like, email me at info@lovemydoggydaycare.com and I can send you a draft of the intake form I’m working on.
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I’ve used a half dozen doggie daycare facilities and researched even more in my quest to find the right ones. I can’t offer any experience from the back-end but can share any experiences I’ve had or reasons why I have or haven’t chosen to work with a particular facility. Looking forward to hearing parts of your journey!
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thank you so much, that’s great! What area are you in? I’ve visited about 30 in my research and there really are clear differences! I have an idea of a few aspects I am planning for my business that I believe will be differentiating, but I’d like to pull together a “discussion guide” to try and vet with other pet owners what would truly be compelling. I am looking forward to your feedback! I have lots of balls in the air, it’s quite a process, but very exciting!
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Please share what you liked and didn’t like about the different facilities.
BoingyDog said:I’ve used a half dozen doggie daycare facilities and researched even more in my quest to find the right ones. I can’t offer any experience from the back-end but can share any experiences I’ve had or reasons why I have or haven’t chosen to work with a particular facility. Looking forward to hearing parts of your journey!
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thanks Lisa! Where is the DDC you work at? Do you love it? 🙂
Dr. Anna M. Coffin said:Please share, if possible.
Lisa Bregant said:Hi Lisa!
How exciting! I work in a doggy daycare and have dreamed of opening my own. Working in one has given me a lot of idea on what I would/would not do.
Good luck and I look forward to keeping up with your progress.
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It’s in St. Louis, Mo. I DO love it! The interaction with the dogs, watching their behavior and play, it’s so much fun and fascinating to me.
What I would do differently if it were MY business: I would make sure to provide training to staff to recognize body language, know how to intervene in fights, know how to prevent fights, encourage positive play and know when it’s time to take a break, etc..
I could go on and on.
Lisa said:
thanks Lisa! Where is the DDC you work at? Do you love it? 🙂
Dr. Anna M. Coffin said:Please share, if possible.
Lisa Bregant said:Hi Lisa!
How exciting! I work in a doggy daycare and have dreamed of opening my own. Working in one has given me a lot of idea on what I would/would not do.
Good luck and I look forward to keeping up with your progress.
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that’s great advice and I love hearing it because it confirms for me something I’m already planning! I couldn’t agree more that it’s important to train the staff that works with the dogs every day to understand pack behavior and mentality. I’m actually planning on doing a “train the traininer” program for this. Thank you so much for sharing that. I’m glad to hear you love working with dogs – as I’m preparing to transiton to the dog day care business I keep thinking it’s going to be my dream job! thank you again
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I take my dog to doggy day care and he absolutely loves it. I work long hours so it’s definitely not fair to leave him home alone all day and he is very social with other dogs. And, since he’s a rescue who was abused, it has helped him become more comfortable with strangers.
That said, the reason I chose the daycare I did was because the woman who owns it has training in dog body language, as well as they have the options of playing inside and outside. Also, since I work from 7:30-6 during the week, they have my hours.
Most doggy daycares I looked at only had the traditional 7:30-5:30 hours. The one where I take my dog has 6:30-8:30. This means I don’t have to rush out of the office if I need to stay a few minutes late. And they also provide boarding.
Also, I like that the staff never yell at the dogs and the place provides an observatory deck where you can come and watch the dogs. They also post pictures on Facebook of the dogs during the day so that you can see what a great time they’re having. Makes me jealous I don’t get to play all day! 🙂
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Thank you for this insight Raising Fido! I love the observatory deck idea!! Have you ever boarded your dog there? Most of the places around me do not have overnight staff so it’s something I’d like to get some customer insights into – as a dog owner myself, I am not really comfortable with no overnight supervision of the boarders, so I plan on having someone on duty overnight – but othere doggy day care owners have cautioned me against this for various reasons. If you don’t mind, would you please share your thoughts on this if it is applicable to your situation? thank you again! And of course, congratulations on rescuing a dog with a history of abuse. Two of mine had some bad history as well, and I know first-hand that it requires some extra love and patience!
Raising Fido said:I take my dog to doggy day care and he absolutely loves it. I work long hours so it’s definitely not fair to leave him home alone all day and he is very social with other dogs. And, since he’s a rescue who was abused, it has helped him become more comfortable with strangers.
That said, the reason I chose the daycare I did was because the woman who owns it has training in dog body language, as well as they have the options of playing inside and outside. Also, since I work from 7:30-6 during the week, they have my hours.
Most doggy daycares I looked at only had the traditional 7:30-5:30 hours. The one where I take my dog has 6:30-8:30. This means I don’t have to rush out of the office if I need to stay a few minutes late. And they also provide boarding.
Also, I like that the staff never yell at the dogs and the place provides an observatory deck where you can come and watch the dogs. They also post pictures on Facebook of the dogs during the day so that you can see what a great time they’re having. Makes me jealous I don’t get to play all day! 🙂
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Hi, Lisa,
I have never boarded my dog there, but they do have staff members who spend the night there. I believe they rotate, and since they don’t use crates, the staff member sleeps in the same room with the dogs so that they are under constant supervision. And I do know they feed the dogs separately so as to avoid any type of food aggression.
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Hi, Lisa!
Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving! The website for the doggy daycare I use is:http://petcompanionsinc.com/index.html. They are called Pet Companion Bed & Biscuit. There’s a wealth of information there about how they operate. Also, if you are interested, I wrote a blog post about the process I went through in selecting a doggy daycare, such as things I looked for, questions I asked, my price range, etc. If you want, check it out here.
If you have anymore questions, feel free to ask! 🙂
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by the way, do you mind if I share the link to your blog entry?
thanks again,
L –
Raising Fido said:Hi, Lisa!
Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving! The website for the doggy daycare I use is:http://petcompanionsinc.com/index.html. They are called Pet Companion Bed & Biscuit. There’s a wealth of information there about how they operate. Also, if you are interested, I wrote a blog post about the process I went through in selecting a doggy daycare, such as things I looked for, questions I asked, my price range, etc. If you want, check it out here.
If you have anymore questions, feel free to ask! 🙂
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@I don’t own a Doggie Day Care, but I have used one several times for our 2 pups Missy & Buzz:
http://www.oldetownepetresort.com
I love the following aspects:
1) You can always tour their facility, without having to announce yourself first
2) They require all dogs to be current on their rabies, distemper, and bordetalla vaccines
3) No dogs displaying aggressive behavior are allowed in their facility
4) They have a webcam you can access online & on your smartphone to check in on your pups! Really, really love that feature!
5) They have separate rooms for larger and for smaller doggies
6) The pups get check-out cards with a short summary of their stay (who they played with, how they behaved, if their potty routine was normal, etc.)
7) All dog camp areas also have access to the outdoors, with refreshing dog pools
8) Each dog’s # 1 and # 2 gets mopped up / picked up IMMEDIATELY. You can observe that on their webcam.
9) They offer 1/2 day rates (less than 5 hours) as well as full day rates (5+ hours). You also get a discount if more than 2 dogs go to Day Camp.
10) They provide 1 dog care specialist per 10 dogs, who are all certified in Pet Fist Aid & CPR.
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Welcome! Nice to meet you! I’d love to give whatever advice I can, feel free to contact me through BlogPaws or at txpups3@gmail.com. It looks like your blog is a little outdated, do you need any help with it?
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Hi Lisa,
I hope the DDC business is doing well?!
I’m not sure if you’re still looking for feedback but as a pet parent who has used different facilities, I would like to share what makes a centre stand out from the rest: A walk, or at least an outdoor potty break! At one facility that I’ve used, I had to ask that my pups be taken outside to relieve themselves. Everyone else just used indoor ‘Potty Stations.’
It took us a long tong to break Reese, our long-term puppy mill pup, of the habit of relieving herself wherever, whenever. I was not a fan of the potty stations.
That’s my two cents for what it’s worth. Actually, I guess it would be rounded up to a nickel as we no longer use pennies in Canada : s
All the best,
Sadie
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Sadie,
Thank you so much for your input! I couldn’t agree with you more – I did dozens of competitive site visits and the ones that just let the dogs relieve themselves right in the play areas simply appalled me. People spend all that energy teaching their dogs it’s bad to go inside, and then they are not given a choice at day care! Mine will definitely have outdoor play space! I actually just received my zoning clearance (yay!) and am now working on the next steps to go to settlement on the property. I’m targeting a Summer 2015 opening. It’s been quite a process to get here, but the path is finally lit!
thank you again!
Sarah (Sadie) said:Hi Lisa,
I hope the DDC business is doing well?!
I’m not sure if you’re still looking for feedback but as a pet parent who has used different facilities, I would like to share what makes a centre stand out from the rest: A walk, or at least an outdoor potty break! At one facility that I’ve used, I had to ask that my pups be taken outside to relieve themselves. Everyone else just used indoor ‘Potty Stations.’
It took us a long tong to break Reese, our long-term puppy mill pup, of the habit of relieving herself wherever, whenever. I was not a fan of the potty stations.
That’s my two cents for what it’s worth. Actually, I guess it would be rounded up to a nickel as we no longer use pennies in Canada : s
All the best,
Sadie
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