It's another slow day in terms of brain function and output. I recently saw this article about Doggy Day Care facilities and it makes me laugh as it is simliar to what we had to go through with our Tucker.
I sit. I stay. I fetch. But can I get into doggy day care?
By JOHN HECHINGER
The Wall Street Journal
MARI LAWSON worried that Cousteau, her Great Dane, lacked social skills. So she tried to get him admitted to Urban Tails, a day-care center that encourages dogs to mingle and play.
Lawson could hardly believe the admissions process. She had to fill out a four-page dog personality profile, in which she disclosed that Cousteau barks at the mailman and dislikes bums with shopping carts. She also wrote he has sharing issues. He becomes aggressive with toys and other dogs.
At the start of his interview, Cousteau failed to impress, leaving a puddle on the floor of Urban Tails lobby. And he still awaited the heart of the evaluation: a peer session with other dogs that would test his temperament with sniffs, licks and the occasional roll on the ground.
Im freaking out, said Lawson, a small-business consultant. I feel like were trying to get Cousteau into college here.
More doggy day cares actually are starting to take their cues from Harvard and Yale. They are instituting rigorous admissions standards as they strive to put together classes or play groups of well-behaved animals that dont growl, nip or bite. Day cares, selective and otherwise, are multiplying as more two-career families are unwilling to leave their pets home alone all day. The North American Dog Daycare Association counts 1,100 members in the U.S., up from 100 in 1999. High-end day cares can charge more than $30 a day, or twice the average cost of boarding a dog at a kennel.
Katie Bane has managed Sterling Meadows, a dog day-care and grooming service in Virginia Beach, for three years . When she started, her company cared for two to three dogs a day. Today, she said, it supervises between five and 20 dogs a day.
People are treating the dogs more and more like family members, Bane said.
Unlike kennels, which tend to keep dogs in solitary confinement most of the time, day cares promote mixing on lawns or in big playrooms because it enriches their social lives. Of course, that freedom can lead to mayhem if the dogs arent carefully screened.
When she started a day care in Camarillo, Calif., last year, Judy Arnold had open admissions for neighborhood pets until vicious fights started breaking out.
One minute, youre admiring the dogs, the next minute, you have one dog down, she said. All you see is fur flying. Now, only half of all applicants get into Judys Paw Spa.
As more of these operations take the selective route, pet owners are starting to feel the sting of rejection.
Its like not getting into the right preschool, said Judy Scholhamer, owner of Rookie, a springer spaniel spurned by Miss Daisys Dog Camp in Tomball, Texas, after she ran over other dogs during her interview.
Breeds can count for a lot. At some selective centers such as Mile High Mutts in Denver, pit bulls are canis non gratus, while well-trained Labrador retrievers are likely to sail through the admissions process like football stars with perfect SAT scores.
Few tout their selectivity more than Dog Day Afternoons Country Day Prep in Boston, which declares it caters to New Englands canine smart set. The day care says it turns down half the dogs interviewed for its 35 slots. Dog Day requires two letters of reference from a trainer, camp counselor, vet or family friend, as well as a seven- page application and interview.
The only requirement at Sterling Meadows is proof of vaccination.
We just figure out what play group they would be best with, Bane said. And it is based on size and temperament. If he wont get along with any of the play groups, then the dog will play alone until it is able to be in one of the groups.
The dog day care at the Owl Creek Veterinary Hospital and Pet Hotel in Virginia Beach tends not to turn away clients either, said Steve Brooks, the hospital administrator.
If a dog has aggression issues, then we offer training.
Most state kennel rules dont allow boarding unrelated dogs together without cages, but the rules usually apply only to overnight stays. Last year, Iowa required that day cares keep no more than 15 dogs in a play group and that they have some kind of screening. Illinois is considering rules, too. To head off worries about day care and to pre-empt more government regulation, the American Boarding Kennels Association is drawing up voluntary accreditation standards for day cares.
Houston has become the center of the effort, led by Susan Briggs, co-owner of Urban Tails, the day care vetting Cousteau, the Great Dane. A draft proposal by Briggs recommends a formal dog acceptance policy that includes temperament testing/evaluation that screens for inappropriate behavior, aggression and general appropriateness for daycare. She also favors a dog profile like the one she obtains from each owner, including sections on dog personality and training.
There are no grades or standardized tests. So watching dogs interact with their peers remains key.
During his peer session, Cousteau met Zeb, a Rottweiler- bloodhound mix. At first, Cousteau, who weighs 165 pounds and stands 6 feet 4 inches tall on his hind legs, tried to mount Zeb, and the two dogs had to be pulled apart. Then Cousteau unfurled a tongue the size of a hand towel and gave Zeb a few licks in unmentionable places, a sign of friendliness among dogs.
The verdict: Cousteau was in.
* Staff writer Ibram Rogers contributed to this report.
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