In the last year, I have moved from a fairly spacious suburban home to a smaller apartment, while concurrently taking a job that demands a more significant time commitment.
*Enters Dog Parent Guilt*
My older dog, Xavier is 11 and pretty indifferent to things that don't involve evacuating bowels, eating, sleeping 20 hours a day, and being incessantly loved on.
XE, however.....special window-licking rambunctious girl that she is.....she needs an outlet for her energy, and she's not really the type of dog to be in a dog park, or be off-leash, or come when called, or listen in general. Probably my fault, but if she was a human child, she'd be the sort that would live at home with mom forever. We know this.
I searched around Yelp to see if there were any doggie daycares in my new neighborhood that seemed like a good fit for XE. She had never been to one, but she was pretty good with other dogs, and I figured a big pack of them would burn her out and help her with her yet-to-be-seen-doggie-socialization-"skills."
I scheduled XE for an evaluation to see if they would even accept her into daycare. I was nervous that they wouldn't, especially since she's a super vocal (borderline mouthy) pittie mix. She got a B+ on her evaluation, but it's not failing, so I'll take it!
The staff is all friendly, and helpful and they genuinely love dogs. They GET dogs. Nothing is more gratifying as a dog parent than to have a relative stranger demonstrate that they understand the personality nuances of your canine child, and that they share your affections for them. Understanding XE (and loving her various idiosyncrasies) means that you've spent time with her, and that's important. I don't want my girl dumped into a pen with 20 other dogs and left to ditch school, get pregnant and start a gang. I'm not raising a latchkey kid here. :) (Please continue to enjoy the "Psycho Dog Mom" chat....while I go on anthropomorphizing my dog.)
(It should be noted that there is a person in the pen with the dogs at ALL times. So, if anything goes awry, they're in very close proximity to address the issue. Things seem to mostly go smoothly, so the bulk of the time the staff spends in the main pen seems to be about petting the dogs.....and, frankly, I'm a fan of that.)
As time has passed, I've noticed that XE is better at interacting with other dogs (and people) outside of the daycare environment. The staff is constantly giving me updates about her behavior at daycare, and which dogs she played with, and if she napped, etc. It warms a part of me in such a way that I can't follow my usual Yelp suit of being cynical and ranty.
When I pick her up, she's so tired that she usually can't stay awake for the 2 mile drive home. A tired dog, makes a happy mom- -let me just tell you.
Speaking of happy, when I load XE into the car and drive her to Fetch....the second she figures out where we're going (it takes a while....she's a simple creature)....she starts coming unhinged with excitement, which is how I know I've selected a good place.
I see some Yelp reviews of people complaining about a urine smell, etc. Well....here's the deal......it's a freakin' doggie daycare. The dogs are inside, and there's an allocated area for them to urinate, but it seems like kind of a given that there might be a urine smell. Here's a thought, chuck Fluffy in the bathtub when you get home. Problem solved. You can also pay them something nominal to bathe your dog....$15, I think.
I've also had both of my dogs boarded here on several occasions (recently for 2 weeks), and they both love it. They are excited to go, and they don't look they've been in an internment camp when I pick them up.
And the prices are reasonable, People! $17 for a half-day of daycare, $25 for a full day. Discounts if you purchase in bulk. I can't quote the boarding prices off the top of my head, but they're about $35/day for both dogs, they board them together, feed them separately, and they take them for walks, play ball, and put XE in daycare when she starts driving Xavier crazy. The daycare is $10 extra if you're all ready boarding.
The first time I boarded them, they called me to let me know that Xavier wasn't really eating, and asked my permission to make his food a bit more enticing. Awesome!
Traveling is stressful. Traveling and worrying that your dogs aren't being cared for in a capacity you would deem acceptable is ulcer-inducing. I'm glad I can worry about travel exclusively, and rest easy that my dog kiddies are loving life when I'm gone.
If you board your dogs for more than 5 days, a bath and nail-trim is complimentary. That doesn't suck.
The one point of frustration for a lot of people, is that the staff at Fetch isn't always able to get to the phone or email. My advice is, be persistent. Leave a thoughtful voice mail. The reason they aren't answering the phone is because they're taking awesome care of your dog. Feel comfort in that. read more