After my sweetest most perfect female lab passed, I adopted another Lab from the same breeder, only a male. Well, thank god for Happy Tails! The staff was very savvy when handling my dog, which along with the other five or so male Lab puppies would hump each other as unneutered male labs do. However, when my dog bothered a dog that did not want to participate, the staff put him in a time out. My dog had plenty of time outs. HT's knew the difference between an 'aggressive dog" and a dominating unneutered male Lab puppy. Once my dog was neutered, the humping stopped but he still has a dominant personality.
As a matter of fact, it appears that my dog is the yellow lab with the red collar pictured as what anonymous A.W. "trainer" posted as dominating . Because my dog was a 'nuisance" as a puppy, I spent a lot of time observing him (and the other dogs) at Happy Tails. Unlike my perfect but submissive black female Lab, my boy Desmond seeks out other dominators and seems to leave truly submissive dogs alone. I've even seen small dogs 'bark" at him and he cowers. As a trainer, I can't imagine how A.W. doesn't recognize pack behavior, where dominators seek other dominators. It's a fact of canine life!
As far poster Eric who's dog consumed a rope, I wonder if Eric had informed the HT' staff of the dog's propensities. My female black lab was perfect except for her 'craving" for socks, rope, undergarments and chunks of our wooden fence. My vet told me my girl may grow out of it, but many labs do not- -"they should have zippers." Fortunately black lab did give up consuming everything but goose and rabbit poop.
Eric, I can't imagine how any group care could have prevented my dear black Lab from consuming because she could wolf down a pair of soccer socks in a few seconds, when I was home and a few feet away from her. Given my girl's puppy proclivities (up to age 2), I probably would not have ever put her in-group care. I certainly would not blame the doggie day care for her proclivities.
Our experience has been only positive at Happy Tails and I was able to separate my ego from my puppy's nuisance behavior that the Happy Tails' staff reported to me. The important issue is that the staff recognizes 'aggressive" or problem behavior and can differentiate it from simple dominating 'play' pack behavior. I was never insulted when my dog was put in a time out for humping and eventually, after neutering and repeated time outs, the behavior was eliminated.
One other benefit of HT's pool (especially for the Labs with the floppy ears) is the pool keeps the dogs clean. I've spent hundreds of dollars at the vet for moldy lab ears before I found Happy Tails. Even though we always used ear wash after swimming, my regular swimmer Labs had regular moldy ears. No more with Happy Tails.
There's something fishy about Y'jaida's review... she says she loves Muddy Paws for her dog, but then brings her dog to Happy Tails and writes a scathing review which focuses on "Jana's business" more than specifics about her experience there. read more