Pros and Cons of Dog Day Care

Having a safe place for your dog to spend time and socialize while you’re gone during the day helps relieve boredom, but is doggy day camp right for you? While there are important advantages associated with dog day care, there are also some disadvantages all dog owners should consider before making this decision. Keep the following pros and cons in mind when you look into dog day care for your pet.

Advantages of Doggy Day Camp

Day care for dogs provides a number of benefits, as long as it offers a high-quality environment and skilled staff members. These benefits include:

• Flexible schedules: Depending on your work schedule, you can sign your dog up for full days of daycare or half days. You can also arrange for evening day care if that works better with your schedule.
• Exercise: Dog day care facilities with play areas give dogs a chance to run around for hours at a time, which provides them with good exercise.
• Supervision: Dog day care facilities have trained staff available to keep an eye on dogs while they’re playing. This helps prevent behavioral problems from occurring, such as aggression.
• Socialization: Dogs have regular opportunities to spend time with other dogs at day care, which helps them stay mentally stimulated.

Disadvantages of Doggy Day Camp

Dog day care facilities are not ideal for some types of dogs. For example, those who are fearful, those who are hyper and those with certain medical conditions might have trouble adjusting to this type of setting. Other disadvantages of doggy day camp include the following:

• Behavioral problems: Existing behavioral issues, such as jumping on people, might get worse when you send your dog to day care. Keep in mind that some facilities do offer one-on-one training for behavioral problems.
• Injuries and illness: Dogs have a higher risk of getting hurt or becoming sick from being around other dogs.
• Too much excitement: Some dogs become overstimulated when they’re in a dog day care setting. Skilled staff can detect when this happens and prevent dogs from getting too excited.

Tips for Preparing for Long Term Pet Boarding

When you have to go away for an extended period of time, long term pet boarding provides a solution for where to leave your pets. Being gone for weeks at a time can make you feel anxious about the care your pets receive while you’re away, so it’s important to find a great boarding facility for them. This means finding one that offers a safe and clean environment with a play area and highly skilled staff. Once you’ve found a place, you’ll need to prepare for this long stay. Keep the following tips for long term pet boarding in mind while getting ready.

Pack Familiar Items

As long as the boarding facility allows it, pack up your pets’ favorite things, such as toys and a blanket. These objects can provide them with comfort when they’re staying in an unfamiliar place. You can also add a t-shirt of yours for them to snuggle with, since this will leave them with something that has your scent on it. Having this kind of item around can also make your pets feel more at home in their boarding facility.

Schedule a Vet Appointment

If your pets are due for a vet visit, get it out of the way before you leave. This ensures that your pets are free of illnesses or other conditions that could affect their ability to board. It also means that your pets will be up-to-date on all of the vaccinations required by the boarding facility.

Have Enough Food and Medication Available

If you plan on having your dogs eat their own food while you’re gone, make sure you have plenty of it. Their food should last for the entire time you’re gone. If any of your pets need medication, you’ll need to ensure that you have enough to last them during their stay.

Ask About Veterinary Care

If your pets get sick or injured, find out how the boarding facility handles it. Make sure you know where your pets will go for care, and leave contact information with the boarding facility so they can keep you updated.

How to Find the Best Dog Kennel

If you’re not comfortable hiring a pet sitter to stop by or stay at your home while you’re gone, a dog boarding kennel is a great alternative. How do you know which one is the best dog kennel? There are different things to consider when you’re choosing a kennel for your pets. Keep the following in mind in order to find the top kennel in your area.

Cleanliness

You know that living with pets comes with a certain amount of mess, but the best dog kennels provide a clean environment. Look for a place that cleans up accidents and other messes as quickly as possible to prevent the spread of germs. This helps lower the risk of your pets becoming ill during their stay.

Fresh Water

When you take a tour of dog boarding facilities, look for bowls of fresh water. The best facilities ensure that dogs have access to fresh, clean water on a regular basis. If you don’t see water or if you see bowls that look dirty, keep looking for a boarding facility that is better and safer for your pets.

Exercise and Play

Some boarding facilities offer minimal services. Dogs in these places usually stay in their kennels most of the day and only leave for a couple of short walks. The best dog kennel will provide dogs with opportunities to run around and play, which helps them burn off energy and stimulates their minds. This helps keep dogs happy and prevents boredom during their stay.

Friendly, Knowledgeable Staff

The environment and available activities are important factors when choosing a dog kennel, but it’s also crucial to find a place with staff members who are great with dogs. Keep in mind that the top dog kennels have staff members who are friendly, patient and knowledgeable about dogs. They should be able to deal with any issues that occur and help keep dogs happy while they are there.

When you find the best dog kennel, make sure that the dates you need are open. The top kennels tend to get booked fast, so make your reservations early.

4 Factors to Consider When Comparing Local Dog Kennels

When you have to travel while leaving your pets behind, dog boarding kennels offer a place for them to stay. However, you shouldn’t just go with any local kennel. Instead, it’s important to compare local dog kennels to make sure that your pets will be staying in a safe environment while you’re away. When you go over your options, keep the following factors in mind before making your decision.

Options for In-Person Visits

Dog kennels should be willing to let pet owners walk through the facility to see where their pets will be staying. Kennels that don’t allow this might do so in order to hide safety flaws or prevent pet owners from seeing a messy environment. Make sure you’re able to tour the dog kennel you’re considering having your pets stay in. This lets you see how clean and safe the place is before you decide whether or not to have your pets board there.

Vaccination Requirements

Local dog kennels should require certain types of vaccination to be up-to-date. This helps reduce the risk of having dogs become sick during or after their stay. Ask about vaccination requirements, and choose a facility that requires rabies, distemper, bordetella and other vaccines to be current. Places that are strict about their vaccination requirements have your pets’ best interests in mind.

Qualified Staff

Dog kennels should have staff members who are skilled, experienced and qualified to care for dogs of all breeds, sizes and temperaments. Knowing that your pets will be watched by staff members who are good with dogs and have the skills needed to handle certain problems provides you with peace of mind. Keep in mind that some places also have dog trainers available for classes.

Special Requirements

If your pets have special needs, such as a specific diet or medications, it’s important to find a place that can accommodate them. Ask how special requirements are handled by staff members at any local dog kennels you look into. These places should keep a record of when and how these requirements are met and whether or not there were any problems.

4 Tips for Training Aggressive Dogs

When you have a dog that is aggressive, training can become much more of a challenge. However, training is crucial in order to control your dog’s behavior and reduce the risk of someone getting hurt. When you need to work on dog training for aggressive dogs, keep the following tips in mind.

Visit a Vet

Before you begin training a dog with aggression, bring her to the veterinarian’s office for a checkup. Your vet will look for underlying medical problems that could be causing considerable discomfort and aggressive behavior. If medical problems are ruled out, consider turning to a professional for help.

Consider the Type of Aggression

There are different types of aggression that dogs can exhibit, such as aggression based on fear or aggression based on dominance. The type of aggression your dog has will determine the most effective way to handle it. An animal behaviorist can help you figure out what kind your dog has and come up with helpful ways to deal with this behavior.

Get Help From a Professional

Dog training for aggressive dogs isn’t something you might be able to do on your own, especially if your dog has severe behavioral problems. If your dog is hard to handle, look into finding a reliable dog trainer who specializes in working with aggressive dogs. This trainer can help your dog learn to obey commands while you also learn the correct way to teach your dog new commands. Keep in mind that one-on-one sessions rather than group classes are the most suitable training situation for dogs with aggression.

Don’t Punish

While you might think that it’s alright to punish bad behavior when you have an aggressive dog, the opposite is true. Punishing dogs, especially by yelling at them or hitting them, can make them more fearful and aggressive. Instead, focus on using positive training methods for your aggressive dog if you’re training her on your own. This involves rewarding her for good behavior, which helps reinforce it.

Tips for Clicker Training Dogs

Clicker training offers a highly effective way to teach dogs to obey commands. This type of training, which uses positive reinforcement, can be used to help dogs learn a wide range of commands. Keep the following tips in mind when you’re working clicker training dogs.

Use Bite-Sized Treats

Since you’ll be giving your dogs several treats during clicker training sessions, keep them small in size. Break up bits of chicken, or use smaller dog treats as rewards. To get the best results, make sure you choose treats or small pieces of food that your dog loves.

Click at the Right Time

When you’re clicker training dogs, it’s important to get the timing right. Using the clicker helps dogs learn that when they hear a verbal command, they’re expected to behave a certain way. Click while your dog is performing the correct behavior, instead of clicking after he’s done it. Reward him with a treat afterwards as positive reinforcement.

Only Click Once

Don’t use the clicker a number of times when your dog performs the desired behavior. Each time he does so during training, only click once rather than several times. If you want to show enthusiasm, such as when your dog masters a harder command, reward him with more treats instead.

Carry a Clicker Around

Clicking to reward positive behavior on the spot is an important part of clicker training dogs. Have a clicker handy in your pocket, so you can pull it out and click when your dog does something positive, such as greeting someone calmly instead of jumping.

Add a Cue

When your dog knows how to perform a behavior when he hears the clicker, you can add a cue, such as a verbal command or a hand signal. Start using these during clicker training sessions, which helps your dog learn to follow verbal commands or hand signals.

Focus on the Positive

Only click for good behavior, which will end up reducing bad behavior. Don’t use the clicker to distract your dog from doing something he shouldn’t. Instead, wait until he’s doing something good to use the clicker.

4 Commands to Teach Your Dog for Obedience Training

When you start working on obedience training for your dog, there are several different commands you can teach. Some of these are more advanced that you’ll need to wait on, but there are some basic ones that every dog should know. These are some of the most important basic commands you should work on when teaching your dog.

Sit

Teaching dogs to sit is among the most basic commands to include in obedience training. All you have to do in order to teach your dog this command is hold a treat near her nose, then slowly raise your hand. Your dog will naturally follow your hand, which will cause her head to go up and her rear to move toward the floor. When she sits, say the verbal command “sit” and reward her with a treat.

Down

This command is a basic one for dogs to learn, but it might take a little bit more work. For this one, hold a treat in your hand and put it close to your dog’s nose. Move your hand down toward the floor. When your dog follows your hand and lies down, say the “down” command and give her a treat.

Come

The “come” command helps you keep your dog safe in potentially dangerous situations. To teach your dog this command during obedience training, put her leash on and lean down toward her. Say the “come” command and tug on the leash gently. When your dog comes over to you, reward her with a treat. When your dog learns to do this on the leash, you can remove it and try the command without it.

Stay

When your dog learns to sit on command, she’ll be ready to learn the “stay” command. Have your dog sit, then hold your hand up with the palm facing out and say “stay.” Move back a few steps, and give your dog a treat if she doesn’t move. As you train her, keep moving back a few steps more. Keep in mind that your dog might take longer to learn this command.