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A Puppy’s Life Part 2: A Day at Dog Daycare

A Puppy’s Life Part 2: A Day at Dog Daycare

November 07, 2013 by Damian Davis
Categories: New Dog,Behavior,Training

Now that you know what the morning in the life of Turbo is like, I want to walk you through a typical day at Creative Dog Training while participating in Intensive Daycare. If you missed Turbo’s morning, you can read that here: A Morning in the Life of Chaos - A Puppy's Life

After the kids and dog say goobye and the little tornadoes depart to school, things calm down for a minute. Turbo chills out in his kennel (3rd Rule of Housetraining) while I shuffle around the h ouse preparing to leave. I pack up Turbo’s lunch and head off to daycare with him. Turbo loads up in his place in passenger seat of the truck. I give him a reminder to 'Settle Down' (he is great in the truck) and we head out.

When we arrive, we are greeted with a smiling face and a cheery “Good morning!” I pass Turbo and his lunch off to Calvin, our Facility Manager in Cahaba Heights as well as a Lead Instructor and Lead Trainer, and have a quick conversation about the behaviors to work on for the day. I watch as Calvin takes Turbo down to start his playing and learning. I head off to work knowing his day will be much better spent there than at home in his kennel wondering where his family went. Intensive Daycare promises me a tired Turbo at the end of the day, which is awesome with a working family and three kids.

Later that morning I click Facebook open on my phone and see a picture of Turbo learning how to get in and out of a pink leather carry bag (my wife’s idea). I’m sure she gets a chuckle out of thinking of me toting Turbo around in that bag hanging off my shoulder. (At least I drive a truck, does that balance out?)

Turbo spends his day socializing and making friends with pups his size during his three supervised play sessions. These shorter sessions are great for many reasons, let me share why we believe so:

  1. They use the dogs natural energy cycles of activity and rest to expel energy without teaching the dogs to be over-active all day, which can cause more harm than good.

  2. When a group of dogs are together for more than an hour or so, they will start to pick rank and work on forming a pack. This picking rank can cause scuffles between dogs that normally are very social.

  3. Once a pack has been formed, if you introduce a new dog, that dog will have to be "worked into" the pack. Meaning he will be picked on by everyone trying to figure out where he fits into the group. This is why Turbo (and all dogs) goes into play groups with a few new dogs in each group, so he has to stay social and learn to deal with new situations easier.

  4. The other pups are much better than humans are at teaching young Turbo how to use his mouth and feet, plus what is and isn’t acceptable during play interaction. This wouldn't be possible in longer groups where a pack was already formed, everyone would know there place, and wouldn't make the effort to "get to know each other". Plus, if the other pups fail in their teaching we have a wonderful play and training staff that interacts and makes sure we get a positive group experience for every dog.

In between his social times, he gets to recoup in his kennel, awaiting Andrea (the Lead Trainer in Cahaba Heights) to come and get him for his training sessions. He gets really excited when Andrea stops in front of his kennel to retrieve him for training. After a quick potty break outside (house training is re-enforced during their stay) she takes him upstairs to the lobby so he can greet people and work on his commands with heavy distraction, which is great because he lives in heavy distractions.

She gets him started with a short 'Settle Down' to focus his head on training, then moves to handling. Handling is very useful to a any dog (not just puppies), it includes opening their mouths, gently grabbing their feet, looking in their ears and eyes, etc. These are all things that would happen during a vet visit, bath & grooming, or just in everyday life (especially if you have kids). She takes him in the exam room and places him on the table to work on “stacking” (his show dog training). When they are done there, she leads him back downstairs, reinforcing 'Loose Leash Walking' and 'Wait' when they come to doorways. Training session done, he will have more throughout the day.


My wife, Brandy, picks up the kids and Turbo at the end of the day. When she arrives to pick him up, he is playing in the pool. Turbo is dried off and brought to Brandy with his pink bag and his report card for the day. Calvin reminds Brandy to check the website for photos. We've learned that since you guys don't get to participate in their play and training throughout the day, the report card and pictures are the most valuable way to connect the owner with what happens with their pup during the day.

Intensive daycare done. Hopefully Turbo is good and tired and had his little mind expanded a bit. We don’t expect miracles after one day, but the daily progress we get is always nice to see.

Turbo edition #3 will be about our nighttime routine - how we try to keep up with the hard work that was done at daycare!

Check out these additional resources:

Program Info:

Intensive Daycare

Podcasts:

Accepting Handling and Gentle Restraint, Part 1

Accepting Handling and Gentle Restraint, Part 2

Respect Series - Settle Down

Picking a Trainer Part 1: Your Goals

The Absolute Importance of Puppy Class

Picking a Dog Daycare

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