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Wheats
Sep 28, 2007

strange sisters

Azrael Alexander posted:


The pup was sired by the big blue potato, of course.

lmao a dog that looked like that male came into my shelter once, I just sat in his run laughing every time he looked at me and asking him "what is your purpose", he could not answer.

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Shifty Pony
Dec 28, 2004

Up ta somethin'


Cats, the pet with class, poise, and dignity... supposedly:



But their toes do look like beans :3:




Those dogs on the stream sure are something. I like to think the judge isn't checking gait so much as making sure they can actually waddle on their own power.

Ishkibibble_Fish
Feb 14, 2008

BananaHam:
1 part treefruit
1 part mud ungulate

Aquatic Giraffe posted:


I think you'd have to put forth actual effort to get a puppy to hate you.

Let me tell you about Lewis.


Lewis is a Shar Pei pup at my daycare that hates any and all strangers, and it took me about 3 weeks to get him to accept me. This started at 12 weeks old, when they first started bringing him. I know Shar Peis are supposed to be aloof, but I feel like puppies should not bark and shake in a corner because OMG THERE IS A PERSON. It's the owner's first dog and they paid more than a grand for him, are not enrolling him in even basic training, and are not listening to our socializing (with people) suggestions. I told the woman that his level of fear behavior can turn into bites pretty quickly when he matures (if they don't work on it), but she is not receptive to any advice. She's an idiot, and I'm pretty sure they bought him because of ~wrinkles~ and knew nothing about the breed (or dogs) beforehand.

He's like 6 months now, and is a great dog with other dogs and with people he knows/ accepts (which is probably 8 people in the world, myself included), but he growls and snaps at strangers, and it's just getting worse as we predicted. Oh yea, and they let him run off leash all the time.

Here he is (right) with his best friends (the Orange Dog Society):


Bonus play shot:


Sorry, I have been wanting to rant about his owners for a long time now.

Someone should make a doggie daycare rant/rage thread- I think there are a few of us here that work at them!

Ishkibibble_Fish fucked around with this message at 03:29 on Nov 4, 2012

Shebrew
Jul 12, 2006

Is it a party?

Aquatic Giraffe posted:


I think you'd have to put forth actual effort to get a puppy to hate you.

I bet it involves lots of stupid outfits, trying to shove him in purses, alpha rolling, and rubbing his nose in accidents.

Skizzles
Feb 21, 2009

Live, Laugh, Love,
Poop in a box.

Ishkibibble_Fish posted:

Someone should make a doggie daycare rant/rage thread- I think there are a few of us here that work at them!

I would be all over this. :stare: We're about to get a day training program up and running and they want me to be the trainer for it. But first they want me to sit in on some of the classes (there's... kind of some stupid unspoken drama where the snobby trainer in charge of the day training program doesn't think much of my mentor as a trainer or the other trainer I work with and wants me to see more methods first before I begin). But I can't wait to get that poo poo started because daycare is going to drive me up a wall. Working at a pet resort in general is kind of exhausting to me. I prefer the shelter environment.

Supercondescending
Jul 4, 2007

ok frankies now lets get in formation

Ishkibibble_Fish posted:

Let me tell you about Lewis.


Lewis is a Shar Pei pup at my daycare that hates any and all strangers, and it took me about 3 weeks to get him to accept me. This started at 12 weeks old, when they first started bringing him. I know Shar Peis are supposed to be aloof, but I feel like puppies should not bark and shake in a corner because OMG THERE IS A PERSON. It's the owner's first dog and they paid more than a grand for him, are not enrolling him in even basic training, and are not listening to our socializing (with people) suggestions. I told the woman that his level of fear behavior can turn into bites pretty quickly when he matures (if they don't work on it), but she is not receptive to any advice. She's an idiot, and I'm pretty sure they bought him because of ~wrinkles~ and knew nothing about the breed (or dogs) beforehand.

He's like 6 months now, and is a great dog with other dogs and with people he knows/ accepts (which is probably 8 people in the world, myself included), but he growls and snaps at strangers, and it's just getting worse as we predicted. Oh yea, and they let him run off leash all the time.

Here he is (right) with his best friends (the Orange Dog Society):


Bonus play shot:


Sorry, I have been wanting to rant about his owners for a long time now.

Someone should make a doggie daycare rant/rage thread- I think there are a few of us here that work at them!

Can I ask why dog day cares allow pit bulls and what the reasoning behind it is because that seems like the hugest liability imaginable

Skizzles
Feb 21, 2009

Live, Laugh, Love,
Poop in a box.
Super, they're just like any other dog, they can be great with other dogs if you raise them properly. Geez.

Supercondescending
Jul 4, 2007

ok frankies now lets get in formation
Like i see them in every picture of dog daycare ever and it just makes me nervous as all heck and I always wonder how it plays out irl

Pile of Kittens
Apr 23, 2005

Why does everything STILL smell like pussy?

The construction on the big house I live in has caused the drywall to crack in a few of the upstairs room. The other day, I was introduced to the redneck that's doing our patching. He seemed nice enough, kind of cute, good sense of humor.... but then he said he was trying to get out of the construction business by breeding bulldogs.

I'll try and get his website address from him so we can have a good giggle.

Lladre
Jun 28, 2011


Soiled Meat
Even though this guy was ugly as sin I still took him home from the store.



And have regretted it ever since.

Supercondescending
Jul 4, 2007

ok frankies now lets get in formation
YEah I'd regret it too. Most stores have return policies, maybe look into that.

Instant Jellyfish
Jul 3, 2007

Actually not a fish.



Superconsndar posted:

Can I ask why dog day cares allow pit bulls and what the reasoning behind it is because that seems like the hugest liability imaginable

The daycare I used to work at didn't allow pits/pit mixes by corporate orders but my boss didn't know anything about dog breeds so unless the owners specifically said their dog was a pit he let them in if they passed the super brief meet and greet evaluation. There was a giant pitty mix, I mean "great dane/english bull terrier mix", that was only about 8 months and drove every other dog nuts by trying to get them to start poo poo with him. Because he wasn't actively getting in fights yet my boss didn't tell the owners to stop bringing him despite me voicing my concerns.

I didn't stay there long but I've wondered on and off about what happened to that dog when he reached a year or two old. He was probably 70 lbs and sweet as could be to people but I can imagine him being seriously dangerous in a group of dogs with incompetent people supervising.

Skizzles
Feb 21, 2009

Live, Laugh, Love,
Poop in a box.
I've only had one pit I've been concerned about in daycare, and it's partially because her owner is kind of a moron and makes poo poo worse. Usually she plays very well with the other dogs and is very polite. But once she gets pissed off by some dog doing something stupid, she's very tricky to call off (because her stupid owner has made it worse). Actually there's also a pit/boxer mix who's kind of a bitch. I've had the same problem with the ACD mixes, though. And there's an English Sheepdog who comes in that's just kind of a fuckin' bitch. And the labradoodle I mentioned who kept going after one of the pits (who would run and cower).

Also, you know drat well that the second a daycare stopped allowing pits due to genuine concerns over DA everyone would be shouting "LIAR!!!!!!!! YOU JUST THINK PITS ARE VICIOUS TOO, DON'T BULLY MY BREED!!!!!!!" because no one ignorant enough to bring their dog to daycare understands concepts like DA and it would never happen to their precious furangels anyway.

eta: We get one black and tan pit that I love (the one the doodle attacked), he was awesome and loved everybody. He would get into fights, but only 'cause he kept humping dogs who didn't care for it, and when you have anywhere between 8 and 22 dogs to watch, I can't always keep an eye on him.

Skizzles fucked around with this message at 03:52 on Nov 4, 2012

Supercondescending
Jul 4, 2007

ok frankies now lets get in formation
Yeah all I can imagine is everything going great for ages until someone suddenly eats a face and no one knows what the gently caress to do because He Was Always So Nice


edit:^^^^^^^^ everyone is terrible

Asstro Van
Apr 15, 2007

Always check your blind spots before backing that thang up.

Pile of Kittens posted:

I'll try and get his website address from him so we can have a good giggle.

I'd wait until he's done working on your place. It could get super awkward if a dummy contacts him. :ohdear:

Flaccid Trip
Apr 29, 2008

Someone in my friend's neighborhood has a flock of peacocks. They enjoy not holding still for photos, surrounding your car and marching down the street.



Ishkibibble_Fish
Feb 14, 2008

BananaHam:
1 part treefruit
1 part mud ungulate

Superconsndar posted:

Can I ask why dog day cares allow pit bulls and what the reasoning behind it is because that seems like the hugest liability imaginable

Haha, yea it is a liability. We have rejected a lot of pits- within the first few minutes of an eval, or (more commonly) as they mature and the drive kicks in. Rocky, you see there, is a rare exception, is not DA at about two years of age, and is currently our only regular pitbull (he's also the one I mentioned somewhere earlier who is an emotional crybaby). In the end it comes down to the individual dog for us.

HOWEVER, we apparently also allow dogs who have flagrantly failed our temperament evaluation simply because their owners are friends with the facility's owners- so, your guess is as good as mine. These dogs are often highly dog-reactive and just get to spend all day alone in a pen. It's not right. :smith:

Instant Jellyfish
Jul 3, 2007

Actually not a fish.



Ishkibibble_Fish posted:

HOWEVER, we apparently also allow dogs who have flagrantly failed our temperament evaluation simply because their owners are friends with the facility's owners- so, your guess is as good as mine. These dogs are often highly dog-reactive and just get to spend all day alone in a pen. It's not right. :smith:

My boss was told by corporate that his own dog was too aggressive to go to daycare but that sure didn't stop him! He didn't even keep it separate in a kennel.

Eventually the dog slipped through a gate from the big dog to little dog area and bit my parents' corgi that I brought to work sometimes. My boss made some joke about it and then blamed me for the situation but he finally stopped bringing the dog. Luckily the corgi is pretty hardcore and wasn't hurt too badly but I hate to think what would have happened if my coworker's pom or a client's mini doxie were closer to the gate at the time.

God I hated that job.

Supercondescending
Jul 4, 2007

ok frankies now lets get in formation

Ishkibibble_Fish posted:

Haha, yea it is a liability. We have rejected a lot of pits- within the first few minutes of an eval, or (more commonly) as they mature and the drive kicks in. Rocky, you see there, is a rare exception, is not DA at about two years of age, and is currently our only regular pitbull (he's also the one I mentioned somewhere earlier who is an emotional crybaby). In the end it comes down to the individual dog for us.

HOWEVER, we apparently also allow dogs who have flagrantly failed our temperament evaluation simply because their owners are friends with the facility's owners- so, your guess is as good as mine. These dogs are often highly dog-reactive and just get to spend all day alone in a pen. It's not right. :smith:

You know what, it still makes me mega happy that at least the potential risks are considered and they don't do the whole ITS ALL IN HOW U RAISE EM thing. The most prominent dog daycare here doesn't evaluate anything that comes through the door and has had quite a few incidents as a result. I still worry about the possibility of one going "oh hi I know we were fine before but I hate you now!" but as long as everyone is chill and aware of how to handle it, then cool. That's awesome. :)

Ishkibibble_Fish
Feb 14, 2008

BananaHam:
1 part treefruit
1 part mud ungulate

Instant Jellyfish posted:

My boss was told by corporate that his own dog was too aggressive to go to daycare but that sure didn't stop him! He didn't even keep it separate in a kennel.

Eventually the dog slipped through a gate from the big dog to little dog area and bit my parents' corgi that I brought to work sometimes. My boss made some joke about it and then blamed me for the situation but he finally stopped bringing the dog. Luckily the corgi is pretty hardcore and wasn't hurt too badly but I hate to think what would have happened if my coworker's pom or a client's mini doxie were closer to the gate at the time.

God I hated that job.

That scenario is so familiar it's unreal. I'm glad he stopped bringing the dog. Mini Doxie would have been toast.

Superconsndar posted:

"oh hi I know we were fine before but I hate you now!"

I've seen this happen with a lot of different dogs, with no discernible reason. So, it's something we're always looking out for.

Deep Thoreau
Aug 16, 2008

The gently caress wouldn't you keep a pit bull seperate. The place I used to work at(drama happened no longer there) ALWAYS kept pit bulls seperate from the other dogs. If they couldn't do so, they'd tell the owner they couldn't take them that day.

Pit Bulls are awesome, but you gotta be a real dumb poo poo to ignore their natural DA.

Edit: Just remembered some dude who brought his Lab in with stitches. Apparently he 'let her say hello' to a pit, who promptly bit the poo poo out of her. :psyduck:

Deep Thoreau fucked around with this message at 05:31 on Nov 4, 2012

Abbeh
May 23, 2006

When I grow up I mean to be
A Lion large and fierce to see.
(Thank you, Das Boo!)
The pits that live in my neighborhood are some of the sweetest dogs ever. Zoso would give his non existent left nut to eat their faces off. The first week we lived here, he bit an elderly german shepherd in the face.
Is there some sort of beagle fight ring that Zoso was part of before we got him? :lol:

Broke dog club.

Supercondescending
Jul 4, 2007

ok frankies now lets get in formation
I had it easy with the pits I had pre-Moses. 2 were lovely rescues and 1 was a hawg dog mixed with BMC. They were varying levels of dog tolerant- they couldnt be unsupervised even for a few minutes but if they knew people were watching they sucked it up and dealt with each other.

Moses is the first spergily bred one I've owned and he is a big fat hassle and it is awesome. He could be alone uncrated with all of the dogs forever IF they never approached him. Alas, dogs approach other dogs, so he's gonna have to be rotated with all other dogs forever. I really want another puppy in a couple of years and it's going to chap his butt so hard but lol get over it bitch

I have to say, I think it is hilarious that he still gets along with, interacts with, plays with, and has a boner for Frankie. Of all of the things...Frankie. :psyduck:

e; I mean they have gotten into it a few times but still lmao

Supercondescending fucked around with this message at 06:16 on Nov 4, 2012

Serella
Apr 24, 2008

Is that what you're posting?

Well, Frankie's not a dog, so there you have it.

Rixatrix
Aug 5, 2006

Skizzles posted:

because no one ignorant enough to bring their dog to daycare understands concepts like DA and it would never happen to their precious furangels anyway
Why do you only get ignorant owners as customers? A well run daycare seems like a good solution for good owners that work full time.

When I (hopefully) pass boards in a couple of years and finally get paid properly, I'm going to get a friend who runs a daycare/training thing to train the Lapponians out of their leash reactivity. They're fine when I take them out individually but they egg each other on when I take both out at the same time. I could train it out myself, but I can manage them just fine and training out leash reactivity is boring to me and it's out of the time I could use to train more interesting things.

So I guess what I'm saying is I'm happy there are skilled people running doggie daycares and training centers :)

WolfensteinBag
Aug 7, 2003

So it was all your work?

I'm guessing she meant for dog to = pit bull in this case. :)

Rixatrix
Aug 5, 2006

WolfensteinBag posted:

I'm guessing she meant for dog to = pit bull in this case. :)
Oh ok. That makes a lot more sense then. It seems I'm a bit dense this morning, apologies.

In other news, the puppy is being an rear end in a top hat. He keeps bugging Rho to play with him even though Rho really would rather be left alone. I stuck the pup in his own little space to calm down and he did. The second I opened the gate he was back at it again. Rho is being a good sport with the puppy, but he obviously needs a break from time to time. I guess Sukka needs more work with calming down on cue.

Mean Bean
Jan 19, 2012

My blood type is Folgers.

Drum posted:

Someone in my friend's neighborhood has a flock of peacocks. They enjoy not holding still for photos, surrounding your car and marching down the street.





Pretty! Reminds me of this site I've had bookmarked forever for no reason: http://www.texaspeafowl.com/ On the left they have a bunch of colorings for peacocks and peahens.

Deadly Chlorine
Nov 8, 2009

The accumulated filth of all the dog poop and hairballs will foam up about their waists and all the catladies and dog crazies will look up and shout "Save us!"
... and I'll look down and whisper
"No."

Lmao seriously though everyone should own a bird once, like when my bird gets pissed when I put him back in his cage he leans his butt out and shits all over my floor. Also I've heard of so many parrots doing the cute, asking for scratches kind of posture only to laugh at you when you pet them and get bitten. Also move a bookcase 1 inch to the right? gently caress THIS IS THE WORST THING EVER, BETTER PLUCK OUT ALL MY FEATHERS


Birds are the worst pets



Just look at this bird being the worst pet ever




just kidding please keep birds they're so smart and cuddly and soft and cute hnnng :3:

Shnooks
Mar 24, 2007

I'M BEING BORN D:
There's this one doggie daycare here in town and I don't know what their deal is but we've recently been getting at least 2-3 dogs in our clinic who have been bitten while being there.

I also see people who adopt dogs and then leave them with a dog walker or doggie daycare nearly 24/7. We have one woman who got this cute Australian Shepherd mix or something and we have never met her despite her puppy coming into the clinic every 3-4 weeks. Her dog walker is entirely responsible for the puppy.

Brillig
Oct 21, 2008

You know the world isn't fair at all. Titles aren't fairly distributed either. In time you'll learn my son. -2Bit
Peacocks are pretty, but when they scream it can sound like little children being murdered in the distance and it gets kind of creepy sometimes.

So my husband got his way and I have another cat. Her age is kind of a mystery, but she is at least 5. She's spent the last 3 years of her life in the shelter. She is very shy and fearful, hides a lot, and shies away when someone reaches for her. But once you get her in the mood for attention she purrs and drools and throws herself around like a goof. She seems to like us more than she's ever liked anyone, which is what tricked us into taking her home. Wish us luck on the long road of making her feel safe and happy. :)

Captain Foxy
Jun 13, 2007

I love Hitler and Hitler loves me! He's not all bad, Hitler just needs someone to believe in him! Can't you just give Hitler a chance?


Quality Pugamutes now available, APR/APRI/NKC approved breeder. PM for details.

Shnooks posted:

I also see people who adopt dogs and then leave them with a dog walker or doggie daycare nearly 24/7. We have one woman who got this cute Australian Shepherd mix or something and we have never met her despite her puppy coming into the clinic every 3-4 weeks. Her dog walker is entirely responsible for the puppy.

It's surprisingly common, especially with upper income people who get the concept of dog need exercise but also understand that they can pay someone to exercise it and deal with all the icky poop and dog hair~

I used to work at a daycare where we had a rotating cast of 10-15 dogs (in a small place with 40 max at any given time) who were there literally seven days a week, open to close, and all major holidays. Then there were the owners who viewed it as a replacement for a walk, so dumped their crazy, high-energy-understimulated-completely-loving-nuts dogs with us every day. All in all, the few responsible owners who dropped their dogs off 1-2 times a week for fun and socialization were in the tiny, tiny minority. I can think of maybe five owners that did that, the rest viewed it as 'DOGGIE PLAYTIME DUUURRR' not a warehouse for dogs, which is basically what it is.

We also didn't allow pits, but had scores of doodles which would constantly harass and create fights with other dogs just from their sheer idiocy and complete lack of dog behavior sense, and somehow that is different then pits idk I guess???

All in all I have a weird taste in my mouth over daycare. I've always thought if I got a puppy or dog that wasn't a living throw rug then I'd probably bring them in twice a week or so, for fun playtime, but I'm beginning to rethink that. A lot of daycare places are basically giant semi-to-completely unsupervised dog parks, with all the same ramping up of energy, aggression and neurosis and no individual owner attention.

Wheats
Sep 28, 2007

strange sisters

Ishkibibble_Fish posted:

Let me tell you about Lewis.


Lewis is a Shar Pei pup at my daycare that hates any and all strangers, and it took me about 3 weeks to get him to accept me. This started at 12 weeks old, when they first started bringing him. I know Shar Peis are supposed to be aloof, but I feel like puppies should not bark and shake in a corner because OMG THERE IS A PERSON. It's the owner's first dog and they paid more than a grand for him, are not enrolling him in even basic training, and are not listening to our socializing (with people) suggestions. I told the woman that his level of fear behavior can turn into bites pretty quickly when he matures (if they don't work on it), but she is not receptive to any advice. She's an idiot, and I'm pretty sure they bought him because of ~wrinkles~ and knew nothing about the breed (or dogs) beforehand.

He's like 6 months now, and is a great dog with other dogs and with people he knows/ accepts (which is probably 8 people in the world, myself included), but he growls and snaps at strangers, and it's just getting worse as we predicted. Oh yea, and they let him run off leash all the time.

nnoooooooo
Shar pei have a reputation for being bitey because that's what so many people do. They make no effort to work with their puppies and they grow up to be suspicious and fearful and reactive. It's so easy to work with them so they're suspicious and pretty tolerant, but so many people don't bother and they end up with crazy-eyed yelling wrinkle dogs.

UltraGrey
Feb 24, 2007

Eat a grass.
Have a barf.

Brillig posted:

Peacocks are pretty, but when they scream it can sound like little children being murdered in the distance and it gets kind of creepy sometimes.


There was a pheasant farm I spent a lot of time at when I was a kid (because instead of asking to go to a playground like a normal kid I always asked to go to the game farm to feed the animals crackers) and I always thought the peacocks sounded like they were yelling "HEeeeeelp! Heeeeeeeeeeelp!"

Skizzles
Feb 21, 2009

Live, Laugh, Love,
Poop in a box.

Captain Foxy posted:

I used to work at a daycare where we had a rotating cast of 10-15 dogs (in a small place with 40 max at any given time) who were there literally seven days a week, open to close, and all major holidays. Then there were the owners who viewed it as a replacement for a walk, so dumped their crazy, high-energy-understimulated-completely-loving-nuts dogs with us every day. All in all, the few responsible owners who dropped their dogs off 1-2 times a week for fun and socialization were in the tiny, tiny minority. I can think of maybe five owners that did that, the rest viewed it as 'DOGGIE PLAYTIME DUUURRR' not a warehouse for dogs, which is basically what it is.

Pretty much this, plus the majority of daycares seem to be run REALLY poorly and no one working them has ANY behavior knowledge, so the workers are either stressing dogs out and making fights more likely or they're getting bitten. I see way too many daycare workers give dogs time outs for reprimanding another dog appropriately. But no, they're being "bad." They think it's totally fine to stick 20 (occasionally up to 40) dogs in a tiny room with ONE attendant. You know what happens when two dogs get in a little spat? Half the other dogs rush in to join and I have NO hope of breaking that poo poo up without me or the dogs getting injured. We do have a hose to spray them with, but if I'm on the other side of the room there's no way I'm getting to it before someone's seriously hurt in that situation (and if the dogs really want to kill each other then getting sprayed probably isn't gonna faze them much, as soon as they break apart and I stop the water they'll go right for each other again, I imagine).

One daycare I had an interview with squirts the dogs with water bottles and is just a re-purposed garage with the dogs separated by chain-link fencing, which leads to some serious barrier aggression issues. So if you're going to do daycare, you have to be really careful about which one you choose. Some are set up/run so poorly and will gently caress your dog up. I do encounter dogs who can pass the eval no problem, but once they actually get into the daycare it's really not a good environment for them. We even get some dogs that HATE daycare and spend the whole time in a corner stressed out, but I can't just tell the owners flat out "your dog shouldn't be in daycare" anymore (some don't listen/care anyway). My daycare also lets the dogs have toys, which can cause some resource guarding issues. But if we don't have any toys, they just get bored much quicker and irritate each other.

So maybe daycares are better over in Rixatrix's part of the world, but over here they're largely kinda lovely.

Instant Jellyfish
Jul 3, 2007

Actually not a fish.



Skizzles posted:

One daycare I had an interview with squirts the dogs with water bottles and is just a re-purposed garage with the dogs separated by chain-link fencing, which leads to some serious barrier aggression issues.

That's the way the one I worked at was! And yes it did lead to barrier frustration. We had a pair of huskies that would spend half of their time there pacing the fenceline eyeballing the small dogs. We also had a completely blind and deaf dog that came in for boarding for weeks at a time that would just walk the fenceline howling sadly.

The other fun thing about the repurposed garage model was that it echoed terribly. I'm pretty sure I have permanent hearing damage because of a ACD/beagle mix that would not shut up while in playgroups but if I tried putting her in a kennel her owner would notice on the webcam and call up to berate me. I've heard rumor of some daycares using bark collars on their dogs to prevent that issue and just try to hide it from owners.

I would be really, really careful about taking any dog to daycare. For the right dogs in the right daycare it can be great but a bad one can make issues so much worse and can be dangerous.

Aravenna
Jun 9, 2002

DOOK
I guess I'm really lucky with Quaffle's daycare. I take him there about once a week for socialization and to totally wear him out and it seems to work out really well. It's almost entirely outside, in a couple of big fields, and there are separate smaller outside runs to separate the dogs that don't get along well with others (they also do boarding). The dogs are entirely supervised all day in the yards and get played with. They have a pavilion with a doggy pool. They don't really have much of an inside area other than the kennels for the boarders at night and a back room, but that must be all that Quaffle needs because the one time I showed up to pick him up when it was too hot for them to be out, he was napping in the back room and apparently not too stressed out about it.

I kind of assumed most daycares were like that but I guess not? Maybe I'm also lucky that Quaffle is the perfect dog for daycare because he isn't interested in other dogs enough to start anything with them, and since he doesn't care about toys there isn't much reason for other dogs to start anything with him either. The daycare is at his vet's office too so I trust they know how to handle dogs.

I'm really grateful for his daycare because non-athletic me doesn't have a really good way to wear him out otherwise since he has no interest in chasing a ball or flirtpole. I'm not sure what I'd do if that daycare closed (I don't imagine it will, they're looking to expand the inside area) so maybe I'll look around for a backup place if the current daycare really is so unusual.

Skizzles
Feb 21, 2009

Live, Laugh, Love,
Poop in a box.
Some dogs do well in my daycare. I have this super social teenage lab puppy who plays really well with some of the other dogs and isn't bothered easily by them being grumpy or obnoxious with him. He has a ton of energy so he's one of the few dogs I would recommend daycare for. I couldn't imagine the handful he'd be without it. I also have a super social teenage GSD mix puppy who is like his shepherdy-looking twin. They play fantastically together since they have the same energy level and play style, so it's always nice when I have both of them.

Some dogs play great and are quite happy in small groups, but I've seen a lot of them get overwhelmed and stressed when there are more than like 6 dogs total in the room.

Ishkibibble_Fish
Feb 14, 2008

BananaHam:
1 part treefruit
1 part mud ungulate

Captain Foxy posted:

It's surprisingly common, especially with upper income people who get the concept of dog need exercise but also understand that they can pay someone to exercise it and deal with all the icky poop and dog hair~

I used to work at a daycare where we had a rotating cast of 10-15 dogs (in a small place with 40 max at any given time) who were there literally seven days a week, open to close, and all major holidays. Then there were the owners who viewed it as a replacement for a walk, so dumped their crazy, high-energy-understimulated-completely-loving-nuts dogs with us every day. All in all, the few responsible owners who dropped their dogs off 1-2 times a week for fun and socialization were in the tiny, tiny minority. I can think of maybe five owners that did that, the rest viewed it as 'DOGGIE PLAYTIME DUUURRR' not a warehouse for dogs, which is basically what it is.


I have found all of this to be true. There are also very few dogs with even basic manners. I can do some PR training there, but it's hardly a one-on-one environment so there's only so much we can accomplish.

Also, I don't know what it is, but we seem to get like 85% male dogs, and 15% female dogs. I don't know if people just treat their delicate flower females differently, or own fewer females in general. :confused:



Skizzles posted:

I see way too many daycare workers give dogs time outs for reprimanding another dog appropriately. But no, they're being "bad."

I'm in the camp that lets dogs correct each other, as long as they do it appropriately. It's way more effective than me intervening, and the offending party will usually respect a dog's correction over mine. However some dogs go from 0-10 with no in-between mode, so their corrections are brutal, so we watch it. The other thing is that a lot of dogs (I'm looking at you, doodles.) are social morons and do not respect or even seem to understand corrections from other dogs.

Skizzles posted:

They think it's totally fine to stick 20 (occasionally up to 40) dogs in a tiny room with ONE attendant. You know what happens when two dogs get in a little spat? Half the other dogs rush in to join and I have NO hope of breaking that poo poo up without me or the dogs getting injured.

We are a really small place, with an average of ~18 dogs a day spread out through a few different areas, and take the overcrowding thing really seriously, which is probably the only thing my facility is doing right, unfortunately. :smith:


Skizzles posted:

One daycare I had an interview with squirts the dogs with water bottles and is just a re-purposed garage with the dogs separated by chain-link fencing, which leads to some serious barrier aggression issues.

You just described where I work. The squirting is totally counter-effective, and my boss has openly admitted that it is to 'make us feel better.' My other coworker just screams at dogs and alpha rolls them while I'm like :stare: . Yea I need a new job.

The chain-link thing makes it so much worse it's unbelievable. I have worked in a place without chain-link also; the comparison is night and day.


Instant Jellyfish posted:


I would be really, really careful about taking any dog to daycare. For the right dogs in the right daycare it can be great but a bad one can make issues so much worse and can be dangerous.

I agree, and would say avoid any daycare that doesn't have 24/7 live webcams accessible to the public. If your dog is prone to reactivity at all, the way a lot of daycares are set up, it can just aggravate the situation (which is why I choose not to bring my nervous, reactive rescue dog in with me all the time, although I could if I wanted), so you want to be aware of everything that is happening, and how the handlers are responding to different situations.

For instance, I want my dog to always have a positive association with his name, but in daycare we have to correct dogs by using their names in order to single them out. I have not figured out a way around this, so it's one of the issues that makes me uncomfortable about leaving my own dog at a daycare.

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Skizzles
Feb 21, 2009

Live, Laugh, Love,
Poop in a box.

Ishkibibble_Fish posted:

You just described where I work. The squirting is totally counter-effective, and my boss has openly admitted that it is to 'make us feel better.' My other coworker just screams at dogs and alpha rolls them while I'm like :stare: . Yea I need a new job.

The chain-link thing makes it so much worse it's unbelievable. I have worked in a place without chain-link also; the comparison is night and day.

How have you stayed sane thus far? I couldn't do it. :(

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