Overall though, I love taking Koji to daycare. He gets to play, he gets to follow the staff around, sometimes they do training for me, other times, I have caught him lying down (they have video cameras). I wish I could've afforded it when he was younger as it would've helped a lot with his anxiety and craziness levels. I noticed, even once a week, it helps a lot to keep their craziness down.
Lastly, since this is in the puppies section, 1. is your dog a puppy? 2. does he have all his shots? 3. does the daycare you want to go to have a specific area for puppies (versus just throwing them in with the small dogs)? I know my daycare has a specific puppy program, they need to have a specific round of shots, they can stay all day, but they take them out for naps and feeding. They gate them off from the other small dogs and keep them with puppies of their own size. Etc, etc, etc. Just some things to think about.
Read on if you haven't done your research. Stop if you have.
(I wrote this because I went to 6 daycare/boarding places before I settled on the one I go to today. 4 out of the 6 failed the basics of cleanliness. So beware and be aware.)
But as many people said, do your research. Visit each facility without your dog. Ask for a tour. They should let you see all areas, if they don't, be wary. There shouldn't be a strong doggie nor cleanser smell. When I've walked into my daycares front office, you don't smell a thing. Even the boarding area doesn't smell. I've walked into ones where you smell either dog smells or strong cleaner smells.
Ask how they split the dogs. What they do with pushy dogs. Most will do a trial period (for free) to see if you're dog fits in or has issues. If they don't, move along. Ask if they have some sort of vet they have "on-call". Not literally on-call, but most will tell you which vet they'll use if it's an emergency. Also, ask if they ONLY split by size, or by personality. I dislike the ones that split by size purely. To me, that shows ignorance about dog breeds.
I see a lot of smaller dogs in the big dog room at my place, but that's because they're more energetic, more boisterous, etc...and the big dogs can handle that, whereas the smaller dogs couldn't. I also put Koji in with the big dogs so he has more room to roam, run, etc. He always looked so squeezed in with the small dogs.
either way, good luck. I think if you find a great place, sending your dog to daycare, even if it's once a week, can really help at home.
