Doggy Day Care

For months people have been telling me how magical doggy day care is, especially for dogs with endless energy like my sweet Kozmo. It sounded good in theory, but really what kind of idiot puts their dog in day care? It sounds sort of absurd and like some pretentious yuppy thing that's not really my style. Kozmo does NOT get tired. I get tired trying to keep him out of trouble. I looked at day care online. It's not cheap. The average price is about $20 a day. He is a dog!! I have bills. Then Kozmo gets into trouble, I look at day care again. It's a logistical nightmare. I live in a small town. I am a tree hugger. I have a long commute. I try to car pool to reduce my carbon foot print. These expensive doggy day care options would require a lot of extra driving. Other people told me the wonders of having their dogs in day care. I resisted.....

Kozmo was lucky enough to have the best dog sitter in the world. However, his sitter is even busier than Kozmo's humans and not able to take him. Kozmo's humans have some trips and commitments that require us to find proper care for Kozmo. I will not consider a traditional kennel. Kozmo came from a shelter and it says right on his records he was suffering from kennel stress. He was lucky to find an amazing foster home until he came into our lives. Maybe Kozmo doesn't remember his time at the shelter. Maybe I put too many human emotions on decisions I make for my dog. Either way, I ruled out any type of kennel situation where he would be in a concrete area with chain link fence and unable to interact with other dogs or humans for play and love.

I had some friends recommend a dog type resort. Again, why is everything so darn expensive? And, again, I live in a small town where nothing seems to be close or convenient. I finally found a place that offers "cage-less kennels".  Basically Kozmo would get to stay inside and have his own bedroom. Each doggy room has a couch for snuggling and sleeping. I don't allow Kozmo on furniture so this isn't a selling point, but this nice kennel is also a doggy day care. As part of the kennel charge your dog can also be in day care all day on the days he stays there.  This seems like a great option for Kozmo so he can have lots of attention and interaction and get tired.

As with all good things in life there was a catch. Kozmo couldn't participate in day care until I filled out a 5 page application and took him for a temperament evaluation. Honestly I understand why the dog facility has to do this and it makes me feel better to take him to such a professional and conscientious place. At the same time it seems somewhat absurd to me that I'm going through all of this for a dog. I hear my friends with human children discussing day care and interviews and preschool and such and am always grateful that my four legged children don't need all that crap....until now.

I really never thought I would ever say, "hey I just completed my dogs day care application" but I did and I spent a lot of time on it because I wanted to present Kozmo in the best light and have my "kid" accepted. Kozmo has changed my life in ways I never thought possible. I had no idea how many things are involved in adding a dog to your family. I am head over heels in love with this dog so I try to do what is best for him and laugh at the absurdity as I go along.

Yesterday was the big day, my little man was going to day care. I got up early. I was nervous. Koz knew I was nervous and would not do his business. We walked and walked and walked. Now it didn't matter that I got up early, we were running late. He finally did his thing and we could pack up for our day. I decided to take Koz to day care on a day where he had agility class. I was hoping he would be tired from day care and excel in class. I had to pack Kozmo's school bag, my work bag, my sneakers for agility class, plus Kozmo's bowl and food (he was having breakfast at daycare since we were already running late)...so I am juggling all this stuff in my hands plus a much needed cup of coffee and Kozmo's leash.

We head out the back door and Kozmo is excited. He sees his food dish in my hands. He starts jumping. I really don't want to make two trips to the car. I'm juggling everything and just couldn't keep my coffee cup upright. Of course my dog with his white head happens to be directly under the spilling coffee. Koz is still jumping and we are getting closer to the car. Finally all our bags are in the car and we are off to day care. My dog has coffee stains on his head, I have muddy paw prints on my shirt, and I am going to be late for work. I really don't know how people do this every day for human kids.

We arrive at day care and Kozmo can hear the other dogs barking and its a new place and he does not want me to leave. Just like at the groomers he will not go on his leash with the nice woman who runs the day care. I tell her I'm going to have to walk him into the room and then leave. He walks into the room with me, I hand the leash to the woman in charge, and tell my buddy to have a good day. I walk out the door as quickly as possible with tears stinging my eyes and Kozmo barking and howling like he is going to die. I'm exhausted and still have a 40 mile drive to work.

I resisted all of my urges to call and check on my dog. I kept telling myself no news was good news. I was hoping that Koz was having fun. It looked like a fun place, I saw a slide and tunnels.

On my way to pick up Kozmo from day care I picked up the other human at work. I wanted him to hear first hand the results of Kozmo's temperament evaluation. We walked in and I asked how out little buddy behaved and she said "goood" but you could hear the "buttttt...." in her voice. The good news is that Kozmo is allowed to go back. However, he needs a lot of work. Kozmo lacks doggy socialization skills and doesn't really understand what is appropriate play. He seemed to think the proper way to greet all of the new dogs was to try to fit their entire neck in his mouth. The day care woman stressed that he has NO aggression and is simply full of puppy energy. He had to be separated from some of the other dogs because he made them nervous with his crazy energy and lack of manners.

The other problem is that Kozmo gets so focused on play or running around that he wouldn't listen to the day care teacher. If she would try to grab his collar to correct him or shift his focus he would do one of his famous duck and run moves where he escaped her reach and ran around in what he thinks is a really fun game of chase. What do you say? I know he's not perfect. He goes to school two nights a week. We are working on these issues. If I knew how to correct this over night I would have done it a long time ago.

The important thing is that Kozmo is allowed to go back and we have a safe place to keep him when we need to travel. So we are going to try to put him in day care one day a week to help socialize him to play better with other dogs.

When we got in the car to go to agility I told the other human what I heard from the dog day care assessment is that I either need another dog or more day care. The other human couldn't say "DAY CARE" fast enough. When we got to agility class Kozmo's trainer and his human classmates couldn't wait to hear about his first day of day care. I told them and said I either need another dog for Kozmo to play with or more day care. The three women in class quickly, emphatically, and in unison said, "DAY CARE!!!!!".