Dog daycare

Dogs running in the yard at Dog Daycare.

Dog Daycare, often known as "Doggie Daycare," refers to a short-term boarding kennel service for dogs.^[1] It shares many similarities with a regular daycare for children, with the exception being that a dog daycare is for canines.^[2] It fills a niche between multi-day kennel boarding and pet sitting, where the sitter comes to the pet's home.^[3] The two share the same philosophy. Parents, or in the case of the dog daycare, owners, have a busy schedule and the often prolonged hours at work reduce drastically the time that could be spent with their children or pets.^[4]

Background

The popularity of such establishments in the United States and elsewhere has grown greatly since the early 1990s, and arose out of the more traditional kennel industry.^{[5][6][7][8][9]} Prior to World War II, dogs more commonly lived outside in the United States, but as urbanization spread dogs started to live indoors more frequently. Other factors, including an increase in the population of adults without children, have gradually led to more attention and money being spent on pets. The first modern dog day care in New York City reportedly opened in 1987.^[10] San Francisco, another wealthy American city, has also been credited for spurring the dog day care trend.^[5]

Environments

There are multiple environments and varieties of dog daycare service. For example, some facilities provide a cage-free environment where dogs play under the supervision of a trained staff member.^[11] Other facilities may provide a cage free environment for dogs to play for a portion of the day, placing dogs in cages at other times of the day. And a daycare kennel is a type of facility that offers cages or runs where the dog will be placed alone during the day.

Some facilities allow dogs to play in an outside environment. Others have indoor-only facilities, where dog interact and play in an indoor area and relieve themselves in designated inside areas.^[12][13][14]

Notes

1. ^ Dog Owner's Guide: Dog Day Care (accessed 14 November 2010)
2. ^ Baranauckas, Carla (24 September 2006). A Dog’s Life, Upgraded, The New York Times
3. ^ "The Doggie Day Care Owner - How Americans Spend Now - TIME". Time. 2009-04-16. http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1891475_1891477_1891543,00.html. Retrieved 2010-05-01. 
4. ^ (29 August 1999). Dog day care center cares for pets of workaholics, Victoria Advocate (New York Times News Service copy)
5. ^ ^{a b} Strasburg, Jenny (4 November 2000). Longer work days lead to need for doggy day care, Today's New Herald (reprint of article originally published in The San Francisco Examiner, distributed broadly)
6. ^ Lee, Jean H. (20 August 1999). Dog owners lining up for day care services, Bangor Daily News (Associated Press story)
7. ^ Knight, Rebecca M. (26 September 1999). Day Care for the Dog, Peace for the Owner, The New York Times
8. ^ (9 September 1973). A Day-Care Center For the Lonely Dog, The New York Times (noting the unique "day care" for dogs concept in a 1973 article)
9. ^ (3 November 1996). Dog-Lovers of the World, Unite!, Newsday (""Following the lead of the boom in pet care and pet products, dog day-care centers have opened all over the country, from Boston to Louisville to San Francisco, expanding the services offered by dog walkers to include play groups, sofas and chairs to snooze on, and classical music. The tab for this comes high, $75 to $100 for a five-day week, or $6,000 to $8,000 {a year} per dog at a Somerville, Mass., day-care center.")
10. ^ Lewine, Edward. A Dog's Luxe Life, The New York Times (dating the first dog day care in New York to 1987, and noting huge change in how dogs are treated since the 1940s)
11. ^ (21 February 2011). Big benefits of small-dog day care, Nebraska.tv
12. ^ Daycare for Dogs, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (in depth discussion of dog day cares, including different environments and factors to consider in selecting a facility)
13. ^ Ultimate Pet Guide, Atlanta (magazine) (March 2004) (includes listing of different types of facilities in the Atlanta metro area)
14. ^ Kerns, Nancy (ed.) The Whole Dog Journal: Handbook of Dog and Puppy Care and Training, p. 219-21 (2008)