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Local Voices

APRIL IS NATIONAL PET MONTH!

Chicago Central Bark® Doggy Day Care Offers the Following Tips and Advice to Pet Owners

Central Bark® Doggy Day Care, a pioneer of the doggy day care industry and creator of the “UnKennel” concept, celebrates April’s National Pet Month. In honor of this month, Central Bark® focuses on the benefits of pet ownership and promotes responsible pet ownership.

Doggy Day Care keeps dogs happy, healthy, and stimulated all day long so you have a happier, healthier, better-behaved dog!

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Consider the benefits:

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  • Exercise throughout the day in structured, safe play environments

  • Your dog will be around other dogs learning appropriate socialization under a watched eye.

  • Gentle training reminders or training is given by the dog handlers, when needed.

    • Your pet will receive lots of TLC!

     

    Here’s what the experts are saying about how to choose the appropriate doggy day care facility:

     

    The Dog Gurus, Robin Bennett and Susan Briggs, best-selling authors and advocates for the safe interactions between dogs and people, as well as between dogs and other dogs, offer the following tips on choosing the appropriate doggy day care facility for your dog:

    Cleanliness. There should be minimal offensive odor and immediate clean-up of accidents, and the other dogs should be healthy-looking.

    Playtime and rest times are provided. Dogs should be allowed to play, but should also be provided with time to rest.  Providing a two-hour “naptime” is common.  Others will alternate playing and resting periods throughout the day.

    Adequate supervision. Staff members should be physically in the rooms with the dogs at all times; supervising through a window or a gate is not enough.

    Safe staffing levels. A good daycare facility maintains an approximate staffing goal of one person for every 10 to 15 dogs depending on the size of the dogs and the experience of the staff.

    Safety arrangements. Small dogs and large dogs should be segregated and new dogs should be acclimated to the groups slowly to assessment suitability for daycare.

    Size of the facility appropriate for the number of dogs. Ideally, each dog needs approximately 70 to 100 square feet of space for safe off-leash play.


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