Tips for choosing a doggy daycare

1. Check if it’s licensed!

By law anyone offering doggy daycare or dog boarding in the UK must be licensed. Unlike Dog walking which is currently unregulated dog daycare is regulated by the local council. Being licensed means you have to follow a set of guidelines and processes. This includes procedures and risk assessments to cover every eventuality whilst your dog is in daycare.

The council also pay spot visits and an initial assessment to check the facility is up to standard and that all staff are capable and qualified. Using a daycare or boarder that isn’t licensed means their insurance will be invalid should anything happen to your pup whilst in their care. Any Daycare should have their license on display, and At Paws Indoors Southend we are licensed by Southend Council and our license takes pride of place in our reception area!

2. Make sure you see the venue

That seems like an obvious one but with daycare’s and boarders offering a pick up service this may mean you don’t get to see where your dog will actually spend the day. We offer a meet and greet at one of our socials to give you a chance to have a look round and chat to us in person about your dog. You wouldn’t send your child to a nursery you had never seen so a daycare for your pup should be the same.

3 Ask Questions

What is the daily routine? what do the dogs do? do you feed them? where do they sleep? How do you introduce new dogs? Are they insured? what’s the staff to dog ratio? How many staff are there? If you’re walking the dogs what areas do you walk? If they are being picked up how long do they spend in the van?

These are all questions we get asked every day, and we’re always happy to answer any and every question a new pawrent may have. If the owner/operator seems reluctant to do this it should ring alarm bells!

4. Do they have an entrance criteria?

Here at Paws Indoors Southend we have a strict criteria for any dogs that attend our daycare. We only accept friendly, social dogs that spend a minimum of one day a week with us. This ensures we can build a bond with your dog, that your dog will be familiar with the setting, the routine and the other dogs and staff and because we only have a limited number of dogs we can accept so this ensures we keep a space open for your dogs.

Any facility they just allows dogs for ad hoc days can not ensure they fit in with the other dogs they will be with in that time and this could be stressful for your dog