[Naurin]

Hi, i'm new to this site, so apologize if this has been posted before.

I'm a new puppy owner, we just adopted a 2 months old puppy about a month ago. He is adorable but a handful.

He just got his rabies shots and finally can now be around other dogs. I want to start putting him in daycare once or twice a week.

Does anyone have any recommendations around Houston area? Its quite hard to choose a day care to leave my precious baby in someone else hands. I get very hesitant when I read any bed reviews.

Or any recommendations on how to choose a promising day care, or the right questions to ask or anything fishy to lookout for?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[+two]

Go visit any prospective daycare and get a tour. Ask about play groups. How many dogs per group? Are sizes separated? play styles? age? Daycares all do things slightly different; none is right or wrong, but it depends on your dog whether it will work or not.

Is your dog confident? Does he like to play with other dogs? What kind of play style does he have?

Ask the daycare about their vaccination policy. Also ask about the schedule... what will your dog be doing all day? Basically I tell people to use their gut instinct. If something doesn't seem right, it probably isn't and its time to move on.

Oh, and 3 months is way too young for daycare. However, a puppy class is a great idea to get your dog socialized and start on obedience. I would not bring a dog that is under 6 months into a daycare setting, and some dogs I might wait until they are over a year.

 

[Charis]

I love doggie daycare.

Some things to consider -

- Rabies is not the only vaccine needed to be around other dogs. Your pup needs a completed DHLP set. Parvo is your biggest worry. Many daycares will not admit with pup until the set (3 shots) is complete.
- Another frequent requirement is for the pup to be 16 weeks old.

I don't know any daycares in the Houston area but picking out a daycare is fairly straight forward

- Look for somewhere that requires all vaccines, negative fecal exam and an evaluation prior to admitting the dog
- Look for somewhere that uses time outs and techniques to interrupt the behavior (such as shaking a can of coins)
- Separate playgroups based on size and play styles
- Is willing to show/tour the daycare area
- I prefer a constantly supervised daycare however I use one with almost constant supervision frequently

Bad reviews can be based on anything. Tour the facility yourself. The daycare I use the most has a bad review as the first one - it says something along the lines of "Don't ever leave your dogs here! I can hear the dogs always barking and the people yelling since I live right behind it! I've never left my dog there!" 1) Well of course there are dogs barking - it's a daycare with three to four rotating playgroups 2) Yeah sometimes the people have to yell to be heard over the dogs. 3) She has never left her dog there. I'm not sure how she expects to review something she has never used. Make sure the review is reputable. No one is going to like everything.

 

[Tofu_pup]

If he's only three months, you've got another month to go before he'll be all clear for daycare.

 

[Naurin]

Thanks! Very helpful questions to think about! He has his rabies and three shots of Parvo already, and need one more in a month. I was thinking more along the lines of half day care, as we've been told multiple times that he needs to be around other dogs for socialization skills. I will look more for puppy classes as well in lieu of daycare.

 

[Tofu_pup]

Thanks! Very helpful questions to think about! He has his rabies and three shots of Parvo already, and need one more in a month. I was thinking more along the lines of half day care, as we've been told multiple times that he needs to be around other dogs for socialization skills. I will look more for puppy classes as well in lieu of daycare.

Putting puppies in daycare can go a long, long way toward learning social skills.
I've worked with a plenty of dogs that just don't know how to communicate with other dogs. It's not pretty.

Look for puppy classes and start checking out local daycares now so you're prepared a month from now.

 

[luv2byte]

One vaccine that most require is bordatella. I didn't put mine in daycare until they had the full series of puppy vaccines, that was my choice. It gave them a chance to mature & settle in at home. Both started daycare at about 4mo old. The daycare we chose exposes them to dogs of all sizes but they only play in groups of like sizes and temperaments. I know our daycare will often put our Chloe in with puppies, they said she is so sweet & patient & is great about gentle calm correction when they get wound up. Often I've picked her up with tiny dots of blood in her fur from teething puppies, I can always tell when she is with the pups. They have even found a tooth in her fur. Overall it's structured like a human daycare and most employees there either breed, show or compete with dogs so it's nice that they have a good level of understanding with them.

 

[Charis]

One vaccine that most require is bordatella.

And depending on the daycare it will vary how often they require it. The vast majority say every 6 months, while I've had others tell me every 6 months for the nasal vaccine and yearly for the injection and yet another say "whenever the vet says it is due because we don't have a vet on staff and so we will not a medical decision about vaccinations" and they required a due date from the vet (which I think is my favorite policy).