How Doggie Day Care Centers Deal With Inappropriate Dog Behavior

It is a given that even with careful screening and temperament tests, there are always incidents that involve hostile behavior between dogs. Reputable doggie day care centers place prime importance on these unforeseen situations by formulating policies and standard operating procedures to properly address specific situations. The center’s personnel should clearly understand these guidelines for efficient implementation to allay the problem at hand.

In most cases, the center staff can defuse the situation by carefully separating the dogs by using only water, boards, loud noises, or blankets when necessary. Verbal punishments, shock collars, squirt bottles, stun guns, and other forms of extreme physical punishments do not have a place in maintaining peace and order inside the doggie day care and are unacceptable.

In order to lay out specific guidelines in addressing potential situations, the staff should come together and think of worst-case scenarios that can possibly occur when dogs of different breeds, behavior, and environment meet up in a totally new environment for the first time. In the event of any incident that occur inside the center, a meeting should be conducted to determine the ultimate cause of the problem in order to prevent a recurrence. Obvious solutions may include separating the involved dogs by placing them in different play groups. There are also cases when offenders are not accepted back unless there has been effort for behavior modification.

In cases where a dog becomes injured from a dog fight, the center should have a regular consulting veterinarian who can extend medical assistance anytime the need arises. If the veterinarian is available only during daytime, the center should link with an emergency clinic for possible emergencies at night.

Doggie Day Care Centers Deal With Inappropriate Dog BehaviorWhenever a dog is injured, the center personnel should notify the dog’s owner immediately. The owner might have preference for another veterinarian to attend to his pet’s needs. Since the incident took place while the dog was in day care, the problem of who will pay for medical bills should be an issue that a dog owner should be aware of in advance.

How about cases of a center staff being bitten by a dog? The circumstances should be investigated and reported to the authorities even if it does not warrant medical attention. Most cases of dog bites are not reported, especially ones that aren’t serious, to prevent any hassles because a dog that has bitten someone will have to be quarantined for about 10 days, and it may possibly result in “dangerous dog” proceedings.