What to Look For in Doggy Daycare in Birmingham

Responsible dog owners know there are a plethora of options for pet sitting and doggy daycare in Birmingham and surrounding communities… with that many options, how can you pick the BEST services and facility for your pup?  The answer is simpler than you might think.

1. )Take your dog for a meet-and-greet.  If you’ve ever had doubts as to whether your pup will enjoy or benefit from doggy daycare, you’ll quickly be able to tell if it’s a good fit by bringing them in for a meet-and-greet and evaluation.  At Dogtopia, during the evaluation process your dog will be assessed by trained staff to watch your pups body language and reactions to see if they would enjoy the open-play dog day care experience.  If they don’t, you’ll still be able to take advantage of our wonderful self-serve dog washes and dog spa!
2. )Tour the facility.  During the tour pay attention to air quality, overall cleanliness of the facility, and the structure of staff and dog interaction in play rooms.  You’ll want to look for floors that will be easy on dogs sensitive feet and joints-  playing on cold concrete floors is not at all ideal, as older dogs and dogs with joint issues can experience pain and irritation from roughhousing on the hard surface.  We recommend a sort of padded surface in the play areas- something similar to a yoga mat in texture and thickness.  Avoid a facility that looks dingy or unclean, or that smells strongly- if a facility isn’t paying attention to cleanliness, your dog could be at risk of contracting illnesses or parasites.
3. )Ask about their safety record and safety protocol.  Your dog is your family, and you don’t want to put them at risk- you deserve to know if there have been any recorded incidents at the facility.  When not properly managed, dogs have been seriously injured or killed at dog day care.  That’s why at Dogtopia we’re so proud of our safety protocol, which enables us to segment dogs into safe play groups and keep reactive dogs from having a bad experience (say, getting aggressive or too excited at a doorway where dogs congregate).  Look for a facility with web camera access so you can check on your pup throughout the day, and always pick a facility that mandates that staff be present during open play. When you take a tour of a Dogtopia facility, be sure to ask us about how we keep your dogs safe- we’ll be happy to show you!
4. )Look for a dog day care that also does dog boarding and dog washes.  We recommend this because it makes your life easier and causes your dog less stress when you pick a great dog daycare group and find that it’s a one-stop shop for everything you need.  Need to go out of town for a few days?  No problem, your dog already knows everyone because they’ve been to doggy daycare there!  Is Fido smelling extra doggy after a day of exercise and fun at doggy daycare? It sure is nice to be able to get him a quick bath before taking him home!

More than anything, you should feel comfortable taking your dog to doggy daycare.  Your dog is family, and you wouldn’t make hasty decisions that would affect family members, and you would ALWAYS make sure they’re getting the best treatment.  We can proudly say that we deliver the best for your furry family members, and invite you to tour our Dogtopia of Birmingham facility when we open our doors this year!  We know you’ll love it.