Assessment Day
The assessment day is your dogs first visit with us. It is conducted over a full day (minimum of 6 hours) and the owner is not required to stay at the centre after the dog is dropped off. You should allow approximately 15 minutes for the drop off process so we can give you a tour of the centre and complete the paperwork.
A first day for a daycare dog can be a big experience! We take the assessment process slowly so your dog is not overwhelmed with too many new sights, sounds and experiences all at once. We are mindful of the fact that a positive outcome on the assessment process involves helping individual dogs to adjust to various processes we have put in place to create a happy and vibrant play-care environment.
The assessment process begins with giving your dog the opportunity to rest and settle in before beginning their obedience work. A trainer will then complete some obedience exercises with your dog to teach them to listen. The next step is to meet our trainers dogs who are friendly and social with dogs and are trained to a high level of obedience. If all going well then the dog will be able to be integrated into the play yards with other daycare dogs. This is the standard process that we follow, however all dogs may have different needs based on their behaviour and temperaments. Our trainers are experienced professionals who can recognise this and modify the process when needed. Many dogs benefit from having lots of rest breaks on their first visit with us.
What to Expect
At the end of the assessment day we provide owners with a detailed insight to their dog's activities throughout the day and how they coped with the overall process. Each dog is graded with a colour to indicate their suitability to the daycare environment. A positive assessment means that your dog is welcome to return to visit us again. The majority of dogs that have their assessment will pass with flying colours. However, If your dog has any serious behavioural issues during their first visit than we may need to discuss with the owner how we will be able to manage them at daycare in the future.
On the rare occasion that a dog is not suitable for doggy daycare then we can provide advice and recommendations around training with the aim to eventually be able to integrate them into the daycare environment.
Why Does My Dog Need an Assessment?
To ensure that all the dogs staying under our care are kept safe throughout the day, we need to assess each new dog entering this dynamic environment so we can learn about their likes, dislikes, activity levels and general behaviour around other dogs and people.
The full-day assessment process allows our professional staff to safely manage the new dogs in different scenarios and environments within the centre. To your dog it is like one activity after another, spaced throughout the day, where they can get to experience the relaxed atmosphere and play with dogs that we assess to be suitable playmates. Our daycare play yards are typically separated based on the dogs energy and activity levels. For example; nervous, calm and laid back dogs typically hang out together, where as dogs with a bubbly and excitable temperament would be in a separate and more active play yard. Organising our dogs in this way ensures that they are amongst other dog personalities that they are safe and comfortable with.
Dog Temperaments
The majority of dogs that attend Alpha Doggy Playcare are social and friendly dogs; however we pride ourselves on also being able to work with many dogs that other daycares cannot. We are staffed by professional dog trainers who are experienced in managing dogs of all different breeds and sizes. We are capable of accepting dogs with a wide range of temperaments and frequently work with dogs that are rehabilitating serious behavioural issues. Many dogs that aren’t suited to other doggy daycares are able to be integrated and safely managed by us. If by chance your dog is not fully comfortable staying here with us throughout the day, we can discuss potential options for training, or repeated assimilation sessions where a strategy can be put in place to help your pet to become more settled in this environment. From previous experience, some dogs just take a little more time to adjust to different environments.
If you are an owner that is unsure or nervous about how your dog will cope in a daycare environment; we recommend giving us a call and speaking to one of our trainers on 8756 8900.