3 Tips To Get Your Puppy Ready For Doggy Daycare
If you have decided that your puppy needs somewhere to go to keep him occupied and happy while you are at work, then enrolling him in doggy day care is a great idea. He can have fun, get some exercise, and stay occupied there instead of sitting in your home in a crate, or worse, chewing up your shoes! You do need to prepare your puppy for this new endeavor to make sure his transfer into day care is successful. Follow these doggy day care preparation tips to make sure your puppy gets all he can out of his new "home away from home".
1. Teach Him Basic Commands
The doggy day care staff needs to have some control over the dogs in their care, and every puppy should learn basic commands before entering day care to help the staff keep him safe. No fancy tricks are needed, but teach him to "sit", "stay", and make sure he understands what "no" means.
While you may think that there can be little harm in one puppy at day care without any obedience training yet, just imagine if every dog in the daycare facility didn't know any commands. It would lead to a very chaotic environment that could end up with dogs fighting and misbehaving all day long.
2. Introduce Him to Some Friends
If your puppy has had no interaction with other dogs since you brought him home from the shelter or breeder, then you don't want his first interaction with other dogs to be too overwhelming. Before he faces the pack at his new day care, introduce him to a friend or family member's dog. You can then check out his natural social instincts to ensure he is not aggressive towards other dogs or very fearful.
If his first introduction to another pooch goes well, you can then take him to a local dog park to see how he feels in a group. Once he has those two tasks under his belt, the doggy day care center will then be seen as a fun day for him instead of an overwhelming or fear-inducing situation.
3. Start Him on Flea and Heartworm Prevention
While you won't forget to make sure is vaccinated before beginning day care, since most facilities insist on seeing this paperwork, you also don't want to wait to get him started on flea-prevention medicine and heartworm prevention. Most day cares don't insist that dogs entering day care use flea treatments, that means that any other dog in day care could be carrying a flea or two.
While rare, it is possible for fleas or heartworms to be transferred at any doggy daycare facility, so giving your dog these prevention treatments is a good idea to make sure your dog and your home are protected from any pesky critters.
Doggy day care is the perfect place for any puppy who doesn't like sitting at home while his "people" are at work or school. Prepare him properly, and he will be in for lots of healthy fun in his new "home away from home" at day care such as All Pets Hospital Ltd.
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