How old for Day Care?

[Tara]

I am curious how old your pup was when they first went to doggy day care.  How did they do?

Pickle is 5 months old and would (I think) benefit from more unstructured time with other dogs.  We have been doing puppy socials for the last 3 months, but that's only an hour a week. 

[Robin & Josie]

 A good day care will screen Pickles and make sure he/she (sorry - can't tell by the name...) is a good fit. Josie has been going since she was that age or even a little younger. She LOVES playing with other dogs of any size or breed. (She does seem magically drawn to other doodles). She's very athletic and quick, though, so she can easily get out of situations she's not crazy about (she's also pretty small and agile).

Just be cautious about the day care and make sure they have someone in the space with the dogs at all times. If all the dogs have been properly screened, there shouldn't be anyone in there who doesn't "play nice".

In my opinion, socialization is one of the most important things and day care is a great way to achieve it - with dogs, that is. The other benefits are: 1. you know they are in a safe place while you're not there, 2. they come home EXHAUSTED. Nothing better for a puppy parent!

[Michele Kiss]

We waited until Fenway was around 10 months old. At 5 months (funnily enough, same age) we asked our trainer and she didn't seem to think it was a great idea so young. (At least for him.)

That said, we work from home, so daycare wasn't "necessary", it was just for socialization. So we waited a bit. 

Don't know that that applies in all situations so yours may be different! But we waited till about 10 months. In hindsight I'm glad we did, I maybe would have gone 9 months at the earliest. 

[Lori, Winnie, Bob and Indie]

Winnie had completed all of her puppy vaccines before she went- 3 or 4 months, I believe. She has absolutely LOVED it from the very first day. She is a very active puppy, and it truly has been a godsend for us. Like Robin said, she comes home tired and all of us can relax in the evenings. :-) She goes every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. 

[Sheree Small]

We started taking Zoey at 9 months, one to two times a week or when our schedule dictates. We probably could have done this way earlier. She loves it and sleeps really well that night.  Also, she doesn't bug our other dog as much.  Since going to the day care, she has been in a couple of situations with some kind of aggressive dogs.  she wasn't nervous and all went well.  I think the day care is a great idea.  The one we went to has a lot of dogs, in a big space.  They do a socialization test where they put her in another area and slowly let one or two dogs in at a time until all of the dogs are meshed and they determine if the new dog likes or dislikes the situation.  Zoey LOVED it!

[Kelly & Zoe]

We started with Zoe at 7 months (but would have started her at 5 had she been spayed), once a week.  She LOVES it.  It's made a huge difference on how she interacts with other dogs - much more confident and really knows how to interact with all types of dog personalities.  We also overnight her at the same location for a short weekend.

+1 on looking for a doggy day care facility that screens the dogs, separates them into 'like' areas and has enough staff to really watch and play with the dogs (and doesn't crate for the majority of the day).  I went to 3 separate facilities before choosing when one we're at now.