Before Sweet Baby L arrived, I didn’t even know that doggie day cares existed. It wasn’t until a neighbor with a pup around the same age told me that they had been going to one that I considered it at all.

“Does he like going?” I had asked.

“Well, I love it,” she replied. LOL.

I wasn’t really sure what the point of it was. Why did my dog need daycare? It seemed to make more sense in the pre- work-from-home days if I was going to be in the office for hours on end. But when Sweet Baby L arrived, my office was closed indefinitely. I was home all the time. Surely I could watch her myself.

But then I started thinking about how much Sweet Baby L likes playing with other dogs. Maybe it would be really fun for her to spend a few hours at daycare where she could socialize all day.

I started doing some research on the local spots. There are a few options near us. We ended up at the closest place for the sake of convenience, and signed her up. Another thing I didn’t know – you can’t just drop her off and go. The dog needs to pass a behavioral assessment before attending. This is to make sure she can play well with other dogs. (Another thing to worry about! What if she didn’t pass!?) Luckily she did, with flying colors.

Her first day, I was very nervous about sending her. You’d think I had been sending her away for good! I worried about inane things like, will she make any friends? Will she think we left her there? Will she miss us? What if they forget to give her her lunch? Will the other pups be nice to her? Etc etc etc.

The place has a live cam so that you can watch your dog while they are in attendance. Being the anxious person I am, I spent a lot of the day glued to the feed.

We send Sweet Baby L to daycare fairly regularly now, mainly on days that both my husband and I need to be in the office. She loves going and is always excited when she knows that we are headed there.

Knowing how much she loves it makes it easy to send her frequently, but like anything, doggie daycare does have its pros and cons. In my opinion, they are as follows:

Pros

• Sweet Baby L loves socializing and this is an easy way for her to hang with lots of her friends.
• I don’t have to worry about leaving her home alone.
• She comes home ready to snooze. (Our breeder always told us “a tired pup is a happy pup.”
• She always seems to have fun there. This puts me at ease.

Cons

• All the places around us are almost always crowded. And they’ve only been getting busier. I worry that too many dogs in a fairly small, enclosed place can stress her out.
• It ain’t cheap. Most places have packages or memberships that offer slight discounts but around our neighborhood, prices for a day average around $40.
• I have no idea what other dogs will be attending the days she goes, so I don’t know if they are all friendly. (Presumably yes, given the behavioral assessment requirements, but still).
• Possible exposure to sicknesses like giardia.