Doggy Day Care - By the Hour (Arlington, Centreville: home, buy)

[novaxb]

Hi all! I have Googled the heck out of this, but am coming up short.

We have a very energetic 1 year old Beagle/Bassette mix, though I don't want to put him in a doggy day care everyday - I just want to take him someplace to get all that energy out when I get home from work. I guess I am looking for an indoor dog park where we can pay by hour.

Anyone know of such a thing? We live in the Fair Lakes area.

[CaliTerp07]

I have never heard of such a thing.

There are plenty of outdoor dog parks though! Several have lights that are on until 10 pm or so to allow use when it gets dark early. If you go to the one in Towers Park in Arlington off Columbia Pike, you'll see me there in the winter, bundled up in 298346 layers of jackets and hats and gloves and socks My dog needs a good run each day, and in the winter I can't make it home in time to take her to the park near my house, so we load up and drive 20-30 minutes to a park with lights.

A GREAT option would be to look into some sort of doggy sport or activity to do with him. I have a very drivey/energetic spaniel/border collie mix, and we got into agility lessons once a week (with practice in our tiny living room every other day!) There are also Flyball clubs, competitive obedience groups, canine freestyle, or rally obedience classes in the area--just depends on what your dog likes. Honestly, mental stimulation wears out a dog MUCH quicker than just running. If you want recommendations on this, I have tons.

There are several places that offer half day packages for doggy daycare (I know dogtopia does), but every day care I've looked into closes at 7pm, so it wouldn't work if you're looking for evening options.

Finally, I would look into mentally stimulating toys and such for your dog. I would feed his kibble in some sort of puzzle toy, to make him work for it. It'll buy you 20 minutes of time in the evenings (until he gets good at it--my dog can get all her food out in under a minute now!), and again helps with the mental tiredness thing.

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[movingtodcfromseattle]

What if you bring him to a doggy daycare once a week? When my beagle goes for a grooming and few hours of playtime he comes home exhausted and sleeps well the next day too! I've even considered taking him mid-week to break up his routine. Here is the place that we go too. It's about 15 minutes from Fair Lakes. Affectionate Pet Care. Otherwise no advice for you.

[novaxb]

These are great options - thanks! I think we are going to suck it up and take him to the dog park - we were worried since he is still pretty new to his 'home' and 'owners' and we are worried about recall and overexcitement. No one wants their dog to be the 'problem dog' on the playground! But good to know some of them are lit at night, that will make it easier for us to go during the week.

We did get a Buster Ball and he likes it - figured it out pretty quickly! We are going to invest in a few other ones as well. Perhaps rotate them each day of the week. And one day a week daycare might be do-able financially. I don't know why it didn't occur to me that one day a week would help. See? That's why I came to the boards - you all are so smart

[CaliTerp07]

I'd make your first few trips at "off hours", when there aren't likely to be 25 other dogs there. If there are only 3-4, it'll be a lot easier for your pup to get used to the place.

And don't feel too bad about the recall. When we first adopted our Lucy, it was a circus event trying to catch her to go home. She would run circles around us for 20 minutes when we wanted to go (it was totally a game). I'd enlist the help of others in the park to snag her collar so I could leash her up to leave! Now though, I just get up and start walking to the gate and she comes bounding after. Everyone starts at the beginning. So long as your dog is friendly and good with other dogs, he'll be okay.

[unicorn1209]

I take my energetic, now 4 year old chihuahua mix to a day care once a week. Two reasons, he LOVES to play with other dogs AND it helps him stay socialized. I can take him as often or as little as I need/want. After 8 hours running and playing he's worn out and happy! I don't live near you but the place I use has different rates depending on how often you take your dog.

[alibaba1579]

I've heard good things about Affectionate pet care - but be prepared to spend some money, they're not cheap!

[KathyR]

Some things to look for in a doggy daycare - the ratio of humans to dogs in the room with the dogs, where do the dogs do their business?, (some let them do it inside on the floor and just mop it up), do they have an outdoor area for the dogs to use and how big is it, is there a separate area for large and small dogs, what is their policy for dogs that bite/attack other dogs (whether your dog is doing it or is the victim). Take a look at the staff - do they look experienced/mature enough to handle a group of dogs? Or are they teens/just out of high schoolers?

I've had both good and bad doggy daycare experiences, so these issues come to mind that you should remember when looking for a place. We use a great one in Manassas, once a week, but it wouldn't be too convenient for where you are.

[snoie]

Definitely do off hours at the dog park - such as lunch time (seems slower on weekends - at least at Quinn Farm in Centreville), and evenings after work. Now that it is getting colder out, there will likely be less going. People really pack the place on weekends during nice weather.

I like to go after work in the evening. There are no lights there, but people do stay after dark. Both my dogs are terrible at recall (both are still young), so I take the dog park as an opportunity to work with them some. We only go to Quinn Farm now, as we know a lot of others, and know how the dogs interact. I've had only a few run ins with bad owners, and they usually come once or twice and never come back.

Now, there are a lot of 'anti-dog park' people out there, but just give it a try and see how it goes. As long as you don't show up on the weekend, you are usually pretty good. I'm not sure about the parks closer to Fair Oaks, as i only frequent the one.

Goodluck! We thought about doing doggy day care one day a week for ours, but the cost is high. I do agree with finding an activity. We plan to start agility in the spring in attempts to focus their energy more.

[novaxb]

Well, since I know you all checked the forum hourly over the weekend to checking on the dog situation, I thought I would give you an update! We decided to stop overthinking it and took our pup to the Herndon Dog Park and not only did we have a great experience - he was beyond thrilled. And thankfully not the 'problem dog'. We met quite a few other owners and everyone seemed super nice and helpful (except the grouchy lady, but apparently that's her usual state). We had no problem leashing him up - we waited until whichever dog he was trailing was leashed up, grabbed him and left.

Thanks, as always, for your help with this!