LET us answer your questions!
Daycare for your pet should be chosen as carefully as any other service for a member of your family. Daycare has often been compared to your child's first day of school! We get frequent phone calls on first visits! Each daycare facility in Oklahoma City is different and have different services, staff and facility amenities for you to consider. Staff should be mature enough to be “in-tune” to dog behavior, the facility should be climate-controlled, and all areas clean and appropriate for large groups of dogs running together. At Bark of the Town, we are so confident, that we invite you to compare all of Oklahoma City's doggie daycare's and check out each facility to compare staff, services, safety, comfort, cleanliness and experience before making a choice.
Are the dogs supervised and do staff members intervene when play gets too rough?
- Yes, at Bark of the Town, our staff are trained to watch for every sign of a dog's well-being and safety while in a daycare pack. We have two to three staff members devoted to outside play and constantly supervise all daycare members at all times. We have canine-friendly methods of stopping rough play. Some deterrents we use for excited or aggressive play is coins-in-a-can which startles them temporarily, or we use a simple squirt bottle filled with water. No dog is ever struck or verbally yelled at. We treat your dog like our own family. A lot of positive reinforcement goes a long way.
Where they are boarded, do all daycare dogs have access to cool air-conditioning in the summer and heat in the winter?
- Yes. Bark of the Town has a large insulated indoor climate-controlled warehouse space for daycare and boarded dogs. We keep the inside temperatures a comfortable 73-76 degrees winter and summer. All inside areas the dogs stay or play is climate-controlled. During inclement or hot weather, we have a large indoor play area and keep a small door open to the outdoor play-yard allowing dogs to come and go as they please. Weather permitting, we open a large garage-door in our warehouse to our back-yard play area. All boarded dogs sleep in air-conditioned and heated areas inside our warehouse in their own enclosed suites with night-lights and music.
Is my dog ever confined during daycare at Bark of the town?
- Some daycare's will confine your dog for “nap-time”, “lunch” or “camping” for hours on end. Bark of the Town has all-day-free-play resulting in happy and pooped pups! You be the judge when you pick up your happy pup. Most pass out on the way home. It's a good question to ask when comparing daycare's and their schedules. At Bark of the Town, like children, we use time-out as a last resort when members present rough-play or aggressive behavior. First offender's will be given a verbal reprimand, second offender's get squirted and repeat offenders are given a time-out session of 10 minutes only removed from the pack.
do dogs have plenty of play-room? Do you have grass or gravel in the outside play area?
- In addition to our large indoor climate-controlled warehouse, Bark of the Town has a large grassy play-yard in which to romp, run, and play. Dogs expend their energy by running, jumping, and chasing each other. This is why they need lots of room to run. Other daycare's partition off small concrete rooms or small outdoor gravel areas with many dogs and little space to move which causes stress, anxiety and aggressiveness. This does not make for a happy dog and can be downright dangerous. We do not use sharp gravel which can be very harsh on a dogs paws resulting in shredded pads. We have grass to put their feet, sorry, paws in! We have 3 wading pools during the summer months to fully immerse or just get their paws wet.
Don't the dogs fight? What is your procedure for introducing new dogs?
- Bark of the Town's introduction is slow, calm, and fun. We only uses trained senior staff to evaluate dogs going into our pack. We follow a proven interview process for every dog before being allowed into general play population for each dog’s optimum safety, comfort, and happiness. We first allow them to acclimate to their surroundings inside our spacious warehouse with senior daycare dogs. We let them become familiar with all the new smells and with being smelled themselves. After all-that's how dogs meet! When this is done slowly and with great care, every member is confident and comfortable with everyone else. That creates a well-balanced pack. Sometimes a couple of days may be needed for complete introduction to be successful, but if it's not fun for your dog, then what's the point! Not every dog will be successful in daycare, but if your dog is apprehensive, or has severe anxiety issues that we cannot overcome, we will be up-front and honest with you and work to try and identify a solution.
What type of training do staff members get?
- At Bark of the Town, employees must love animals, be mature, and have the ability to think quickly on their feet. New employees are coached and trained by staff for many weeks until they are proficient in every detail. We perform background, reference checks and look for family values on each potential staff candidate. We also encourage and support the continuance of higher education. We are fortunate to have a wonderful, long-term staff and we think each and everyone of our staff is a member of our family!
My dog seems very tired, hungry or thirsty when they come home. Is this normal?
- This is completely normal. You can expect your dog to be tired for the first several times they come to daycare, and no, they are not sick! They just played hard in fresh air all day- they need to build their doggie stamina!. Although the dogs have ample time to nap, there is a lot of activity and stimulation to process in a daycare atmosphere. This can poop a dog out! And of course, they will be playing for the majority of the day. It is not uncommon for them to drink a lot of water during and after daycare. All Bark of the Town attendees have access to separate drinking stations for all dogs, kept fresh constantly. No one likes to drink someone else's slurp, Yuk!
Will the staff feed dogs treats, rewards? Give medications?
- Meals should be given by owners before/after Daycare. Boarded dogs are given morning/evening meals with a nutritious top quality Chicken/Rice dog food, (no by-products or grains included) and bed-time snacks and/or owner provided kibble at no extra charge. Any medications should be clearly marked with dispensing directions. We keep a log for medicine dispersal as this is very important for every dog's health. Bark of the Town never charges a fee for this service.