Safety

Health and safety

Deep cleaning and disinfecting

Our Centres cleaning procedures exceed mandated protocols to safeguard you and your pet’s health. We clean and disinfect regularly throughout our school to ensure a clean and healthy environment.

All staff follows Covid handwashing guidelines. Also, hand sanitizer and toilets for handwashing are available to all staff and guests.

Dog-safe cleaning products

We clean and sanitize all play and rest areas every day – sometimes more than once a day – with veterinary-grade cleaners and disinfectants. ]

This helps us ensure a safe, clean, and sanitized school that reduces the risk of spreading infectious diseases

School set up

24/7 Monitoring

Our school as CCTV cameras set up monitoring 24hrs a day

Two-door rule

There are always two doors between the dogs and the outside world. If one entry fails, there is a second door to prevent dogs from accidentally leaving our facility.

Indoor and outdoor play areas

Indoor and outdoor play areas help reduce stress and create an enjoyable environment for dogs to play and socialize.

Special flooring and play surfaces

We offer multiple surfaces for dogs to play on. Rubber flooring has some “give” and is less slippery than other alternatives. It provides excellent traction for our playing pups, but it’s also gentle on dogs’ bones and joints.

It’s also easy to clean and sanitize daily. Astroturf gives dogs a natural grass feel. Both are gentler on dogs’ paws, which helps if they aren’t used to the level of activity they’ll get at day care. We also have hard surfaces so dogs nails can naturally be kept short.

Individual crate spaces

Dogs have access to their own private space, where they can rest, relax, and feel comfortable away from the group. These crates help us create a much safer social environment for dogs by allowing them to take a break and maintain a healthy balance of play, learning, and rest. They will only be placed in a crate if they are habituated to one and need a confined area to enable switch off mode to occur otherwise, we have comfy sofas for them to enjoy. It also helps dogs avoid physical injury (from over-exercise without enough rest) and provides a space for them to unwind, so they do not become overstimulated or over-aroused during play.

Doggy Day School Attendance

One-day-per-week attendance requirement

We require all dogs to attend day care at least once a week because we know that consistency and continuity promote safety.

Dogs need to attend day care on a regularly scheduled day, so we can consistently match them with the social environment they will enjoy and benefit from most.

This regular weekly schedule helps your dog feel more comfortable, confident, and social, creating a safer day care environment for all. It also ensures our staff is as familiar with your dog’s normal behaviour, so we are attuned to any changes.

Benefits of a consistent attendance:

• Less stress – When dogs don’t visit us weekly, each time they come is like their first day at a new school or new job, which can be stressful. This requirement reduces stress and anxiety to promote safer social interactions for every dog in our care.
• Dogs love routine – Coming on the same day every week keeps dogs comfortable and familiar with our environment, which creates a positive, predictable, and safer social setting.
• More social time – Dogs play more safely and are more social with familiar dogs they know.
• Safety all around – Our staff can keep everyone safer when they know when each dog is attending. This allows us to create playgroups that match the dogs’ play styles, preferred playmates, energy levels, and sizes.
• We know your dog – By seeing your dog every week on the same days, our staff knows them. It helps us regulate safe play and lets us know when your dog might not be feeling like themselves.
• Training Programme- we can continue on your dogs training programme; it would be difficult if they were only coming every now and again.

Dog Behaviour Assessments

All dogs enrolled in our Enrichment Day Care program must pass our behaviour assessment before joining our Paws 4 a day family. Our highly trained staff conduct a thorough evaluation at the school.

It helps ensure that dogs are social with other dogs and people and will be comfortable with our daily routine. During the assessment, we will get to know your dog, which helps us place them in a playgroup that’s right for them to play safely and have fun. It also allows us to proactively staff so we can keep our dog-to-staff ratios low, promoting safety.

Vaccination requirements

Dogs who are vaccinated are less likely to become ill or pass on diseases to other dogs in our care. That’s why all dogs must have up-to-date vaccinations. We will need to see current vaccination records at time of registration and yearly thereafter. If these vaccinations are lapse, you will have to get them updated before your pup can return to day school..

Flea Tick and Worming should also be done regularly to avoid any infestations throughout the school.
We do not require dogs to have been administered Kennel cough but if you decide to have this then because it’s a live vaccine then the dog cannot come to school until 3 weeks later.

Highly trained and caring staff

Only the finest will do for our furry guests. We train our team both ourselves and through external education providers, which incorporates the latest behavioral science and dog training principles with a focus on positive reinforcement.

Included is a comprehensive training in canine first aid and CPR. Also, all staff are required to continue their ongoing education.

Our focus on positive reinforcement has never wavered. We continuously update our skills and policies to stay at the forefront of new advances in behavioral science and positive reinforcement techniques.

Low dog-to-staff ratio

We keep our staff-to-dog ratios low to help ensure the safety of every dog in our care. It helps us give more individual attention to each dog because we have more time to get to know them. Plus, we ALWAYS supervise play. Whether it’s a group of two dogs or 12 dogs, we never leave them unattended during group play.

One of our model’s benefits is that dogs who need a little more one-on-one time with their handlers can be placed in smaller class sizes. It gives our staff more opportunities to teach your dog, work on behaviors, and play while your dog is at day care.

Our goal is to set every dog in our care up for success with staff members who can meet their unique needs. Our low dog-to-staff ratio is enriching for your dog and our staff too!

Small Group Play and Enrichment

Small group play and enrichment groups give your dog more one-on-one time with their handlers, allowing our staff to teach your dog, work on behaviors, and play. After a balanced day of play, learning, and rest – you can look forward to a dog who is not only better behaved but also a healthy, well-balanced, and tired mentally and physically.

100% Supervised Play

Dogs are never left alone with another dog or unattended in playgroups to ensure their safety.

No dog collars

While playing, sometimes dogs can get tangled in each other’s collars, causing them to panic. This could lead to dogs choking and being strangled by their collar so to avoid this we do not allow collars on in the school, all staff wear slip leads in case they need to quickly move the dogs around. Collars would be needed if we were to leave the centre for a walk. We will not walk dogs on a slip lead.

Dedicated rest time

Maintaining a healthy balance of rest and play is important for dogs’ physical, mental, and social health. Like human athletes, rest helps dogs avoid physical injury and provides a space for them to unwind, so they don’t become overstimulated or over-aroused during play. Play-breaks give dogs the support they need to stay as safe and appropriate and create a much safer social environment for every dog in our care. Rest beaks after training also help to cement that learning.