Doggy day care

This service exists because of one very specific problem: the Spanish working day. Leaving at eight and returning at seven leaves a dog alone for eleven hours, and no half-hour midday walk truly fixes that. Day care does not split the wait: it removes it. The animal spends the day in company and comes home in the evening, with you, to sleep where it always sleeps.

The difference from boarding is that there is no night here. That makes it far easier for dogs that cope badly with sleeping away, for deeply attached animals, and for anyone who does not want their dog spending whole weeks in another house. And it makes it repeatable: most people who use day care do not use it on odd days, they use it two or three fixed days a week, and that regularity is precisely what makes it work. The dog learns the routine, recognises the place, knows who will be there.

What happens during the day depends a great deal on the sitter, and it is worth asking. A good day is not eight hours of continuous excitement: that exhausts the animal and produces overstimulated dogs that come home unable to settle. A good day has blocks: an outing and exercise in the morning, a spell of play or brain work, a long nap in the middle — dogs sleep far more than people think — and another outing before pick-up.

Group life with other dogs is the part to examine under a magnifying glass. For a sociable dog it is the best thing about the service. For a reactive, insecure dog, or one with a previous run-in, joining a group is asking for trouble. Any serious sitter will run a trial day before accepting a new dog into a stable group — and if they tell you it is not needed, be suspicious.

For puppies there is an extra nuance: day care is a superb socialisation opportunity in the window when it matters most, but only if the group is well chosen and a balanced adult dog is present. A puppy that picks up bad habits from another dog drags them around for years.