Is the Good Life a good fit for your dog?
Our aim, whether for boarding or daycare, is to ensure that your dogs are comfortable, happy, and in an environment that is as fulfilling to them as we can reasonably create on our property. That being said, we are not a good fit for all dogs. Because our environment is very much a social one, dog-wise and human-wise, it is very important that our dog guests innately enjoy being around other dogs, or at least are comfortable with them. We can occasionally work with dogs that are shy or timid around people, as long as they are happy to be around other dogs.
Aren’t all dogs “social animals” that need to be around other dogs? Don’t I just need to “socialize” my shy dog? There isn’t a straight forward answer to these questions. There are some dogs that, whether nurture or nature, are simply not comfortable around a large group of dogs no matter how much you “socialize” them. And this is OKAY! There are far better care options for dogs that fit this description.
However, we have had some dogs that were initially shy and timid with other dogs, but showed early signs of wanting to play and interact with them. These initially shy dogs, after given a deliberate and controlled play environment with select dogs, learned to LOVE the playful atmosphere here at The Good Life. These dogs just needed to build some confidence. But, there are just as many “shy” dogs that simply do not blossom in our multi-dog setting.
We cannot take dogs that are aggressive towards other dogs and people for obvious reasons. The most common type of aggression is known as “reactivity”. Reactivity is a broad term that refers to dogs that overreact to certain stimuli (eg., other dogs, UPS truck, new people, etc.). Sometimes, reactivity is fear-based, but can also be triggered through high energy play (i.e., overreacting to the stimuli of high energy play with another dog). Not all reactivity is a problem at The Good Life- while your dog may be reactive at home to the mailman, it may be a non-issue at The Good Life. Another category of dogs that don’t fit well into our environment are the dominant, “bully” types. Not to be mistaken for the high energy one-year-old that plays rough and doesn’t know boundaries, the “bully” actively seeks to assert his/her dominance of other dogs, and can become aggressive with other dogs that do not “submit”, or might even become aggressive with overly timid dogs (when their prey drive kicks-in). Resource guarding (e.g., food aggression, toy aggression, human guarding, etc.) is yet another category of potential aggression, and may or may not be an issue at The Good Life.
Generally, The Good Life is likely not a good fit for your dog if he/she:
- Has bit another person or dog before
- Has a history of fighting with other dogs
- Consistently shows aggression towards other dogs (barking while on leash doesn’t necessarily count!)
- Is very shy with other dogs and has never played with other dogs when given the opportunity
- Is an intact female in heat
- Excessively barks or humps
- Does not read social cues
Sometimes, even after a positive evaluation and subsequent daycare or boarding stays, a dog that previously did well here may show behaviors that warrant dismissal from our services.
If you aren’t sure whether your dog does well with other dogs and enjoys their company, or might fit into any of the “aggressive” categories, feel free to reach out to us. We will first have a phone conversation to learn a little bit about your dog, and can then take the next step, if appropriate, of setting up “meet & greet."
Meet and Greet and Trial
A meet and greet is where you and your dog come up to check the place out and receive our paperwork. Please bring their shot record. The meet and greet is done entirely outside and we will not be introducing your dog to any other dog at this point. Dogs behave differently in front of their family and we want to see that interaction.
What is a free trial? You can choose to add a free trial along with your meet and greet. That means you will leave your dog with us and pick them up later. They will join into daycare and we can evaluate them and keep you updated as well. We can schedule a meet and greet + trial during Monday – Friday. We ask that it be before 9:30 am and pick up after 4 pm. If you are only available to do a meet and greet on a weekend, we can schedule that but are unable to offer a trial during the weekend as we do not conduct daycare on those days. We cannot schedule a meet and greet and then a trial on different days as this upsets the dog routine too much. The meet and greet will take approximately 10 minutes and then the trial will be at least 6 hours. We do not allow families to come into the dog yard for a trial as this does cause stress for the other dogs.