How Long Has That Been Going On?

If I had a dollar for every time that question was asked during my days managing dog daycare playgroups my pups would be getting monthly bark boxes for life! Communication and tracking dog behavior changes in playgroups was one of our biggest internal challenges. We all dislike dismissing a dog from our playgroups, so how can we become proactive in monitoring behavior change before it escalates?

We think this month’s member bonus gift: Existing Dog Evaluation Checklist and Instructions will be a great resource for you. The checklist provides objective scoring of dogs currently attending your playgroups. When you work through the questions a color score will be obtained for each dog.

• Green dogs are the best fit for off-leash playgroups,
• Yellow dogs require more management and experienced staff members to keep safe during play
• Red dogs are not considered an appropriate fit for off-leash play

Keep in mind that The Dog Gurus definition of the off-leash play environment is for dogs that have good social skills to spend time playing with other social dogs. We understand that some centers offer niche services for dogs that need behavior modification to play appropriately with other dogs. This assessment tool can still be utilized, but you may find a higher percentage of difficult dogs for those providing behavior modification rather than general dog daycare.

Each pet center must determine their own target ratio and we recommend starting with a goal of 80% green and 20% yellow dogs.

Maintaining this ratio sets your playgroups up for safety and ease of management for your staff. Most importantly dogs attending your groups will relax and have fun. It’s important to remember that the red and low scoring yellow dogs negatively impact the play experience for the green dogs in the group. Just as we wanted to avoid the bullies and out-of-control kids on the playground so do our dogs.

Don’t be overwhelmed with the task of evaluating all the dogs in your playgroups. The task does take time, but is an important investment in the safety or your groups. It will also help you be proactive in communicating behavior issues with clients before they escalate. This may allow you to work together to find a solution so you avoid having a more difficult conversation later or ultimately lose a client.

We recommend setting a goal to assess all individual dogs in your center every year. Yellow dogs should have more frequent evaluations to ensure their behavior is trending in the right direction

Implementation Tips

• Involve your experienced staff to assess dogs
• Plan to evaluate dogs every quarter
• Prioritize initial assessments
  • Dogs that are challenging to manage assess first
  • Dogs involved in incident reports the previous quarter
  • Red and yellow breeds (see pages 48-50 in Off-Leash Dog Play)
  • Dogs 3 – 7 years of age
  • Reassess dogs that scored yellow in their initial evaluation the prior quarter
  • Other dogs that have been in program for one year or more that quarter (see next bullet)
• Create a system to assess dogs annually (on their anniversary date as a client or the dog’s birthday month/quarter)

These documents complete a set of three dog behavior assessment tools that classify dogs according to the traffic signal colors of green, yellow and red. (The Off-Leash Play Checklist and Instructions is a dog evaluation form for new dogs entering your program, and Dog Incident Checklist and Assessment Instructions for dogs involved in inappropriate behavior incidents.   Using the complete set will help ensure your playgroups are comprised of the “right dogs” to keep play safe and fun!

For information on all these forms check out the Dog Management Tools Pdf.