Screening Dogs Quickly: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

This month we’ve discussed a playgroup evaluation process that is slightly shorter and less intense than our usual screening process. We know many people will be tempted to use this modified version all the time.  We realize that saving time often means saving money. But before you jump to this shorter evaluation process, keep in mind these safety issues.

The more extensive your evaluation process, the safer your playgroup/daycare will be. This just stands to reason. Usually the more you know about the dogs in your care, the better you can accommodate them, be their advocates, and keep them safe.

But we also recognize there are some good reasons to try a shorter evaluation in certain situations. There is a tension between screening the dogs fully and getting dogs into the playgroup quickly. To balance these two ideas, keep in mind the following safety measures when you are using the modified evaluation process.

• Keep the groups smaller if you do a modified evaluation process. Fewer dogs in a group will help keep things safer. The Dog Gurus would recommend groups of 4-7.
• By following the point above, you will have a smaller staff to dog ratio. We would usually recommend 1 dog to every 10-15 staff. However, if you are modifying your evaluation process we would stick with a lower staff ratio of 1:7-10 at most.
• Rule out dogs that are questionable or might require special attention. This means…you should rule out all yellow dogs. With our full evaluation process, we propose a ratio of 20% yellow to 80% green as a maximum percentage of yellow dogs. With a modified evaluation, you should have very few yellow dogs (less than 5%) to increase safety.
• Your staff should be more experienced. With a modified evaluation process, your staff needs to be highly skilled in supervising playgroups. Dogs who have not been evaluated with the full screening should be supervised only by employees who have the equivalent knowledge of Knowing Dogs 101 and 201 and have worked in daycare for at least 9 months.

By keeping in mind these safety measures you can use your modified shorter evaluation and still create a safe environment for your staff and the dogs.