Dog Management in a Social Dog Boarding Setting

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Aggression, fear, sociability, and unsociability require some techniques.

Not every dog has the same experience at Glencadia. We want all of them to be outside, playing, having fun, and socializing as much as possible, but these activities do not all happen instantly for every dog in the same way.

Nervous Nellies, Bossy Bobs, Persistent Pepes, Wallflowers, Newbies, Old Timers, Youngsters, Seniors: lots of factors to consider when grouping dogs. Luckily, most of the time the dogs do most of the work for us, by figuring each other out among themselves.

Tech Solutions

While dog management would not seem to be a prime candidate for technological solutions, our sophisticated reservation and dog management system has a flag system so that the staff here can see all the issues pertaining to the dogs at camp.

This makes it easy to group and remember any issues that arise over time.

Differences between camp and the dog run

When people take their dogs to the dog run to socialize in NYC or anywhere with enclosed areas, there are some important differences to how the social environment plays out at camp. Here are some differences:

1. Dogs at the dog run do not usually have long or established social relationships. Imagine a child running out to the playground to play and finding some new, strange kids versus when the kid sees his/her best friend. With dogs, we definitely notice a difference in the mood and energy level of the dogs after a day or so. They need time to work out some of their social issues and realize which dogs might be up for chase over those who will often be annoyed by play invitations. If they have spent the night in the same room with some of the dogs, if they have encountered the same individual in more than one setting, they relax around each other.
2. There is no mechanism at the dog run to separate particular dogs into separate groups or areas. We sometimes have a dog who cannot be trusted with other dogs, full stop, at least at that point in time. More often than not, however, the same dog who might be too much on the “romp” with a lot of dogs may be completely fine with a smaller group. Or there may be two particular dogs who, for whatever reason, cannot get along. Here, we can re-group as needed. At the dog run, human schedules and preferences would interfere with this kind of social manipulation.
3. At the dog run, the owners are present. Dogs can react quite differently when their humans are with them. Generally, they seem to socialize better when the owners are not there.

Camp, Always Different

We have a video series we make here call Letter from Camp. Some of these videos might give you a sense of how different camp can be for dogs with different temperaments.

There are many variables that determine somewhat what the day of a dog here might look like. For example, some dogs have been here many times, know the ropes so to speak, or are just very comfortable in the new setting right away even though they have never been here. Other dogs are comfortable but have some health concerns. Some are nervous around new people or frightened by big open spaces or more than one dog at a time. Others, for whatever reason, do not seem to want to be with other dogs in a new setting. Others are young, and excited, but maybe overzealous from the point of view of another more sedate dog.

There are dogs that come here for the first time and seem nervous. I can tell this is a great, friendly dog who will be a great buddy in a while, but isn’t sure about this new situation. This attitude might mean the dog is smart. I remember every one of these types of dogs since it usually takes some work, patience, and time for them to come around, and then when they do, and suddenly become friendly and ready to socialize, it’s a relief and feels like some kind of progress. Other new dogs show up, see the big fields, the other dogs, and are ready to party the first minute they show up.

Most of the dogs here at any given time have been here before and we know them. If we have a new dog that is nervous, sometimes one very relaxed old timer will help them see that there is nothing to worry about it. There is no doubt that they pick up each other’s moods and attitudes.

Sometimes I say we should all go for a romp by the pond or in another field before breakfast. Sometimes some have breakfast while others are still out with a larger group exploring and playing.

In the middle of the day, after breakfast and a romp around, if possible, some downtime is a fine idea for midday. Then evening, we do it all again.

This little post is far from comprehensive but might help to get a sense of how we interact and organize dogs. I’ll write about more specific issues in another post! Thanks for reading.

Originally published at https://www.glencadia.com on May 30, 2019.

This post was originally published on this site