Day Care for Dogs

Originally reported for NCC News on November 17, 2010.

Pet owners want to care for their animals, but is doggie daycare going over the top? Not for some people. At Bark Avenue Doggy Day Care and Grooming Salon, on the corner of Park Street and Oak Street in Syracuse (seen here), people drop off their dogs before going to work, trusting that their beloved pet is in good hands.

“The dogs are playing with each other, so they’re forming little packs and playing and running around…they’re not napping here…they’re watching or engaging in the activitiesso, they’re tired,” said owner Cindy Myrdek.

There is a doggy playroom at Bark Avenue where the dogs are free to roam around the office or play in the room with their toys while Myrdek is grooming a dog.

Myrdek says some days she watches ten or fifteen dogs at a time in daycare and sometimes the dogs can get a little rowdy or even destroy things in their playroom - such as couch cushions. Myrdek (seen here telling her dog, a Spinone Italiano called "Gelato") says she has no problem handling so many dogs at once, though. By asserting herself as the leader of what she calls “the pack", the dogs listen to her commands and are generally not a problem.

In addition to having playmates during day care, Myrdek said the dogs learn pack socialization skills by interacting with each other; these are skills she says the dogs would otherwise not learn by staying at home or in a kennel all day.

“It’s almost like if you’re housebound all the time and you get to go out and do something; it’s really exciting. It’s fun,” said Myrdek.

Not everyone can afford her services, however. Most of Myrdek's clients are attorneys or professionals who are away from their house for a majority of the day. When her daycare services are not in high demand, such as just after the winter holidays Myrdek said, she relies on the grooming services she offers to keep her business successful year-round.

Both grooming and day care services are demanding on the doggy day care owner. Continually having to clean up after the dogs and the hours spent grooming means Myrdek is not sitting around during the day.

She added that the dog’s personalities really begin to show once they are part of the day care pack. For her, seeing the social growth of a dog in day care is the most enjoyable part of the job, she said, and makes all of the hard work worthwhile.