Now that I've begun fostering dogs, daycare has become an even more important part of the socialization and training process. We take our dogs to Camp Bow Wow but there are lots of great options around town.
Taking the dogs to daycare does more than just get them out of the house for the day. One of our foster dogs, was very shy around people. He instantly bonded with us but very wary and skittish around strangers. By taking him to Camp Bow Wow, he was exposed to other people. They did an awesome job of working with him and playing with him one-on-one so that he eventually grew more comfortable and even became curious about other people. He would have had a hard time being adopted had he remained so frightened of others.
Having Bubba helps my fosters become socialized around another dog but it's important that they also become comfortable with other dogs as well. At daycare they are matched with other dogs of similar temperments and learn learn to play and interact well with a variety of other dogs. My current foster dog, Leela, loves people and when I take her to the dog park she spends as much, if not more, time socializing with the people there as she does playing with the other dogs. At Camp Bow Wow, she gets to focus on playing with the other dogs. Today was her first day there and you can tell from the picture that she was having a great time!
If you're interested in seeing more of Camp Bow Wow's happy campers, you can find them on Facebook under Campbowwow Indy or check out their blog.
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