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So, I took Elka and Milton for half a day of daycare today. Apparently there is a dog there that goes every Monday, that Elka bullies. So they rotated each one inside for an hour and the other outside to play for an hour.
First, let me say that I applaud them for finding a way to let both dogs play safely.
However, I’m annoyed at their communication with me. There is no way that I would leave Elka there to be crated in daycare - I only do that when boarding, and she’s crated minimally during that (naptime and overnight for the boarders). Elka has been at daycare Mondays several times in the year she has been attending this daycare and I have never been told about a consistent problem with a specific dog. I know of only one single other time that Elka bullied a dog, and I was told that time they were able to correct the behavior and the dogs then ignored each other.
But this time, there for only daycare, they simply swapped them in and out. Now a half day is not free, I pay good money for that. Elka, at home, is a fairly chill girl - and if I’d kept her home, she would have had a walk and chilled out on the couch upstairs with me while I worked, or under the desk, or on the recliner - but not in a cage.
But instead of calling me, she spent half of her time in a cage. Now I’m not against crating, and she is crate trained, but that is not what I take them to daycare for.
So I have a few remaining questions:
1. Why wasn’t I called so I could make the choice to let them do those swaps or bring her home, saving her stress and me money?
2. If they knew she had a consistent problem with this other dog (and what they said indicated that they did) then how come this is the first time I’m hearing of it?
3. When the last incident happened, we discussed trying a citronella collar to see if that could avert the behavior; while I’m against aversives, if this minor aversive could “fix” this behavior then a few times would be worth the lifetime of rewards - why didn’t they go with the discussed plan? And if they did, why didn’t they tell me?
I’m not happy about this. I’m far less upset than when the lady at her previous daycare strung Elka up by her neck. This was at least a non-abusive, safe handling, and I’m happy with that. They’ll continue to attend this daycare, and I still trust them with the dogs. But now I’m wondering what they are not telling me about the dogs behavior.
I joked last week that Milton came home and ran laps, and wondered if they were crating the dogs the whole time. The attendant laughed with me and assured me that isn’t true - but ???? Now I’m not sure.
In fact, that Elka was caged when I arrived may be the only reason I know about the issue today - I’m not sure about that. After all, if every Monday that I bring her is a problem - that I only found out about today - what else are they not telling me?
Mind you - every time I pick up the dogs I ask for a report; when I board them I call every single day to get a report on how they’re doing. There is no lack of proactivity on my part, and they had been previously warned about Elka’ behavior with some dogs. I know that Elka was the problem this time, though I will never understand why she does that.
But why is this the first time I’m hearing about this, and why didn’t they call me and see if I wanted to simply bring her home?
*sigh*
An annoying end to the end. Highly irritating. And the worst part is my questioning of a daycare I previously touted, respected, and had full trust in.
Now, where there was trust, there is doubt.
-Lisa, on November 29, 2010 at 6:07 pm