Dogs Training Blog

First off I want to say I’m not a breeder or puppy miller. =) I work at a cage-free doggy daycare, and at times we have 30-40 dogs and at least 20 every day. Of course they’re all temperment tested and monitored 24/7, etc. but it’s expected that a lot of the dogs aren’t well behaved as far as training. In fact many of the daycare dogs are dropped off simply to ‘burn up’ their energy. We are in the middle of a city so noise is a common concern as we’re supposed to keep them quiet (no barking) if at all possible. But of course when one starts they all get riled up and other than banging dishes together (which obviously is loud too) it’s not easy to get them to stop once they get started. Believe it or not, they’re usually very quiet and just happily roam around and play so it’s not as if they bark often, it’s just that when they do it’s hard to get it to stop. But many are obnoxious untrained labs who even like the squirt bottle (which helps if it’s just one dog barking). Would a dog whistle be enough to get them to stop? Also, there are a few pens but for the most part they have free run of the facility. The layout isn’t perfect (which I can’t do much about) but even where we have gates or any doors to ‘no dog’ areas, it’s very difficult to get all the other dogs to stay back to only let ONE out (if they’re going home etc.) Same goes with when they hear someone in the reception area… they all crowd the door and there’s not really anywhere to keep them back. Squirt bottle doesn’t really stop them when they get that excited and ALL want out the door; it’s hard enough for ME to get out without letting any of them out. It’s a struggle just to get myself out of the door while they’re all jumping up pushing their heads and noses through to get out the door. It’s chaos for sure and not possible to ‘correct’ that many dogs at once, at least not that I know of! Plus it can’t be anything too loud and many dog owners wouldn’t understand the need for a verbal correction and would take it as us ‘yelling at the dogs.’ I know with just one dog there are many techniques to getting them to back up by ‘claiming the area’ and such and I’ve studied them, but unfortunately they really only apply to individuals, and it’s not easy to do it with a pack of dogs who are usually very hyper/obnoxious and you don’t have the time to work with them one on one. If anyone has any advice that would be great! <>Uhm.. please read the whole question, lmao. I clearly stated that I worked for a doggy daycare.. =P

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