Calling all dog day care owners + employees

I do not own a doggy daycare, nor do I work at one. 
 
I thought I would give you my 2cents, thought. 
 
We are considering doing dog day care 1x per week.
 
I don't know if I would ever consider going to a dog day care at someone's home.  I would much prefer it to be it's own building, with its own fenced outside play, and the inside with all dog-friendly flooring/toys etc.
 
Then again - I would have never sent my child to an in-home day care provider either. Just my personal opinion.

I too don't own or work at one but people here do so hopefully they will come along.  As far as daycare, I'd send her somewhere I have heard good recommendations but in the event she'd have to sleepover, I will do my best to find someplace that doesn't crate them at night and would allow her to roam free in the house and most likely join them in bed (she's 10 lb.).  Someone that used to post here has a great place she brings her dog Roscoe in CA that seems like a great daycare/overnight place.  If I can catch her, I will tell her to come post too.
 
Luckily so far, we've had my parents or friends watch Zoe when needed.

I worked at a medium sized, staffed doggie daycare in HS.

I'd say there are pros and cons to each idea. Large staffed places can accept more dogs, supervise more closely, and are designed specifically for dogs, thus are easy to clean and completely dog proof, often having plenty of room for running all out and hard play. Large daycares often are able to separate small and large dogs so everyone is matched with 'safe' friends.

In your home daycare might be best for more laid back dogs that just need someone to hang out with rather than all out hard core play and wrestling. Homes offer more familiar settings and are smaller so each dog is well known by the people/person running the day care. The small size would likely mean less profit too btw.

ORIGINAL: stardog85
The small size would likely mean less profit too btw.

but also less overhead.

i dont work for a dog day care, but i would be hesitant about leaving my dogs with someone at their home unless i had gotten very good recomendations from people i know and trust. of course i would want recommendations for a larger facility too. so i guess that doesnt help you much either way! []

I work at a doggie daycare. I suppose it's fairly large though it's the only one I've ever been to so I have nothing to compare it to. We have anywhere from 40 to  70 dogs per weekday. We board as well. Weekends (boarding only) are generally less, except around holidays.
 
We have four yards outside. The dogs are seperated in four groups according to size and activity level. We rotate them though after the morning though to give them room to play. 2 groups will go inside for naps and snacks while the other 2 groups are spread over all four yards. They stay in crates inside. Everyone goes in at 5 and then we do chores and wait up front for the others to come get their dogs. The boarding dogs follow the same schedule as the daycare ones except they get breakfast and dinner (obviously) and they are let out very early in the morning and also at night. If weather is bad or it's too hot/cold we rotate the yards in a large room inside.
 
The rates are $22 a day for daycare and $32 a night for boarding. It's less for daycare per day if you buy several days at once. We usually have around 4 yard attendants per shift, plus the front desk, plus management. Most shifts switch around lunchtime.
 
I don't know the owner very well but I do know that she started the daycare after attending a seminar about starting one up. I can tell you much more about how the daycare runs if you'd like, just M me if you want.

"Someone that used to post here has a great place she brings her dog Roscoe in CA that seems like a great daycare/overnight place.  If I can catch her, I will tell her to come post too. "
 
I think that's me. I just happened to follow a link to dog.com today, and came across this. []
 
Our daycare/boarding place is awesome! It's run by a woman out of her house with several acres of wooded play areas. The play areas can be open to allow all dogs access to all areas or closed off for dogs to have time outs or time away from each other. The dogs as a general rule have indoor/outdoor privileges, and they spend their days playing in the yard or snuggling in the house.  There are 5-6 couches for dogs, and each dog is required to bring his own bed.  She starts the day with a homecooked breakfast, then playing, then nap time, then playing, then dinner, then crate/bed time for chewing rawhides or bullysticks (you provide them).  Playtime depends on the dog - anything from sitting in the sun to wrestling with buddies to hunting gophers (Roscoe's fave).
 
She takes a limited number of dogs (I think 12 overnight and 20 daytime), and she has a maximum of 6 dogs per staff worker.  Someone is with the dogs at all times. I've seen staffers just out in the acreage following packs of dogs around.
 
The dogs sleep where they are most comfortable - in their own crates, on the sofa, in the bedroom, and sometimes even in the bed!!
 
There's also a pretty stringent interview that you and the dog have to both pass.  You have to be the sort of owner she approves of, and your dog has to pass a comprehensive temperament test. One of our dogs passed; the other didn't. We're still working on her and hoping she can get in someday.
 
This place charges $40/day and a day counts as any portion of time during a calendar day, unless you pick up by 7 a.m. the next day.  She has a crazy amount of rules that you follow or you don't get to come back (provide the bullysticks, provide food in the format she requests, provide treats to share, provide a bed or pay $5/day rental, be ON TIME for drop offs and pick ups, pay in advance, etc.) but people pay it gladly because the dogs go CRAZY for this place. Roscoe begins whining the minute we get near the exit for her place, and he knows the tub we use to bring all his stuff to "camp" His tail starts wagging so fast it's a blur when he sees that tub.  Any other place we take him to, he whines and cries and howls when we drop him off, and it breaks my heart. At this place, he leaps out of the car and dashes through the front door to the back acreage without so much as a backward glance.  That's worth gold, in my opinion.
 
In addition, you can buy massages, extra treats, and baths for quite a bit of money. I think she does pretty well.
 
She has a pretty loyal clientele, and she's very busy.

I would like a daycare with constant supervision, a place where he plays outside all day, aplace for him to socialize, and If you ore offering overnight, making it the same program as the daycare because I see too many places where the daycare is all about exercise, and they just crate boarding dogs all day.

Also, keep in mind that you need a lot of knowledge about dog behavior so that you don't have fights. 
Also, people will tell you their dog is friendly, but if you don't know enough to say "Is he friendly to dogs he doesn't know?" you may get into trouble.[]
A lot will have to do with the zoning regs where you live, too, and whether such a home biz is allowed.