OWNING THIS BUSINESS SUCKS (sometimes)
It’s hard to believe, right? How could owning a dog daycare not be the best business ever? It’s true, every day we have happy dogs come in and spend time with us either for daycare or for boarding, but - and this is one thing you don’t think about when you decide to get into the dog daycare business - there is a HUGE downside. Well, two downsides, really – Injuries and worse, losing the dogs altogether.
Pictured below are four good dogs we've lost and miss terribly:
Agnes, Chase, Scout, and Mr. Hufflepuff!
While we operate with the belief that all dogs are good dogs, we also are aware that sometimes conflicts arise with dogs and it's our job to minimize these conflicts. We actively monitor play and pack interaction but a scuffle can happen in an instant and sometimes injuries are sustained. When an injury occurs, regardless of the severity, it is hard on us and our staff. We second-guess how we handle things, how we could’ve prevented it, and more. We do treat each incident as a learning experience and an opportunity for education - for us AND our staff. This education helps us dictate our policies and how we conduct our operations.
Over the course of the past several months, we’ve had several of our dogs at Good Dog diagnosed with cancer or other illnesses and we’ve even lost a few. It’s never easy to lose one of our furry friends, but honestly, when we set out to take over this business, that was the furthest thing from our thoughts but it’s, of course, a part of getting to know all of these wonderful dogs. We feel lucky to get to spend whatever time we get to with them.
Our hope, of course, is to not lose dogs to illness or to have to ask them not to return due to conflicts in our dog packs, we want these good dogs around as long as possible. In the event of a conflict, our philosophy is that if they happen, how we handle them can mean the difference between some pack separation and a vet visit - the latter usually involves us asking the aggressor not to return to Good Dog. We want all of our good dogs as well as our staff to be safe, happy, and healthy and we strive to ensure that this is the case at all times. If we miss the mark and don’t achieve that, it means owning this business would suck all the time.
In all honesty, it’s an absolute pleasure to be in an environment filled with dogs even with all the issues that arise. These issues around caring for living beings aren’t unique to us or our staff, but they can be difficult.
At the end of the day, we’re happy to have taken this leap and we love all our good dogs, even those which may not be a great fit for our daycare. We still believe all dogs are good dogs.