Holly & I have heard it all: You have the best job in the whole world, I wish I could have your job, you
girls are so lucky to be able to play
with dogs all day. I remember once a person even said “it must be so great to have a stress-free job!” My response to
that: “If you ever find one, please let me know”.
It is true that we do have great jobs and yes we do get to
play with dogs a lot more than the average person. But the bottom line is that
it is still a job there is so much more to it than just playing with dogs. Our number one priority at TYDB is safety for
the dogs and the staff. The most
important element in providing a safe dog day care is to know the dogs. Some
dogs come several days a week, others once a week and others only come on a
random basis. So, we need to know who plays better with who, who prefers the
back play-yard to the front, who does not play well with who, who has food or
toy aggressions, who eats poop (yes yuck, but a constant problem with dogs),
who prefers a wire or plastic crate…I’m sure I could go on. We need to constantly be communicating with the staff throughout the day to get their feedback on dogs’ behavior so that we can give that information back to the owners at the end of the day. We typically have anywhere from 25-45 dogs in our care on any given day, that’s a lot of dogs to remember who played with who, who had an odd bowel movement, or thru up their breakfast!
Besides the endless chores to maintain a clean daycare
outside, the inside also needs constant cleaning and maintenance as well.
Though we love the barn and all its charm, it is an old barn and there is
always something that needs fixing or improvement. In our spare time, we
maintain our website and facebook pages with daily updates. Send out emails for
store specials and information. Maintain inventory and place orders for the
store, rotate and stock store shelves, answer the phone, return phone calls and
emails, book grooming appointments, manage staff scheduling and payroll,
monitor and send out vaccination reminders for daycare and grooming clients. We
also research as much we can regarding pet health issues, diets and general dog
care in order to be able to offer quality products and information to our
clients. Oh and don’t for the laundry. On
wet days, all the dogs are toweled off each and every time they come inside.
That’s a lot of dirty towels!
When people wish they could have our job, it is usually a
sunny 85 degree day. No one ever wishes for our job on a day like yesterday
with 35 degrees and rain! Last night at check-out, a client said she’d bet I
wished for a desk job on days like today. Nope, I’d take a rainy day outdoors with
dogs to a desk job any day!
Maybe its not the best job in the whole world, but it is a great job.
