How To Prepare Your Property For Dog Daycare Business

Dog Daycare Business

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Many dog lovers dream of owning their own pet care business someday. One option is to open your own dog daycare right in your very own home. Setting up your own dog care facility takes some effort and planning to ensure that your doggie clients stay happy and safe. Here are some tips and ideas on how to prepare your property for dog daycare business.

Safety

For the safety of your employees, owners, and the dogs themselves, you need to prepare your property to ensure that a dog isn’t injured while he is in your care. Bad reviews make it hard to keep clients as well as acquire new ones. In order to lessen the change of injuries, make sure that you establish policies that will setup up your facility that keeps everyone safe.

Dog proofing your facility includes creating safe rest areas and play spaces that your dogs will find comfortable, appealing, and safe. You need to install surfaces that humans and dogs will not slip on, remove anything a dog can choke on along with any breakable objects, and make sure there aren’t any tripping hazards like extensions cords on your property.

Properties that have outdoor areas need to have fences that are strong and tall enough to keep your doggie clients inside and keeps other dogs, as well as humans, out. Also, ensure that none of the dogs are able to dig under the fence and that the gates are properly secured and never left open. To avoid this scenario, Good Pup Life recommends installing a wireless dog fence instead.

If you have landscaping in the outdoor doggie areas, also ensure that the plants are non-toxic for dogs and that none of them have any sharp points that could cause a dog an injury. If you have any fruiting plants, make sure the fruit that is produced and their seed pods aren’t choking hazards. Exposed sprinkler heads should be removed so that the dogs won’t chew on them. Also, ensure that any natural grass in the area is free of pesticides and fertilizers that could make the dogs sick.

Dogs love to play in the water, so many doggie daycare facilities include shallow-water features and wading pools. This can be appealing in the summer months or regions that are naturally hot to help dogs stay cool. If you choose to have a water feature on your property, you want these features to only be accessed by the dogs when they can be supervised. A water feature needs to be fenced in and located where disabled and older dogs are not able to get to them.

Hardscape

Many boarding facilities and dog daycare facilities use concrete as the primary hardscape on their properties. Outdoor kennels, patios, and walkways are typically concrete since its inexpensive to install and easy to clean with a hose. The low cost of installing concrete can also be appealing to someone just starting a business that has a tight budget. However, it can cause headaches and added costs later on since it is prone to cracking as time goes by, and any minor repair can result in surfaces looking mismatched, which can take away from your facility’s overall look and put off high-end clients.

Concrete is also slippery when it is wet, which will be a common occurrence where dogs will urinate frequently, and water will be needed to keep the concrete floors clean. To ensure everyone’s safety, you may want to choose a slip-resistant option such as paving stones. This choice will also help to improve the aesthetics of your doggie daycare facility and create patios and walkways that are also easy to clean.

Paving stones are very durable and hard to damage. But when they do become damaged, it’s easy to replace a few pavers, or even just one, and have your facility look just like it did without incurring a costly repair or replacing an entire section of your hardscape.

Artificial Grass Versus Natural Grass

For facilities that have an inside play area, you will want to create an area that is enticing that also includes features that you would normally see outside like trees, paths, and grass. Remember that indoor spaces won’t have the sunlight exposure needed in sustains a living grassy area, so your indoor area should be made out of artificial turf.

Your outside areas can be made out of either artificial turf or natural grass. If you go with the natural grass option, you will want to avoid chemical fertilizers that are potentially toxic as well as herbicides and pesticides and choose non-toxic, natural lawn products when caring from your lawn. Eco-friendly dog care facilities should also consider how much water should be used to keep a natural grass area healthy and green.

Remember that dogs love to run and roll around and are used to having lawns as their main area of play and repeated urination from the dogs can create a brown spot on natural grass. Brown spots are inevitable at a dog daycare facility where you have several dogs using the lawn to go to the bathroom. It’s also hard to avoid the smell of urine and keep bacteria buildup in the soil and grass, so it’s important to rinse these areas frequently.

These reasons are why artificial grass is a great option for outside areas as well. Not only will synthetic grass always look green and lush, but you also won’t have to worry about any brown spots due to do urine. Liquid and solid waste are easily removed, and you can save money and time with this low-maintenance option since you won’t have to fertilize, aerate, edge, or mow it. You also won’t need herbicides or pesticides that are dangerous for dogs to ingest.

Artificial turf is also a good choice if you have an eco-friendly dog daycare facility. Not only will the lawn be free of pesticides, but you also won’t have to waste a lot of water to maintain it.

Opening a dog daycare facility on your property is easier to do than you think. All you need to do is follow the above safety tips and create an environment that allows your doggie clients to safely play and rest throughout the day. That will help to ensure that you have many happy clients and a long and successful business.