07/08/2026
🐾WELCOME TO THE DOG CENTRE 🐾
Here are some lovely new faces who have officially joined the Tiverton Dog Centre family, having recently completed their assessments 😁
Every dog that joins us goes through a thorough, gradual assessment process before they are introduced into the main daycare groups.
Daycare should never be a case of dropping an unfamiliar dog off for a full day, putting them straight into a group of unknown dogs and then simply seeing how they cope. Even the friendliest and most sociable dog can find spending an entire day in a completely new environment, surrounded by strange people and dogs incredibly overwhelming.
Welfare and comfort should always come before convenience.
Every new dog therefore begins with a one-hour assessment and importantly they do not meet customer dogs during this initial assessment. The dogs they meet first are our own trained dogs who play a huge role in the assessment process. These are calm, socially experienced dogs that we have owned and trained for years which means those very first introductions can take place in a controlled, safe and relaxed environment.
Our staff dogs help us understand how a new dog communicates and interacts without the unpredictability of immediately placing them into an established daycare group. They are particularly invaluable for the more timid or nervous dogs that wish to join us, helping them build confidence gradually and learn that our environment and meeting other dogs within it is something positive. We can observe their body language, confidence, play style, social skills, boundaries and most importantly whether they are actually comfortable and enjoying themselves.
From there they gradually build up their time with us. Most dogs complete around five shorter sessions before progressing to a full daycare day, although there is absolutely no one-size-fits-all approach. Some dogs are ready more quickly, while others need more time and that’s absolutely fine.
We work at the individual dog’s pace, not ours.
As their confidence grows and we are happy with what we are seeing then we begin carefully introducing them to suitable customer dogs. They are gradually integrated into the daycare environment rather than simply being placed straight into a large group.
This means there is never any pressure to throw a dog in at the deep end. If a dog needs more time, more one-to-one support or several sessions predominantly alongside our staff dogs before progressing then that’s exactly what they get.
By the time one of the dogs reaches their first full daycare day we already know them and they know us, our dogs and our routines.
We know their personality. We know their play style. We know what they’re comfortable with. We know which dogs they enjoy being around. We know when they need a break. And most importantly, we know they’re genuinely happy being here.
Our assessments don’t stop there either. Any dog who has been away from daycare for longer than six weeks is required to complete a one hour reassessment before returning to the group. This ensures every dog remains familiar, confident and comfortable within the environment and allows us to make sure they’re still happy and suited to daycare.
Our assessment process may be considerably more gradual than simply putting a new dog straight into daycare but we are intentionally very strict about it, because the dogs in our care deserve that.
We don’t want dogs who simply tolerate daycare.
We want dogs who absolutely love coming to daycare.
And judging by these happy little faces, we think it’s worth every minute. 🥹🐾
Welcome to the family, everyone! 🐶
Next month we’ll be back introducing another bunch of our newest members!❤️
