Day Camp — How You Can Benefit

K9 Ranch staff understand that being a parent to a dog can be just as stressful as being a parent to a fur-free child — especially when you’re also trying to meet the demands of a hectic work schedule.  In the same way that daycare provides peace of mind where human children are concerned, so it can lift a weight off parental shoulders and alleviate any worries you might have about your dog being left alone while you’re out of the house.

Perhaps you’ve seen evidence that your dog is becoming nervous and agitated when you’re at work:  chewed furnishings, maybe, or separation-anxiety-faeces deposited in the middle of the living room rug.  Or perhaps you’re having renovation work done in your home and suspect from experience that your dog plus the constant sound of hammering just will not mix successfully.  Or perhaps you’re planning a long vacation and need to test the boarding waters by having your dog try out the ranch first, for a shorter period, just to get him or her accustomed to the experience.

Whatever the case, consider K9 Ranch your partners in canine parenting.  Ranch staff take over from you when the pressures of daily life take you over.


Day Camp — How Your Dog Can Benefit

But it’s not all about you, of course.  Dogs receive immense benefits from K9 Ranch Day Camp.

First and foremost, they benefit from the ranch philosophy, the fundamental goal that motivates owners Julie and Ronn, as well as their entire staff:  to safeguard and protect the health, safety, comfort and well-being of the dogs they’re looking after, while at the same time enabling these canine guests — no matter how short or long their stay — to fully discover and delight in the stimulating rustic wonders that K9 Ranch has to offer.  How can dogs not benefit from a daycare environment that places primary emphasis on the word “care”?

Beyond this, though, there are other particular and specific benefits for dogs staying at K9 Ranch Day Camp that might not be immediately apparent:

Puppies

  • Puppies are notoriously energetic and not overly burdened with common sense and restraint.  Therefore, they require more supervision than older, more sensible dogs.  K9 Ranch staff are trained to supervise diligently, and to help puppies not just enjoy themselves while playing, but also learn.
  • Puppies are not born housetrained — and housetraining can be a nightmare when you need to be at work all day.  K9 Ranch Day Camp serves to support your housetraining efforts, essentially because four-legged toddlers are placed in the ideal environment where mistakes don’t result in their primary home interior being “marked”:  when this marking occurs, whether by accident or because of insecurity or territoriality, traces of the aroma may linger after cleaning and easily cause re-marking — an unpleasant cycle that’s difficult to break.  Far better for a puppy to experience the occasional urinary mishap at their rural K9 Ranch secondary home; it makes your life easier and reduces the likelihood of toilet-related surprise gifts being deposited around your house or apartment for you to discover after a hard day at work.
  • Like human children, puppies go through a teething phase which, unfortunately, can often lead to destruction and damage in the home if the infant dog with sore gums is left alone, unsupervised.  Day Camp at K9 Ranch helps to get puppies through this troublesome stage of life and might very well keep your favourite table’s leg from getting gnawed.
  • Socialization is a crucial aspect of a puppy’s emotional development.  Left alone at home during the day, a puppy could easily become shy and introverted and generally antisocial; in the K9 Ranch Day Camp environment, on the other hand, mingling and associating and playing and communicating with other puppies and compatible older dogs encourage confidence and self-assuredness to grow.  As well, the example of well-trained adult dogs — in combination with the loving and attentive human interaction that ranch staff offer — gives puppies role models to emulate and demonstrations of good behaviour to imitate.

Adolescent Dogs

  • For “Adolescent Dogs” read “Terrible Teens.”  Yes, “terrible” in the sense that this is the stage of a dog’s life when supervised exercise and playtime are needed the absolute most — for a number of important reasons.
  • An adolescent dog’s body is nearly the size of an adult dog’s, yet the brain is still immature.  The result of an unsupervised adolescent dog being left alone at home all day can be utter chaos because of this unstable combination of childlike/puppyish enthusiasm and a large body whose Owner’s Instruction Manual has not been fully mastered.  Careful supervision and the expansive play spaces that K9 Ranch provides allow adolescent dogs to develop and stretch and grow without wreaking havoc on their home.
  • During adolescence, a dog’s permanent teeth come in, causing an irresistible and instinctive urge to chew.  And chew.  And chew.  Peace of mind can be in short supply when a dog going through this life-stage is left alone during the day and you return home from work each evening, wondering which of your prized possessions has fallen victim to your terrible teen’s jaws and teeth.  Enrolled in K9 Ranch Day Camp, however, adolescent dogs have the overseen freedom to satisfy their chewing urge in a natural setting.
  • Just as with humans, adolescence in dogs is a hormonal free-for-all.  The intact male canine adolescent, for instance, produces testosterone at a rate many times that of an adult.  For intact females, hormones go into overdrive in preparation for the first heat cycle.  The result of this overwhelming flood of growth chemicals is that the behaviour of adolescent dogs becomes highly unpredictable:  aggression, roaming, urinary marking — you name it, anything can happen.  Imagine how much easier you’d feel in your mind and your heart, knowing that your erratic and temperamental teen is in a loving, monitored environment during the hours of the day when you can’t be by his or her side.

Adult Dogs

  • Sometimes adult dogs can be nearly as energetic as puppies or adolescents.  But even if they’re not quite as lively as their younger counterparts, they can be equally as prone to boredom, restlessness and even depression when left alone at home without company.  K9 Ranch offers the ideal, spacious environment for these adult dogs to run, play, romp, wrestle, chase, explore, investigate, make friends, and generally socialize with other well-behaved dogs — and with their caring, two-legged substitute parents.  Instead of lethargy and the sound of an endlessly ticking clock at home, they’ve got an abundant supply of fun, exercise and companionship at K9 Ranch Day Camp.
  • Adult human beings are works-in-progress and, not surprisingly, adult dogs are too.  Personalities continue to develop even after puppy-hood and adolescence have been left behind, so adult dogs with a tendency towards shyness don’t necessarily have to remain timid and introverted forever.  The K9 Ranch Day Camp environment and the safe, stress-free interaction it allows between dogs and humans alike serve to boost the confidence of shy dogs and draw them out of their shells.

Senior Dogs

  • Older canines need exercise just as much as young whippersnappers do, although for mature dogs, of course, it needs to be of a more gentle nature and less strenuous.  K9 Ranch staff understand this and treat senior dogs accordingly, allowing them to take in the rural wonders of the sprawling property at their own pace and on their own terms.
  • Although senior dogs need less demanding physical activity than younger dogs, they need just as much, if not more, companionship.  Often, older dogs become anxious when left by themselves and won’t fully relax unless they’re with others — either four- or two-legged “others,” it doesn’t matter.  Ranch staff assiduously observe the personalities and needs of each dog in their care and if they identify that a senior dog is especially needy in the company department, he or she will be given a comfortable daytime resting spot in the ranch’s reception area, the ideal spot for reflection, observation and relaxing canine/human interaction.

Temperament

Like humans, dogs have varied personalities and temperaments.  The goal of K9 Ranch staff is to ensure that all dogs who participate in Day Camp are compatible and comfortable with its social nature, with the fact that they’ll be in the company of other four-legged campers throughout the day.  To this end, a temperament evaluation is required prior to participation.  Nothing stressful or intrusive — just a brief necessity designed to guarantee the comfort and safety and enjoyment of all dogs taking part.

If you’re considering enrolling your dog in Day Camp, please contact K9 Ranch by phone or e-mail to schedule his or her temperament evaluation.  You’ll find that this is also the perfect time for you and your dog to familiarize yourselves with the rural tranquility the ranch has to offer.


Health Requirements

The staff at K9 Ranch like to think of themselves as surrogate parents to the dogs who stay here, either as long-term boarded guests, or as daycare participants.  So understandably, like any parents, their absolute top priority is the health and safety of the four-legged children in their care.  To ensure that all dogs on the property are protected and secure in every possible way, there are rigorous requirements that must be satisfied — requirements that would undoubtedly be relaxed or eliminated at lesser boarding/daycare facilities but cannot be disregarded here.  Dogs enrolled in Day Camp:

  • must be 12 weeks of age or older
  • must be spayed or neutered, if older than 10 months
  • must be in general good health
  • must be free of parasites, including fleas and ticks
  • must have current vaccinations for DHPP, Rabies, Bordetella and Canine Influenza — for complete and specific Vaccination Requirements, see Vaccination Requirements
  • must, if at the puppy-stage, have current  (For puppies, the DHPP vaccination should be current in the last year.; A puppy should complete his or her full series of vaccinations, including the rabies vaccination, at least 3 days before arrival) — for complete and specific Vaccination Requirements, see Vaccination Requirements
  • must be friendly and well-socialized (See Temperament above)

PLEASE NOTE:  K9 Ranch reserves the right to refuse services based on any dog’s temperament or health.


Safety

It bears repeating that the primary goal of K9 Ranch staff is to make sure that all dogs being looked after here are safe.  With this in mind, it must be said that K9 Ranch Day Camp is not suitable for every dog.  Day Camp allows social dogs to play together and, generally, have a whole lot of fun.  Unfortunately, its intention is not to serve as a training venue where aggressive dogs are taught how to be social.


Reservations

K9 Ranch Day Camp is limited in terms of the number of canine campers who can be enrolled on a daily basis.  The reason for this, of course, is to ensure the safety and well-being of the dogs being cared for.  In order to guarantee that a four-legged child not be disappointed, parents are emphatically encouraged to make reservations in advance, a month in advance if possible.  As is only fair, priority must go to dogs with standing reservations.  And if a cancellation becomes necessary, 24-hour notice is requested to avoid being billed for the day; without such notice sufficient staff for a safe Day Camp environment cannot be properly scheduled.

Overnight guests who would like to participate in Day Camp must be accepted prior to their first day of boarding.


For more information on Day Camp, feel free to contact K9 Ranch either by phone or e-mail.


Day Camp  — Hours and Pricing

Hours

  • Monday through Friday ONLY:  7:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. (max. stay of 12 hours)

Day Camp Pricing

Per Day5-Day Pass10-Day Pass20-Day Pass
$40$190$370$720

NOTE:  Discounts are available when you purchase 5 or more days of Day Camp in advance.
A Day Camp day is a maximum of 12 hours.
Extra charge of $20/day for dogs requiring separate exercise from regular group (see “Leash Walk” on pricing page)

For more information on pricing, see our pricing page.

Activities

WE ARE ORGANIC


We work hard to maintain our 26 acres without spraying any pesticides. We can also say that for over 30 years this land has not ever been sprayed with any pesticides. We are proud of this fact.

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