CenterBarks Day School
What is this service?
Our Day School operates similarly to that of a dog daycare, except we operate for shorter hours as our focus is on behaviour, not free-for-all play.
Our doors open at 9am at our private Dog Park for training and supervised play with other dogs, and then you collect them before or at 2pm.
Your dog will be matched with a select few friends, who will all be learning and playing together, and separately, during that time.
Dogs are supervised by qualified and experienced trainers throughout their Day School.
What days and times are available?
At the moment we only offer Tuesday to Thursday. You can drop your dog off any time from 9am, and collect them before 2pm.
As this is a new service, these hours are initially to assess the success and longevity of our Day School, and may be subject to change in the future.
Is my dog eligible to attend?
As there will be other dogs present at Day School, it is essential that your dog gets on well with other dogs. We understand that dogs cannot like everyone (just like humans!), but generally being comfortable around other dogs is a must. Your dog must also be comfortable with people, although we can accommodate multiple meet and greets over a period of time in order to make friends and build up some trust before they enroll fully in Day School.
Please get in touch if you are unsure and we can advise. It is also important to let us know if your dog is comfortable walking on a lead (they don't need to be perfect!) and if they have any food intolerances.
We also really enjoy puppy and teenage dogs attending, so dogs aged between 10 weeks and 3 years are the most welcome. Adolescence can be a tricky time, and supervised carefully, small play groups may help a teenagers social skills, with managing their arousal and developing confidence and resilience.
Do people attend?
As this service operates similarly to a dog day care, people do not accompany their dog for this service. This service aims to provide dogs with a bit more than their daily walk, and to support people who are already working on specific behaviours with their dogs. If you are looking for support and wish to learn how to train your dog, a private consultation can be booked with us. Please visit this page if you would like more information about what our training consults involve.
What training do you do?
At our Day School, it is not a free-for-all.
We support appropriate play, encourage nice interactions, allowing dogs to take breaks and interrupting where we see fit in order to help maintain nice soft body language and play. Dogs do not get to play rough or inappropriately with each other.
Playtime is also separated by periods of time where we are engaged in teaching dogs new behaviours, both together and separately.
Some examples of skills taught:
- Recall
- Settling on cue
- Play skills such as tug
- Loose lead walking
- Crate training
- Handling & comfort with touch
- Scentwork
Every dog is an individual, feel free to let us know what your biggest challenges are at home and we can provide some feedback.
The biggest ‘training’ support we give is with helping dogs manage their arousal (excitement), particularly adolescents, and this work is carried out as part of this playgroup. Dogs are often excellent at getting all jazzed up; we want to focus on giving them skills to bring themselves down again!
Please be aware that we use food rewards during play group. This may include a variety of foodstuffs from dry dog kibble (nuts), to more salient foods like chicken, ham, peas and sausages. Pizzle sticks, peanut butter and pate may also be included depending on the activities that day. It is important that you let us know when booking if your dog has allergies, intolerances or if you would prefer certain foods not to be given.
Will my dog get dirty?
Part of playgroup involves allowing dogs to be dogs (within reason…). This means over the course of the session your dog may dig, roll, scratch, splash, chase, jump, bark, get grass-stained etc etc. Dogs may get mucky and fur may get tangled. It’s all part and parcel of play! We endeavour to dry down dogs as much as is feasible before they go home but please be aware that they may not arrive home as clean as they were leaving, so might be best not getting them groomed the night before Day School!
How will I know if my dog is having a good time?
Each dog will have pictures and/or videos taken of them at play, engaged in training or doing other dog-things whilst with us. You may be able to see photos and videos of your dog on our social media pages.
We will also let you know how your dog is doing, again via WhatsApp, email or face-to-face at drop-off/collection. We will keep you fully informed on how your dog is coping and if they are enjoying themselves. If we feel that for whatever reason they are unsuited to play group, we will advise further and give you all of the information so you can make the best decisions for your dogs care. We don’t want to keep dogs attending a service that they don’t enjoy; what’s the point?!
It is also incredibly important that you inform us of any behavioural changes, physical issues or other problem that you observe about your dog that is sudden, unusual or different.
Changes to sleep patterns, general behaviour and mood, physical mobility or sociability can indicate that your dog may need further veterinary or training support. A dog who isn’t feeling their 100% best may act differently and find it harder to be around their dog and human pals. Just like we keep children out of school when they aren’t feeling great, we may need to keep your dog at home if they aren’t well.
Behaviour changes may also indicate how challenging your dog finds play group. If your dog seems excessively exhausted after attending play group, sleeping for hours upon hours, we may need to assess whether or not they are finding play group too much. Whilst they should need a good sleep after attending, they shouldn’t be so tired that they take themselves off for the rest of the day, sleeping constantly until the next morning. This level of intense rest may indicate that they are trying to recover after a day that they deemed too challenging. This is why it is so important to keep an eye on their behaviour.
Will my dog be amazingly well trained now that they attend Day School?
Day School helps with training, certainly, but for the behaviours to be robust and well-rehearsed you will require an in-person consult or training program so that you can learn how to continue the work that we do in Day School. Dogs need consistency and the same approach all round; Day School unfortunately just won't have the impact you're hoping for if you aren't replicating the training at home.
You will, however, benefit from sending your dog to Day School each week as you'll know there's an extra pair of hands helping you with your training. Essentially, Day School is a supporting service to the work you're doing at home.
We also have training programs that incorporate Day School into them for set periods of time, so you could avail of one of those!
Do you accept all breeds?
Yes! We love and accept all breeds of dogs from the biggest to the smallest, provided they fulfill the above criteria. We don't discriminate based on their looks, type or size.
How much does Day School cost?
Day School costs €50.00 per dog. If you have two dogs, please ask us about multi-dog discounts.
We do not operate on national holidays such as Christmas Day, St. Patricks Day and Easter. We close periodically for CPD Days (we gotta upskill regularly to provide the best service!) and will we advise you on closures ahead of time.
Where are you located?
We are in Longford, just outside of Lanesborough and 15 minutes from Ballymahon. We're 5 minutes from the ISPCA. Specific directions are given upon booking.
I think my dog might like Day School! How do I book them in?
All you need to do is send an email and one of the team will give you a call or email to discuss!