Thinking about registering your dog to Bath Country Pets Daycare or Boarding service? Here is an insight into our assessment days.
Being devoted dog owners & lovers, we know how unique and special each pet is. There is nothing quite like the unconditional loyalty and affection a dog can give! We pride ourselves on offering the best possible care for your furry companion. We strive to create a harmonious atmosphere in which our guest’s feel truly comfortable and at home, which is why we operate a system of assessing new dogs on a trial day.
Assessment days here are very special as we get to introduce a new guest to our site, learn about their unique personality and establish whether we are a good fit for each other whilst we build a new friendship.
We spend a day introducing a new guest to our facility for them to familiarise themselves with our environment and to see how well they integrate into our interactive space. We assess their behaviour and a variety of other topics which gives us a good insight into whether we think they will thrive in our unique set up.
It’s also a great opportunity to begin the special bond between the staff & other guest’s, helping to ease separation and allowing a smooth transition when you finally decide to enjoy your holiday.
Providing you are confident your dog meets the basic criteria of being well socialised/having the correct vaccinations in order, we then assess the new guest’s with a trial day, where they are assessed on each of the categories below. We will then give you our honest opinion as to whether we think they would thrive in our unique space, with a full assessment and insight into their first day.
What we assess-
Socialisation: we look for new trial day members to be well socialised by having a relaxed, well-mannered approach towards our other guests & staff members. We like to help build upon socialisation and manners in place and see how well they react to the staff’s commands.
Vocal Behaviour: this is our family home as well as our business and so we need our guests to be quiet by nature and not too vocal around the hotel and other dogs.
Food Manners: we assess manners at dinner or treat time, such as patience, their pace of eating and manners around our other guest’s & staff. We feed our guest’s in rotations of 2 so we like to see how they respond to food in a social environment.
Behaviour And Discipline: many of our guest’s love interacting with the other dogs staying, so looking at how they play is important for us to understand. Staying in tune with staff commands, seeing how they react with different toys/chews around our other guest’s gives us a good insight into how they react during play and ensure that play doesn’t escalate into something rough or less social. It’s also a good opportunity to see what type of play each guest likes, whether its more human or dog interaction and what type of activities they prefer.
Handling And Grooming Check: After excursions/walks, playtime in the paddock and for general maintenance for longer ‘staycationers’, we like to give our guest’s full check overs, which includes checking their paws, back, tail & stomach as well as there eyes, ears & mouth. This is to check for any minor irritations and also allows us to give them maintenance and grooming sessions.
Walking & Excursions: here we assess how they walk off-site and react when walking with other guest’s in a small pack. We fit a comfort harness to each guest, assess there lead training and commands to see how they respond to the staff members. We have a van that allows us to take daily excursions to local walks such as Westonbirt & Tormarton but also have local surrounding footpaths & large on-site paddocks for exercise.
Assessment forms are filed together in each guest’s personal record alongside a behaviour diary which is updated on each visit, so we can continue to log there general behaviour as we get to know them more closely.
Each guest’s visit is tailored made for them so whether they have high/low energy needs or specific requirements, we do our very best to make there stay as homely & enriching as possible in our lovingly made space.
The best part is seeing our return guest’s leap out of their owner’s vehicle and bounce through the gates with waggy tails and big smiles – ready to start their holiday too!
Our focus is to give you peace of mind knowing your precious companion is enjoying a 5* stay – allowing you to fully enjoy your well earned holiday!