Dog walker or doggy daycare? Pros? Cons?

[SAcres]

My pup is 8 months old now and could definitely benefit from some midday (or all day!) activity while I’m at work. He is let out at lunch time when people are home from work (unfortunately my commute is too long to come home) but not walked or played with very much. My plan is to take him to work with me when he’s older, but he gets car sick fairly easily and I’m not sure that a 40 minute to one hour commute is going to be the best thing for him, so now I’m looking into alternatives. He would love doggy daycare, but he can be a little funny with other dogs around food. I’m worried that it could transfer to toys or even people in a high activity setting like “group play time” at a doggy daycare. The dog walker seems like a good alternative, there is a development behind my house and a park to walk in, so there’s plenty of places to get a good walk in.

I’m interested in hearing from those who have regular dog walkers or who take their dogs to doggy day care often. How have your experiences been? Have the prices been manageable? Has it had a positive impact on your pup?

Thanks!!

[Canaqua]

We opted for a dog walker, as our BC mix is funny with other dogs, especially smaller dogs and especially in close quarters. I didn’t even try doggie daycare with her.

Our dog walker takes a group of 3-4 dogs out for an hour long hike in the woods. Because of the length and speed of the hike, it’s only big dogs. BC mix is fine with other large dogs, while out running in the woods with plenty of elbow room, she’s made a number of new dog friends on her hikes. She started doing this at about 9 months old, when she was big enough to keep up and had a good enough recall to be off leash.

[Knubbsy]

My sheltie is not a good candidate for day care. She wants to follow people around and keep an eye on them and will get defensive around big dogs (and corgis) so when Dh and I both have to be out of the house for work we’ll hire a walker for a 30 minute walk for every 6 hours she’s by herself. The company we used charged I think 15 for a 30 minute walk and they only walk households together. I tipped since I knew how much the walkers actually made per walk and since we were farther out from their main business wanted to compensate for the driving (that came to another 5 or so.)

Our sheltie, as a herding breed, will go on alert when a new person comes into the house but with a regular walker was fine. I liked that I didn’t have to worry if the metro had a delay and I couldn’t get home right away (as friends who use a dog care do since they do close or charge more.)