Doggy Playcare™ is coming to Paddington Pups and we are SO EXCITED to be able to offer this for our dog playgroups!

So, what is Playcare™? It’s high interaction games, puzzles, exercises, arts and crafts and mentally stimulating activities for your dog.

How does it differ from normal daycare? Well, normal daycare is great and a wonderful solution for your dog as it still involves lots of play and dog and people interactions. The best way to describe it is it’s like taking your child to a park vs an adventure park.

Introducing Playcare™

Playcare™ is a program of canine activities for dogs, built around enrichment activities that are designed to mentally stimulate your dog’s mind and body (they also get a few more treats, of course). We have been running beta testing to make sure we are set up to deliver this as a successful ongoing program for the dogs in our facility. We have had great success during the beta testing with our extra nervous dogs, dogs that require high mental stimulation and dogs that crave more interactive one-on-one time with our dog handlers.

What is Paddington Pups Playcare™?

• High interaction play for dogs
• Intensive and specialist levels of play
• Developmental learning opportunities

What sets Playcare™ apart from Daycare?

The range of play activities; they are highly engaging, goal orientated, mentally stimulating games and tasks. The object of Playcare™ games is to ensure your dog is receiving as much mental stimulation as possible.

Playcare™ is all about the enrichment and use of toys and specific activities to engage with your dog at a much higher level. It involves games, toys and puzzles chosen to help engage your dog’s primary senses such as sight, scent and sound, and it allows us to work on desensitisation and encourage a well-balanced and mentally engaged dog.

Why is it a great option for your dog?

It is a much smaller playgroup of dogs so your pup gets high level attention, one on one interactions and games in a safe, fully supervised, calm environment. The space is designed to be fun and inviting and the schedule and interactive aspects are changed regularly. It’s as if your dog has a private party at a dog adventure centre with their favourite doggy friends and team members for the day.

What happens when you leave your dog?

You come back to a happier and calmer dog, who has been enriched by lots of play, puzzles and arts and crafts. The long-term benefits of high-level mental stimulation are as beneficial for dogs as it is for humans.

Doggy Playcare™ is a great concept for dog-owners that want to enrich their dog’s life with high-end play and activities perfect for dogs with different personalities and play styles.

How will I know if Playcare™ is a good fit for my dog?

First and foremost, we have to establish what your needs are for your dog. Playcare™ is great for almost all dogs. A dog who has energy and is fun to play with. A dog that likes to play with and gets along with other dogs. A dog that is tolerant of other dogs but that likes having fun.  A dog who is dog shy or reactive can also benefit from Playcare™ as it helps them overcome their fears and have fun too. This is great for puppies to teach them all about new environments and situations, as well as older dogs to keep them mentally stimulated.

Things to consider and reasons Playcare™ might NOT be appropriate for your dog is if your dog likes to swallow things they shouldn’t, like socks, rocks, toys etc. Playcare™ is not advised for these types of dogs because the nature of these activities means there are lots of balls, toys and things that could be swallowed if your dog was overly excited or distracted as it creates a higher risk factor.

Playcare™ might NOT be appropriate for your dog if your dog has extreme food allergies. Playcare™ uses treats as part of our interactive games which ranges from standard dog treats to peanut butter and low-fat Greek yoghurt in various puzzle toys, so if your dog has high level food allergies or someone in your family is allergic to peanuts this program might not be appropriate for your dog.

What does it cost?

Playcare™ is sold as an additional activity to Daycare and operates Monday to Friday with activities running between 10am to 3pm daily. Places are strictly limited and will book out.

Prices are structured similar to our daycare and you can choose to pay casually or in a package.

How do you sign up and when does it start?

There is some paperwork to fill in, but after that it’s as simple as letting the team know you want to book in for our sessions and what days work for you, and we’ll make it happen. Just talk to the team in-store to get started.

This program goes live on January 17th 2021.

We are so excited to be offering this great service!

A dog’s life is full of incredible life experiences. We feel that being able to provide some unique and varied activities is critical for the welfare and enjoyment of dogs in their later years and we couldn’t be more delighted to be able to enrich your dog’s life even more.