Favorite and least favorite boarding/daycare breeds

[StillandSilent]

Most of our beagles are quiet, but they will be the hump targets of every dog in the yard. Always.

GSD's are terrible and daycare, but if you want someone to poop in their run and they play Poopoo Picasso by spinning in it, they're your breed.

Hounds tend to play really well and not get super offended.

Doodles suck. They all seem to get the quirkiness of the poodle plus the rudeness of the lab, mixed in with a healthy dose of neurosis all their own. Plus their coats seem to act as vacuum cleaners and suck in whatever gross dirt/drool/pee/leaves happens to be hanging around.

Weims. Just no. Unless you are dedicated completely to them and their needs, don't get one. Whiny, destructive, anxious and they have no skills with other dogs.

Pointers are fun and seem to strike a good balance between 'Oh, dont' touch me I'm so delicate' and "BODY SLAM!"

Westies are usually good, unless they're super-humpers.

 

[Grab]

Going strictly on boarding/vet experiences: GSDs (why do they bark so much?), Miniature Schnauzers (shrieking), Siberian Huskies (big babies for everything. And the barking), Beagles (sooo much barking)

Favorites: Greyhounds (just pleasant), Aussies (learn the routine really quickly), Shih Tzus (always pleasant and usually quiet)

 

[PerformanceDog]

:rofl1::rofl1::rofl1:

I'm just sitting here laughing with all the people that mention schnauzers. I totally get it.. I would never board mine. Although I think they wouldn't be that bad, however, they wouldn't get playtime with others.

I'm lucky only one of my schnauzers does the scream bark.. it is truly awful and ear-piercing. They have other barks that are ear-piercing as well, but nothing beats the screaming. Chloe actually makes a wide range of noises, most of which are not that loud which is nice.

 

[BostonBanker]

it is truly awful and ear-piercing

When I was teaching training classes, we had someone call who wanted to take class with her mini schnauzer, but had been kicked out of two other training classes because of the screaming. I could not for a second imagine how it could be that bad.

I was never happier to see the end of six weeks. The dog didn't get kicked out, but I felt bad for everyone in that class, including me. I'm smarter now and might be able to find better ways to make it work, but I was just out of college and new to teaching and that thing just screamed every second it wasn't actively working.

 

[Laurelin]

Yeah schnauzers scream but Hank screams way louder than any dog I have ever met. It is horrible. Completely deafening when he screams at his top pitch. Like cannot hear and ringing ears immediately after. Luckily he doesn't do it that often but last week he did in a fairground arena and I felt so bad for the ladies standing near his crate. At least he usually only screams for a second then settles down.

The one time I boarded Hank though he apparently had a panic attack. Thy had to pull him out of the general kennel area because he was being so loud. I don't think I'll ever board him again.

 

[ThatCrazyGroomer]

Can I say what I hate to groom? Yorkies and Maltese. Their hair sucks and is REALLY hard to make look good. It makes what should be a 45 minute groom into a two hour picking session. HATE.

On the reverse I love grooming cockers, shih tzu, schnauzers and westies... Plus fun little mutts that I can create a style for.


Also, as much as I love grooming lhasas, I have found that if there's going to be a cage barker... It's probably a lhasa. Glad I don't have cages any more!!!

 

[AmandaNola]

This is from a brief stint of working at a daycare, plus shelter volunteering and working as a dog walker before moving here.

Labs: No. Please, just no. Either neurotic or dumb as a box of rocks, can't read other dogs' body language, and body slam central.

Corgis: Assholes, but fun in a "you little ****" way.

Chows: My least favorite. Gives 0 warnings and have short fuses, never played well with others.

Beagles: Please shut up! I have dachshunds and a mini Aussie, but they put them to shame with that noise. Otherwise fun dogs that played well with everyone.

GSD: Nervous, nervous, nervous.

Boxers: "OMG HI!!!!! LOOOOOVEEEE MEEEEE!"

Doodles: Surprisingly, these were generally stable and good with other dogs. I think most were the golden doodle type.

Yorkie: Tiny dictator drama queens.

Brittanys: Fun and good with others, if slightly neurotic.

Dachshunds: Either amazing with everything and sweethearts, or monsters. There is no middle ground.

Danes: Love! There were only 4 that came in, but all were sweet (if a bit dim) and gentle.

 

[StompinT]

I am loving everyone's observations.

 

[lancerandrara]

Not daycare, but anywhere random dogs allowed to play off-leash.

Shiba Inus: think they're hot stuff and THINK they get along with dogs, but their definition of "getting along" is just rough playing, don't know when other dogs want them to stop, and focusing their unwanted antics on the slow/small ones/the dogs who don't want them. Or they just straight up dislike other dogs and just want to be aloof and sassy AF on their own somewhere, so I have no idea why their owners even bother having them in a dog area. I have so much to say about shibas and other dogs, but will stop.

Huskies: overly confident and pushy fireworks that don't give a crap what other dogs think

English Bulldogs: scare the crap out of other dogs by just walking around, and all the other dogs avoid them in general. <_<

 

[pinkspore]

Yeah schnauzers scream but Hank screams way louder than any dog I have ever met. It is horrible. Completely deafening when he screams at his top pitch. Like cannot hear and ringing ears immediately after. Luckily he doesn't do it that often but last week he did in a fairground arena and I felt so bad for the ladies standing near his crate. At least he usually only screams for a second then settles down.

Shrieking is totally a cattledog thing. That's a feature.

Boxers: Universally completely incapable of making or comprehending cutoff signals, so their play is a neverending positive feedback loop spiraling into violence when they or the other dog have had too much. We usually only have one boxer per play yard, if there's more than one the person in the yard will spend all of their time trying to keep the boxers from starting fights. I'm not a fan of any breed so unapologetically offensive that they **** off even their own kind.

English bulldogs: Just like boxers only slower and less efficient at biting stuff. We try to have one per yard but most can't be in the pool yard because they sink.

Beagles: There is no reason any dog needs to make that much noise. They're not even stressed or excited or anything, screaming is just their favorite leisure activity. Everybody hates that noise.

Bassett hounds: Also enjoy sitting in the middle of the yard and howling all day long for fun, but it's a lower pitch and not quite as brain-stabbing as beagles.

Dachshunds: Every single one is a nightmare about having their nails trimmed. They only hang out with other wiener dogs.

Huskies: Make a bunch of weird noises whenever anything happens. Mostly play well or don't play at all. Looooooove other huskies.

Poodles: Every single poodle is super weird with no social skills, but they don't usually want to play with the other dogs so it's cool. We have multiple border-collie-fixating-on-standard-poodle issues.

Goldens: Play super good with everybody and generally have decent manners by the time they are big. Very tolerant of rude behavior and good at scaling their play to the other dog so they have many friends.

Labs: More hyper and rude than goldens, but also with long fuses and tolerate a lot of terrible behavior. A bit more body-slammy but pretty good at reading the other dogs. Fond of racing around like maniacs but ok with getting piled on when they finally stop.

Doodles: Every single doodle has a barking problem. When they stop barking long enough to interact with the other dogs they display an unholy combination of poodle awkwardness with retriever insensitivity. Also universally dumb as toast. I am now convinced that poodle intelligence is a completely different thing than retriever intelligence, such that combining the breeds results in dogs that are half as intelligent as their parents. It's the only explanation.

Pit bulls: Not very good at reading cutoff signals. Tend to race around like maniacs and then explode when they stop and everyone piles on them.

All of our schnauzers are quiet and keep to themselves, I've never heard one make much noise.

 

[Paviche]

From years of working daycare/boarding...

Weimaraners: The big NO on my list. They're bat**** crazy neurotic, just god awful. Funny, because my very favorite dog from the last daycare I worked at was... a Weim. He was the ONLY Weim we ever had come through that was even remotely tolerable (although he took it to the extreme by being super freaking awesome.) His people were actually active with him and he just had a really cool, stable temperament. He was undocked, so we joked that Weims keep their brains in their tails.

Cockers: American, specifically. A good Am Cocker is awesome but a bad one is really, really bad, and most of them are bad. Fearful, sketchy, lots of submissive peeing.

Boxers: Boxers were hit or miss. We had some that were okay, kind of rough and not super dog savvy but played well with other rambunctious dogs, and then we had the ones that had absolutely NO dog sense, were super rude, and started fights when other dogs didn't take kindly to their nonsense. So, so physical, too.

Labs: Labs come in three flavors. By far the most common is "meh." As in "meh, yep, that's a lab." Doesn't stand out in any way, blends in, not a nuisance but not anything special, either. The least common is the awesome lab (which imo is how labs SHOULD be, but I haven't spent enough time around really good labs to know.) Really fun, sweet, gets along great with everyone. Then there's the bad lab. Not as common as the meh lab or as rare as the awesome lab. There's some variation in these, but they always have at least one of the following, and usually 2+: 1) starts fights regularly 2) barks like no one's business 3) does not listen to the humans at all 4) humps incessantly (almost always a chocolate lab.) These labs are the worst.

GSDs: One of my favorite breeds outside of daycare, one of my least favorite in. Whiny, neurotic, not very good with the other dogs, just... no thanks.

Border Collies: Start a lot of fights, sometimes intentionally, sometimes unintentionally just by being stalky and weird and really bothering the other dogs. Not a good daycare candidate, usually.

Terriers: Scrappy jerks. Love to fight.

Bully breeds: See above, except while smaller terriers are usually pretty up front in wanting a brawl, bully breeds will play normally, seem fine, and then BAM suddenly it's a fight. One of my least favorite breeds/types to have at daycare because they're so unpredictable that way.

Frenchies: Great with people, scrappy with other dogs.

Bulldogs: Either super chill or gigantic jerkbags, no in between.

 

[pinkspore]

Most of our weims are actually super chill. When they actually get moving they tend to be humpers, but most of the time they just nap.

Dobermans find it physically painful to be separated from their humans and there is apparently a code of conduct that requires them to spend 90% of every day expressing how much they are suffering. This can include howling, whining, barking like a brainless idiot, standing at the gate shaking, and rolling into a tiny ball of misery while sighing dramatically. The other 10% of the time they are really sweet and play well with other dogs.

Frenchies play hard but usually really well, sometimes they are too rough for the little dogs and need to play with the big dogs. A couple are too much for the little guys and way too exciting for the big guys, but most are really good.

 

[Kat09Tails]

Mini schnauzers by far I found the most unpleasant. The noise they make is beyond obnoxious into the destructive and I'm pretty sure would remove paint from the wall.

I met more chows that were mentally ill destructive than most other breeds. One memorable one actually attacked the chainlink, fanging a lip, and actually breaking off teeth simply because wanted out despite the gate being open. O.O

We had more cattledog a-holes than most other dogs. Several were grudge holders to other dogs to the point where just walking by them would trigger a full on attack through chainlink.

The best I thought were the goldens, the basenjis, and the beagles. They just got along with everyone.

 

[pinkspore]

We had more cattledog a-holes than most other dogs. Several were grudge holders to other dogs to the point where just walking by them would trigger a full on attack through chainlink.

There are no good cattledogs at our facility, asshole is a breed trait. We have a new German shepherd mix this week that is super mouthy and sassy and my new favorite dog. I realized why she and I hit it off so well when I saw her file. She's an ACD/GSD, and basically just shepherd-colored and ACD-shaped, and all cattledog inside.

The cattledog daycare specialty is learning the names of the other dogs and then helpfully biting them whenever you call/scold/mention a dog by name.

 

[DJEtzel]

Daycare - labs, goldens, husky/mixes, GSDs.

GET THEM OUT OF HERE PLEASE.

 

[*blackrose]

The best I thought were the goldens, the basenjis, and the beagles. They just got along with everyone.

We have a Basenji that boards semi-frequently. She is HORRIBLE. Will escape out of any run so we have to keep her in a steel kennel. She screams at other dogs, chews on the bars of the cage, flips her dishes over at any opportunity, and then poops and pees all over her kennel and paints in it. (She's also an asshole for her vetwork and has to be muzzled to do anything to her or she'll scream and bite.) She boards with us because two other places turned her away due to her escapee habits (or so they say).

 

[crazedACD]

We have a Basenji that boards semi-frequently. She is HORRIBLE. Will escape out of any run so we have to keep her in a steel kennel. She screams at other dogs, chews on the bars of the cage, flips her dishes over at any opportunity, and then poops and pees all over her kennel and paints in it. (She's also an asshole for her vetwork and has to be muzzled to do anything to her or she'll scream and bite.) She boards with us because two other places turned her away due to her escapee habits (or so they say).

(Because I'm so self-righteous haha) I'd like to think that if I ever owned a boarding kennel, I would talk to the owners of dogs like that. Totally fine and no problem if this is the only option, but the dog is very very stressed in this environment.
I would want to know myself if my dog acted like that so I could explore other options.

 

[Paviche]

We had a Basenji that liked to scream in the crate and was quick to bite so had to be muzzled for literally anything we needed to do with him. They told me stories about the other Basenji who used to board, before I started working there. He would scream bloody murder and literally *climb the insides of the crate* like a monkey.

 

[*blackrose]

(Because I'm so self-righteous haha) I'd like to think that if I ever owned a boarding kennel, I would talk to the owners of dogs like that. Totally fine and no problem if this is the only option, but the dog is very very stressed in this environment.
I would want to know myself if my dog acted like that so I could explore other options.

Oh, they are well aware of her behavior and we have told them that staying with us is probably not the best fit for her. They just don't care, for whatever reason. :/

One thing I *love* about the kennel facility is not only does the manager try to keep things as low stress for her boarders as possible (including encouraging short stays and supplementing with an herbal calming blend if neccessary), she is quick to let owners know when their dog would probably be better off in a different environment. Most people she talks with take steps to help their dog. Others just don't care.

 

[Samsonyte!]

Yeah we have two bostons that come into daycare who are very resource-guardy and very excitable, and when they get excited they redirect it onto other dogs in a very aggressive way. These two dogs have put holes into other dogs on several occasions so they have to be kept in a separate yard, but any time the other dogs move/make noise they start screaming and are just clearly frustrated. We tried telling the owners that maybe daycare isn't the best fit for them and not only did the owners completely disregard what we told them but they actually got mad at us for telling them that their dogs aren't good with other dogs. Not sure why they don't just get kicked out but watcha gonna do.