Why is play valuable to dogs?
There are many benefits to the dogs in your care when they’re engaging in the off-leash dog play. It’s a great way for a dog to learn about its own limits and the limits of its environment. Play also allows a dog to be a better canine good citizen because through good play, dogs can learn to better communicate with other dogs to avoid conflicts and fights. It’s obviously a great energy outlet. And of course, a tired dog is a well-behaved dog. Good play helps a dog become a more stable, healthier animal.
What service are you providing?
Your job is not to simply play with or supervise the dogs. As you learned in Canine Body Language, your job is to provide a well-managed, safe environment for the dog. That means the safety of the dogs and the other staff members is of utmost importance and that safety should dictate all decisions in the course of your day. If a dog needs downtime because they’re getting overly tired or too revved up, it’s your responsibility to take action to help the dog. If a dog is not a good fit in an off-leash play setting, it’s your responsibility to inform your supervisor. The key here is that you are the pet care professional providing safe, positive social interaction for the dogs.
A dog should leave your playgroup behaviorally better or at least not worse than when they arrived. If that’s not possible, the dog should not be in playgroup. Owners are not paying for playtime. That’s what they think, but they’re really playing for a positive, safe, fun, social environment. It’s your job to make sure the dog is treated accordingly and to allow that to happen. This is not unlike you sending your child to a piano teacher, you’re paying for piano lessons, but you fully expect that the piano teacher is going to guide your child in the right exercises and practices to make sure that the child is learning. Your child may want to play chopsticks over and over, but you’re paying to make sure that the teacher does the right thing and teaches your child the many facets of playing the piano. Owners are doing the same thing when they bring their dog to daycare.