Dog daycares offer everything from swimming to birthday parties

If the concept of “pet mom and dad” has gained strength in recent years, one type of business targets this audience precisely: dog day care centers, which treat animals almost like students and give tutors different experiences they would have with a child. human.

Customers of the service usually leave their partner at the day care center in the morning and pick them up at the end of the afternoon. Generally, it is necessary to prepare a lunch box with what the animal will eat throughout the day. Institutions offer common food and some snacks, but each dog has its preferences, so better guarantee it.

Throughout the day, if homesickness strikes, just access a link or application and see live images of the little one, like in a Big Brother. You can check if the animal is sulking in a corner or interacting with peers. If you are engaging in activities such as dressage or swimming and learning new things. There are places that also send short videos to the owners, in stories format, when they catch a remarkable moment.

As in children’s schools, there are toys and colorful walls, monitors that call to play and events to encourage socialization and make parents proud, such as birthday parties. In October, for example, there was a day care center that dressed the animals as little witches and sang happy birthday to them in a Halloween mood.

These activities drive the animal services market, which is experiencing a post-pandemic boom. Many people decided to adopt a pet while working from home. As the return to the face-to-face was being demanded, first-time pet parents were in doubt about what to do.

“We got a dog during the pandemic, when we were at home all the time. My husband had to go back to full-time face-to-face work. I have a more flexible schedule, but we couldn’t not put him in a daycare center. He couldn’t stay alone,” says advertiser Letícia Natívio, 34, who lives in Mooca, east of São Paulo.

Letícia says that the decision to adopt the beagle Pepino di Capri, 2, was sudden. “We went to the kennel and came back with a dog,” she recalls.

Today, Pepino goes to a daycare center in the neighborhood three times a week, which costs around R$500 a month. The value can vary: the place can offer services such as bathing and grooming, and include the value at the end of the month, for example.

“The daycare solves several issues: my lack of time, the dog’s need to expend energy, to give him a healthier routine. He comes back super tired and doesn’t usually give work that day”, he comments.

Letícia says that she can no longer imagine Pepino’s routine without daycare, but that it took some tests to find the ideal frequency. “Once a week was not enough, but after four days he got super tired. He had some intestinal disorders too. You have to have a balance”, she points out.

Nurseries usually offer flexibility of days in varied packages. At Patrulha dos Cães, for example, the package with a weekly trip starts at R$ 360. Six visits per week cost R$ 1,090 per month.

The place has about 150 registered dogs, but receives between 70 and 80 of them each day. “After the pandemic, many people who adopted ended up taking the dog to socialize at the daycare center. And the tutors are increasingly concerned about knowing what is being done, they follow it through the cameras”, comments Juliana Gonçalves, 39, one of the owners of Patrulha of Dogs.

To avoid conflicts, monitors keep an eye on the animals’ body language and try to anticipate possible problems. It is also common for regulars to go through an adaptation period before joining the regular classes.

In recent months, Juliana has expanded the team from four to nine employees and plans to open a second unit in 2023. In addition to employing monitors and veterinarians, Patrol also usually buys party kits made for dogs, to celebrate birthdays.

One of the suppliers, Badalacão, offers packages with cakes and other snacks to be consumed by dogs. They cost around R$150 per animal and include themed decorations. The recipes generally have a bland taste for humans, but a heightened smell to please the canine sense of smell.

Generally, the monitors set up the party scene, such as filling the balloons and affixing the decorations to the wall, setting up the snack tables and taking pictures of the pets “celebrating” the dates with their friends. The images are then sent to the tutors, in case they cannot be present.

“At the end of the year, many people want to treat the dog. Then we make Panettone, Christmas cookies, there is usually a lot of demand”, says Gabriela Martinez, 29, creator of Badalacão.

Former employee of a pet day care center in the south of São Paulo, she started the business in 2016, as a source of extra income, but two years later she left her job and started to dedicate herself to the business full time. Today, she sells an average of two to three party kits a day to adults who want to see their pawed companions having fun like kids.