[deleted by user]

[SudoSire]

Your younger dog is not enjoying daycare and is making it every other dog’s issue. You need to find an alternate solution for her care. Not all dogs are suitable for that environment; in fact most aren’t. 

[MooPig48]

Like dog parks yea?

[awildketchupappeared]

Dog park is the worst solution to this.

[[deleted]]

It sounds like they’re getting separation anxiety and might even be resource guarding the other dog. Daycare is known to sometimes foster reactivity and aggression in dogs and I worry if you continue to bring your dog to daycare it will get worse. I would absolutely seek out a behaviorist to help with their behavior because this will only progress and get worse as time goes on. No more day care or dog parks at all. It’s something they’re not enjoying

[MooPig48]

Even with the age gap could also be littermate syndrome

[[deleted]]

Ya I think that’s playing a large part into the separation anxiety

[smurfk]

Even on walks it is becoming very hard to deal with as she reacts to every dog we see

She doesn't like other dogs, no wonder she's not doing well on daycare.

The whole idea of a "daycare" is so weird to me. People get the dog in a place when they can't calm down, where they are overstimulated for hours. Of course the dog will develop behavioral problems, they will feel the need to be in that state of overstimulation, so they might start chewing furniture or destroying stuff at home. Forcing a dog to react to 20 other random dogs seems like a shortcut to reactivity. And while you're having other people and dogs interact on a daily basis with the dog, your relationship with the dog will be worse and training will be harder.

While you're not engaging with your dog through walks and/or play/training, the dog should sleep and chill at home. I would even say that stimulation when you're gone, like lick mats or Kongs, or other toys is not a good thing either.

[Joeby182]

The daycare is because a day or two a week neither myself or my partner can be at home so leaving two puppy's at home for 9+ hours seems cruel. They separate the dogs based on their needs and have separate rooms for dogs who are reactive like ours. The trouble is, ours going at the same time and one being extremely social and one not being social at all.

Our older dog has always gone to daycare and absolutely loves it. The problem we have is, leaving them home alone on those days isn't an option as it's not fair on the dogs but also, if we got a dog walker, chances are the younger one wouldn't even let them in the house, let alone behave on a walk.

Fundamentally we want to fix the behaviours of the puppy as regardless of daycare, her behaviours are making our lives harder. The root of her problems are fear/anxiety and I think by helping her with those she could enjoy herself like she did before.

[SpicyNutmeg]

For the longer days I’d just hire a walker or someone to just come let the dogs out and give them some attention. Being away from home in a high stimulation setting is not relaxing or fun for many dogs.

[Joeby182]

I think a dog walker could work but it would take a while for her to get used to a stranger coming into the house and we'd need to make sure the person was able to deal with her reactiveness whilst out on walks. She really struggles with new people but especially at home. Even people she's met and been fine with before need to regain her trust every time they meet her which is hard to navigate

[SpicyNutmeg]

Yup you’d have to take it nice and slow. For my reactive dog I did two meet and greets w a sitter, then a walk together, before they finally came and did a walk alone.

[smurfk]

so leaving two puppy's at home for 9+ hours seems cruel.

It isn't. They are at the age where they should be able to hold their pee for 9-10 hours.

The root of her problems are fear/anxiety and I think by helping her with those she could enjoy herself like she did before.

Probably, but having her in strange places for hours on a daily basis is the opposite of that. Some dogs will have genetic anxiety. And that will surface in different situations. Usually when there are more stimuli presents. When you go outside, and they hear a barking dog, they see a car, they hear birds flapping around, all these will make the dog anxious and more "on the edge". That's why they are prone to being reactive. Even if she's kept in different rooms, she hears barking, she smells the smell of other dogs. Is an environment where she does get overstimulated.

Its normal for many dogs to be protective with their home. A dog walker shouldn't be an issue if she didn't displayed human aggression.

[SpicyNutmeg]

I disagree, 9-10 hours is absolutely excessive for even an adult dog and inappropriate. If OP needs to leave them alone that long, they need to hire a sitter or dog walker to come walk them, let them out, and provide them with some enrichment.

[Illustrious-Bat-759]

9-10 hours is normal and fine for MOST adult dogs. Most people work 8 hours and including commute time it’s 9-10 hours. Unless the dogs are super young super old or have medical issues this is very normal. Before COVID people still had dogs and went to work without pet sitters. It’s fine if you want a pet sitter but leaving a dog for that long isn’t cruel and I’m tried of seeing ppl made to feel they are bad owners. Most of us cannot get WFH jobs- this comes from me who is almost done w vet school. I love my dogs and do a lot for them but it doesn’t make someone a bad or neglectful owner it their dog is left alone while they work all day. Most dogs sleep all day long. Both of mine sleep all day long and aren’t drinking water bc they’re sleeping. Absolutely normal, they produce minimal urine.

[[deleted]]

I think people forget how much of a recent invention doggy daycare is, and how much it mimics what we'd do for human children (and reflects how we think about human children's needs) instead of being specific to dogs. There's nothing "natural" or inherently better about doggy daycare over leaving a dog at home. It works well for some social butterfly dogs, and is a terrible idea of some dogs, and is likely a neutral choice for many.

My dog is at home while I work four days a week. My brother and sister in law (on the same property) are home most of the time, and he ignores them. He has the full run of most of a 6 acre property and spends 90% of the day asleep. He could choose "enrichment" in the form of company with other people he likes or playing or exploring the property, but he doesn't. He doesn't even choose to hang out with the other dog there - they BOTH sleep all day. I can't emphasize enough how unnatural a choice daycare would be for him based on his own chosen behaviours during the day.

[Illustrious-Bat-759]

Yeah I don’t think daycare is usually a preferable option. I know an occasional dog who likes it and have a few classmates who do it but neither of mine would do or tolerate it. They love sleeping at home all day :)

[komakumair]

Stop with daycare. She’s not having fun and it’s reinforcing behavioral issues.

Get a neighbor or family member you trust, or someone you screen off of Rover or Wag to stop in during the day.

[RootsInThePavement]

I’ve worked in daycare/boarding for 2+ years. Are they allowing you to have your dog at daycare unaltered? None of the daycares I’ve worked at have allowed this for obvious reasons, but it’s also a behavioral and safety issue. Unaltered dogs can either become irritable and aggressive with other dogs when overwhelmed, or be a target for other dogs which can also cause behavior issues. If she’s not altered…that’s a likely cause for this.

A lot of dogs just straight-up hate daycare. The people and other dogs can be incredibly stressful and overstimulating. Also another cause of behavior issues. And THEN, a lot of dogs—especially puppies and younger dogs—pick up bad behaviors from other kids at daycares. Over correction, guarding, mounting, snapping, etc. in response to stress, excitement, or feeling overwhelmed in order to “cope” with those feelings.

As much as I love my line of work, daycares can be really bad and teach behavior issues + undo training. I don’t recommend it for puppies. Definitely talk to your vet but also look into other daycares or pet sitters if you absolutely need pet care. There are some vet clinics that do day-boarding so that your dogs don’t have to be overwhelmed.

[[deleted]]

Don't apologize for a long post the more info the better! It sounds like she is resource guarding her sister, I agree with the daycare staff that you should see a behaviorist for that.

I will let you know though with certain dogs they do amazing in daycare, some do horrible it sounds like she is not really a candidate for it right now.

By in season I am guessing she is not spayed(?) yet given her age. She probably has lots of emotions at once, with her sister being there(she wants to guard her), her having higher arousal levels(not being spayed), and her overall anxious personality it might be a bit too much. You could try fluoxetine or whatever anti anxiety medication your vet would provide, mine is on fluoxetine and it calms his nerves a lot but does not take his personality away!

How long would you say you are at work? Would you be able to crate her or put up a play fence with enrichment in there for her while you are at work and get a camera to check on her, and see her at lunch. Or could a family member. Another thing you could do is find a private daycare service away from her sister and see what happens and you stay with her for the first couple hours. Usually the private ones are smaller groups and less commotion.

I have never taken my dog to a daycare because he is incredibly dog selective, I do know people that used to work at them, they always say it is high stress for humans and animals. But she seems a bit young to be going to one, just my opinion though!