Frequently Asked questions

Health & Wellness

  • If a dog sustains an injury while at Home Sweet Home we will notify the owner immediately and proceed at the owner's discretion. If we are unable to reach the owner, we will make medical decisions in the best interest of the dog. Every dog here is important to us and every dog will be treated as if they were our very own. 

    If we believe that your dog may be sick, we will separate them from their pack and call their owner to pick them up immediately. 

    We also ask that you update our staff about injuries sustained outside of daycare, especially those that required medical attention, are healing, or required surgery/stitches. Dogs with stitches are not allowed to attend daycare for their safety.

  • Dogs are in playgroups all day and can choose to play or relax when they choose.

    In cases of dogs that are boarding for more than just a day or two, we may give them breaks of about an hour, 1-2 times per day. For dogs that are here for an extended period of time the breaks, or “naps”, become necessary to keep them in good spirits and to give them a chance to rest and recover mentally and physically.

  • Most dogs drink lots of water when they get home, much like we would after a run. Water is provided throughout the facility, both indoors and outdoors, and is refreshed and replaced regularly. Since these water buckets are communal, some dogs are less interested in drinking water while at daycare, and instead drink a lot of water once they get home. 

    If you feel like your dog is not drinking enough water while at Home Sweet Home, please give us a call and let us know so that we can monitor your dog’s water intake or even give them breaks with their own water bowl.

Facilities & membership

  • Our 5, 10, 15, and 20-day daycare packages can all be split into any combination of half and full days!

    For Example, a 20-day daycare package can be used as:

    • 10 half-days and 15 full days

    • 20 half-days and 10 full days

    • 30 half-days and 5 full days

    • Or any way you’d like to mix and match!

  • If your dog hasn’t been to daycare in 1 year or more, we recommend scheduling a time to do a re-introduction process with packs. This will allow staff an opportunity to see which of the current packs best suits them, as well as minimize social stress on your dog.

  • We do not provide streaming services for the privacy and safety of our staff, however we do post on our Instagram and Facebook pages regularly, including stories almost every day and huge monthly Facebook albums!

    We can’t guarantee that there will be pictures of your dog posted every time they are at Home Sweet Home, but we try our very best.

  • Our security system is designed to call emergency services, including police and fire, as well as staff. 

    We have met with the fire department to develop a fire evacuation plan that includes scenarios during and after business hours. Both of our locations are located only one block from a fire station, and we expect the response time to be very fast. If there is a fire, we will evacuate the dogs into the yards away from the building. 

    If there is a severe storm or a tornado during business hours, we will lock the dogs inside our buildings and, if necessary, we will confine them to the kennels and runs - or whatever needs to be done in order to keep everyone safe and manage the situation appropriately.

  • We clean our facility at least twice a day in accordance with and exceeding our state health license requirements. While we do our best to ensure there are no contagions present in the facility, it is always possible for illness and parasites to be brought in from external sources such as the dog park, newly adopted dogs, or dogs that have lapsed in their parasite and/or flea and tick treatments. 

    Most illness is transferred dog to dog and not from their environment - just like kids at school or daycare, or you at your workplace. For example, a dog with kennel cough can be contagious for up to 2 weeks before they show any symptoms. Similarly, fleas are difficult to detect without a very close inspection, and some worms found in stool are microscopic and therefore require a test.

Daycare & Boarding

  • We can administer a wide variety of medications to your dog while they’re with us, including some injections, as long as they can be administered within our staffed hours. We do not charge for these services as we believe it’s part of their routine care. 

    Please go over your dog's medication dosage and timing during your introduction and again at each boarding drop-off using our Boarding Drop-Off Form. 

    We ask that you DO NOT place medications or supplements in food bags for boarding stays.

  • If your dog runs out of food, we can feed them our "House Food" for a small fee. It is important that you always update your dog’s Gingr profile and notify our staff of any food allergies or dietary restrictions your dog has. 

    Sometimes dogs that stay for long periods of time can lose weight, even when their food intake is the same as it is when they are home. This is typically because boarded dogs are at daycare every day during their stay and their caloric expenditure is more than their caloric intake.

    Although we do monitor for weight changes, weight loss is often gradual, so it may be more apparent to the owner than it is to us following a boarding stay. Conversely, we may notice weight changes in dogs attending daycare that owners may not see and will notify you if we have concerns.

    If you suspect that your dog may not eat well while boarding, please pack treats and/or wet food that our staff can add to their meals to encourage their appetite, if necessary.

  • We aim to keep your dog’s diet as normal as possible while boarding. Understanding their eating habits and schedule at home provides us with a baseline understanding for their meals with us. We offer breakfast, lunch, and dinner breaks but will always try to stick with the schedule your dog is most familiar with.

  • During non-holiday months, we can usually accommodate same week or following week reservations.

    During holiday months, our boarding spots fill up quickly and we recommend scheduling several months in advance. 

    *We prefer to have more than a day's notice, but in emergency situations we will always do what we can to accommodate your pup. Please give us a call if you need to discuss last-minute options.

  • We work hard to manage the packs to prevent altercations. Fights are best dealt with before they start by reading and anticipating behaviors in packs. We can move dogs around to different packs, separate dogs that don't get along, and use breaks, amongst other things, to keep them safe. In the event there is a fight between dogs, the staff is trained to intervene, separate the dogs, and assess each dog for injuries. If there is an injury we will notify the owner and seek the proper veterinary care.

  • During extreme temperatures, such as below 20°F or above 90°F, we advise calling ahead to ensure that we are able to accommodate your dog(s). 

    Dogs are rotated through various indoor and outdoor play areas, and are given access to those spaces through doors and doggy doors. During heat/cold advisories, or when temperatures are too extreme for dogs, we may choose to use a more regimented routine of rotating the dogs through those indoor and outdoor spaces and closing doors to keep indoor temperatures regulated. 

    When it’s raining, we also may choose to rotate dogs in a more methodical way. Although we do our best to minimize access to places that may become muddy, your dogs may get dirty while playing here. We ask that you please plan accordingly on days that it is expected to rain.