Anytime you are in the business of supervising off-leash dogs, you’re going to be faced with risks and tough decisions. Who can play with whom? Which dogs need to be restricted from the play field altogether? What do I mention to Buddy’s owner about his “overzealous social influencing” (bullying) or to Coco’s owner about her “proximity sensitivity jaw response” (biting every dog that bumps her)?

If you run a very busy day care, decisions and conversations like this can come up many times per week. You’re offering the promise of an off-leash day with socialization, play, and freedom – but can every dog handle it? No. And every dog owner does not appreciate the tough balance you have to create between freedom and safety. So, here are some tips to keep your play field safe, your relationship with clients strong, and your revenues up.

Prevent Play Field Trouble: Keep the Burner on Medium-Low
The simplest and most obvious predictor of fights is excitement level (or arousal level). This means the level of intensity in behaviors like running, jumping, bumping, wrestling, and vocalizing. When I ran a day care, our managers were trained to envision excitement level on a scale of 1 to 10 and to never allow the dogs on the play field to escalate past a level 6. This simple rule is much easier than looking for the early signs of when a bite is coming or trying to distinguish between play and a fight in the making. The rule is don’t let the dogs get overly excited. Period.

Excitement is highly contagious, especially in a confined space. Two dogs chasing each other can easily agitate some, incite predatory responses in others, and suddenly you have a dozen dogs in a melee. Dog lovers might think, “They’re having fun, just let them cut loose.” But, you’re running a professional operation and you need to balance the play with the safety. Not only can high excitement spiral out of control fast, but the higher the arousal level – the harder it is to calm it back down. Therefore, it’s important to recognize and lower excitement while it is still happening at a medium level - before it bubbles over to a boil. One dog fight is a problem, but the worst case scenario can be multiple bites to multiple dogs (and/or staff) with the supervisor losing track of who bit whom.

Peace and Joy
The good news is there’s plenty of fun to be had at excitement level 6 and below. As long as their activity doesn’t take them sweeping across the room or bumping hard into others, most playmates can have their fun without getting other dogs over-aroused or defensive. You can allow dogs to engage in wrestling, under control chases, feint and parry rituals, some barking/howling, and the like – keeping it all at medium-low levels. The key is to keep your eye on how any given interaction is affecting “the room.” Ask yourself - are other dogs getting overly interested, agitated or excited by this interaction? If it is causing other dogs to run over quickly and escalate (potentially towards conflict), then it’s too much and should be simmered down.

There are a few easy ways to simmer down the excitement level. The first is called splitting: move your body so you are standing between the two dogs that are playing too hard. Dogs understand this signal well. In fact, if you watch carefully, you will notice that you likely have some “police” dogs already doing this on your play field, because some dogs also have a desire to keep the room under control. If you split an interaction a few times and one or both dogs are still not getting the message to simmer down, try to distract one of them into a calm interaction with you.

If they still won’t mellow, one or both may need a time out. Bring the over-aroused dog(s) to your dedicated time out space, ideally right after he engages in the behavior you don’t like (e.g., lunging, slamming, mounting, etc.). If your timing is good, responding with a time out just as he performs the unwanted behavior, you will see that in the future your warning of splitting will often make the difference on its own. This is because the dogs will learn the pattern – that you coming over and splitting them up means if they keep at it, they’ll lose the opportunity to continue playing freely.

Realistically Predicting Future Trouble
On the play field, the main thing you are always trying to prevent is injuries. No matter whose fault it is, if you have to tell an owner that their dog was bitten, hurt, and especially if the dog needs vet care – you are going to have an upset pet parent. You and your team will be working hard to regain the level of trust that client had in your business before the incident. That’s why it’s important to recognize which dogs cause injuries and whether or not they will do it again.

In the most basic sense, there are 4 types of “higher-risk dogs” that are likely to cause injuries to others. If you identify one of these dogs in your play group, you need to separate him/her out to be with a highly managed smaller group of dogs who will never escalate to conflict with that dog. Or, in many cases you will need to diplomatically speak with the dog’s owner about setting the dog up with a different service that you may offer (e.g., day care without play field time, dog-walking, or day training). In all cases, the most important factor in a higher-risk dog’s behavior is how hard he/she will bite if the dog decides to bite. It goes without saying that you want to get a dog’s bite history from their owner before allowing the dog to interact off-leash in your facility. However, not all owners know their dog’s complete history or feel compelled to share every detail of it.

The critical thing you need to know is that dogs typically bite as hard as they did in previous situations where they bit. Put another way, dogs who bite soft usually bite soft; dogs who bite hard usually bite hard. Therefore, if a dog in your care bites another dog hard enough to cause injury, or locks on without letting go quickly – it is very likely you will see this same type of bite in future interactions of a similar kind. Dogs who have been known to bite hard, even once, are a very high risk to injure others in off-leash day care.

Higher-Risk Dog Types
Now, regardless of bite level, remember that there are basically 4 types of higher-risk dogs you may see on the play field. The first type is the overexcited, out-of-control dog who doesn’t necessarily mean to cause harm, but runs like crazy, bumps into others like a pinball, and generally shakes up the whole room like a champagne bottle until the cork pops off in the form of a fight, a bite, or both.

The second type of higher-risk dog is the confident, bully type who may single out other dogs and repeatedly harass them. Sometimes this is subtle, and sometimes it is very obvious, such as when the bully will chase the victim, body slam him, pin him, etc. – either ruining the victim’s day or causing him to respond with defensive aggression which can escalate into a fight.

The third type of higher-risk dog is one that is sensitive to having others come too close, bump her, or try to engage her. This dog is a risk if she routinely lashes out in defense of herself to the extent that she causes fights, or of course if she bites hard in response to a dog that has violated her space.

The fourth type of higher-risk dog is one that is known to seriously “dislike” another dog on the play field to the extent where they will always fight if they are together. This dog may be fine with all (or many) others, but will fight with its specific “enemy” on sight. Needless to say, you must be aware of any such “enemy” pairings and keep them separate. It is even a risk to have both “enemy” dogs in the same facility as you never know when a new or naïve staff member may accidentally put the two dogs together. If you choose to keep known fighting pairs in the same facility, make sure you have a system in place such as clear signage and colored collars to guard against accidental encounters.

The Wrap
As dog lovers, it is often hard for us to single out certain dogs as “trouble makers.” But, as day care managers, identifying higher-risk dogs is critical. This is the only way we can make the predictions and decisions we need to run a professional facility that can earn a great reputation. By starting with the simple rule of keeping excitement at medium to low levels, a lot of potential trouble makers will never even reveal their mischievous behaviors.

With that said, once you’ve identified a higher-risk dog, be realistic with yourself, your staff, and the dog owner. Make a plan to discuss the facts of the dog’s behavior with the owner. If you’re honest right away about what you’re seeing and any incidents that have happened - plus you did a good job of setting expectations about the risks of day care from the start - then most owners will appreciate your candid report. If necessary, discuss all other possible services you can offer the dog in terms of a custom play group (when possible), dog-walking, day care without the play field, or day training.

David Muriello, CPDT-KA is the founder of CATCH Canine Trainers Academy, www.CATCHdogtrainers.com, a nationally available online/hands-on education program for dog lovers to get certified in dog training and behavior. In 2005, David founded and led a multi-location dog training business for the biggest dog care company in New York City, now with 9 Manhattan locations. David has appeared as a dog training expert on ABC-TV’s Rachael Ray Show, Discovery Channel, and is a national speaker for Petfinder and the PetCo Foundation’s Adoption Option events. David is also a member of the Education Advisory Group for the Association of Professional Dog Trainers. In 2015, he will begin leading the new intensive study programs for aspiring dog trainers at St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center in Madison, NJ, where students will gain invaluable hands-on experience while benefiting the shelter dogs.

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