A New Daycare?

I've mentioned a few times how busy work has been recently, unfortunately making my posts a bit more sporadic - but stick with me, I promise, I'll keep posting!

This past Saturday morning, G, my boyfriend and I went running together in Riverside Park. We happened upon a group who were handing out the 2011 UWS Dog Care Directory by the dog park. I almost didn't take one, but my boyfriend convinced me and off we went. When we got home, I cruised the daycare listings, knowing that I had very long ago exhausted that search!

To frame this, as I've mentioned before, since April 2010, G had been in daycare, the past six months of which were at a small daycare here on 86th Street that had been open for close to 25 years. Imagine my shock (devastation, really) when I went to pick up G in mid-April and there was a sign on the door saying they were closing their doors at the end of the month.

I researched other daycare places in my neighborhood and they were astronomically more expensive than the one she had been going to. I gave up (reluctantly - remember the separation anxiety post?!) and hired a highly recommended dog walker 3 days a week.

My dog walked is fantastic and, while it's been great for my piece of mind, my concerns about not having daycare anymore have been growing. She needs a lot of exercise and daycare simply exhausted her. While a 45 minute walk is great (in addition to the walks we go on when I get home), I'm not sure it's fulfilling her 'doggy' side - really, she needs an outlet for all that information. I just remember when G would come home from daycare, she would literally sleep for the next day.

Further, G's been getting a bit sassier with dogs on leash. She's never aggressive, but has been barking more and I want to get her back into a situation where she's surrounded by a controlled pack and has to interact with many different types of dogs.

So anyways - I was so happy and excited to see a new name in the daycare listings I hadn't previously. The new location is right over on 94th Street (so much closer!) and has been open for about a month now. G has a meet and great in the next week and I'm really hopeful it goes well. I'm thinking of trying 2 days a week to see how it goes (especially with G's limp now controlled by Rimadyl, I'm also hopeful that issue isn't exacerbated).

Basically, I'm hoping that by getting G back into daycare, I get a bit more of this action at night:

But let's be honest, I'd settle for something more like this, too: