3 reasons for the rise in doggy day care

9th March 2015

Now with over 100 doggy day care providers listed within our directory we thought it timely to investigate the rise of doggy day care services and why they have become so popular for pet owners, not just here in Australia, but all over the world.

It seems that doggy day care has risen to become the preferred choice for pet owners seeking a safe, professional service for their beloved pets whilst they are away from home for the day. So let’s examine this undisputed upward trend and find out why doggy day care is on the rise?

1. Our current lifestyle needs

Even though we have technology, automation and many other ways in which our life is easier than in the past, our lifestyles have become crushingly hectic. Take a look at your weekly schedule and then rate it on a scale from 1 to 10 in terms of just how busy you are today. What is the score? How much time out of your day do you feel is free to dedicate to your pets? With the upward demand for doggy day care, we are guessing your busy score is sitting around 9 to 10, which then of course impacts on the quality of time spent with your pet?

The truth is pet owners cherish having their best friend around, ready to cheer them up at the end of the day. Come to think of it, even this expression points to an important fact: it’s so difficult to devote enough time to your dog, even if you strongly wish to do so. Usually, you can only give them a window of attention when the working day is over and you are rushing back home for their walk, in between your other daily duties. Which of course leads to a very simple (yet serious) question – is your dog bored or anxious during the daytime, whilst you are not there? Dogs are, after all, highly sociable pack animals. In no way are they ready to be living a lonely and sometimes long day, alone at home.

This is where doggy day care comes in. It provides a great outlet for entertainment, socialization and sometimes even discipline for your pet, whilst allaying those self-imposed feelings of guilt when you have to walk out of the door for your 8-10 hour long day without them.

There we have reason #1 in the form of an equation: Busy lifestyles = more doggy day care facilities needed.

 

2. Increased rise of pet ownership

Please forgive us! We realize that statistics are as dry as a bone. But at the same time they give us an important overview of how and why events unfold. So let's chow down on a few numbers together? Back in 2013, the Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) estimated that there were over 25 million pets in Australia. Did you know that Australia has one of the highest rates of pet ownership in the world, with 63% of households being home to a variety of pets? But guess what? Dogs are Aussies' most favoured choice of pet with 39% of households having at least one in their family. This brings the total number of dogs to around 4.2 million, which is around 1 in 5 households! Let's do another spin on the numbers: this effectively means that for every 100 people, there are 19 dogs happily living as part of your pack.

In other words, here is reason #2 which expands the equation further: Busy lifestyles + more dogs = more doggy day care facilities needed.

3. Living in a service-based world

Our world has increasingly become a service-based one. Such progress can be demonstrated when you look at all those swarms of apps we have for everything. But let's not limit ourselves to technology – the whole way our (and the global) society has started to function lies on a service-based construct. This is especially true for the Gen Y guys and girls, also known as Millennials. Let's consider a small example taking place in the pet industry; around 27% of Gen Y pet owners have actually insured their dogs. What do you think is the percentage of Baby Boomers who have done the same? Just 12%. Doggy day care is a perfect example of a comfortable, modern-day service with a clear target audience that is growing in numbers. So in such a service-based global society, if there's something logical for us to witness, it's the rise of doggy day care.

The evidence of this can be demonstrated by the Holdfast Bay Dog Centre operator Karyn Molloy who reported to the Advertister that demand for doggie day care has shown a huge increase since the operation started 12 years ago, and up to 60 dogs are regularly dropped off each day. See the article here.

With reason #3 included, here's how the final equation looks like: Busy lifestyles + more dogs + a service-based society model = more doggy day care facilities needed.

Whatever way you look at it, doggy day care is really on the rise and will surely continue to expand, as reported by the Advertiser here.

So why not check out our listings on Doggy Day Care and see who is being recommended by other pet owners? Also, if you have used a doggy day care facility we would love you to review it for others?

But for now, lets allow sleeping dogs to lie, as its the weekend! So enjoy, and see you back here next week!

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