Mango and her Doggy Day Care Success Story

Mango is a 3 year old Cocker Spaniel who joined Bruce’s Doggy Day Care in early March 2023.

Mango is a sweet girl whose owners advised our dog loving team in Tunbridge Wells that she can get anxious and overwhelmed around doggies she doesn’t know. Although she has a sister who she loves to play with, her owners wondered how she would cope in a doggy day care setting.

Knowing this, Mango was given a slow introduction and whilst she didn’t immediately love doggy day care, we know it can take time for a dog to settle in to a new environment. Our team could see that with the right support, time and attention Mango would thrive in our doggy day care and we were going to go the extra mile to make sure she was happy!

Working at Mango’s pace and with the help of Expert Dog Coach, Georgina and support from her devoted carers, a day care plan was put in place to monitor, manage and modify her time at doggy day care to best suit her needs and to help her thrive amongst her new friends in our setting.

With any dog on a day care plan, we feel it’s important to include their owners on the journey, so that they understand what we’re doing, why we’re doing it and to see if there’s anything they could do at home to help our team.

A 4 week plan was put into place and communicated with Mango’s owners, with the goal to develop her confidence and ensure she’s happy and living her best life in our care.

Mango didn’t choose to go into the field straight away and our team wasn’t going to make her to do anything she didn’t want to. Instead, the focus was on building strong bonds with our team and doing indoor based dog enrichment to stimulate that curious brain of hers! 

We knew with all that intelligence it wouldn’t be long before Mango was solving every puzzle we gave her and started to notice her confidence grow. The next step in her plan was to see if she’d be happy in a field on her own with no doggies and as the team continued to gain her trust they discovered she didn’t get anxious entering an empty field. 

Dogs thrive on routine, so when the time came for Mango’s next doggy day care session, the team started the day with the enrichment activities she was used to and enjoyed the most.

She then entered an empty field with her carer to enjoy a good sniff and some sensory enrichment before the introduction of any other dogs.

All dogs have their own unique personality, so when it came to choosing a dog for Mango to meet, the team knew they needed a dog with a calming manner to ensure the progress they’d made would not be undone.

With the two of them in the field together, initially Mango stuck by her carers side as they walked around the field. In her own time, Mango built up the confidence to say hello and despite her being unsure of taking the interaction any further, just being around another dog was a huge step in the right direction for her.

As the weeks went on, the team continued to support Mango on her journey, slowly increasing the amount of dogs in the field with her, always just one at a time to ensure they never pushed her too far, too quickly.

Mango is now at a point were she will comfortably enter her field with no specific requirements.

She is dropped off by her adoring owners and arrives at doggy day care excited and ready for the fun-filled day ahead.

The team do still keep an eye on her as they know there’s a chance she may get nervous when meeting a new or particularly energetic dog and if this happens, she loves to enjoy her favourite calming indoor enrichment games.

Although it took a little bit more time for Mango to settle into our doggy day care environment, thanks to the compassion and hard work of our team going the extra mile, her parents and Mango herself, we are thrilled to have her as a fully fledged member of our Bruce’s family!