Frequently Asked Questions
Did you know that we now have a mobile app for our pet parents?
It’s A Dog’s Life Resort & Spa’s Client Portal
2022 is the year that we began to enhance our paw parents' experience, providing you with a new portal app that you can now download on your phone or tablet. You will be amazed by all its features.
Not only do we want your dogs to have the greatest experience with us, we also want your experience to be just as wonderful.
Highlights of what the new portal offers:
- Appointment or Reservation Requests: Made easier for you.
- Notifications: Located on your home page, you can receive important reminders or information about your dog. It reminds you about vaccinations that are about to expire, needed deposits, reservations and upcoming appointments. All in a single area!
- Navigation bar: At the far left side of your screen with the following:
- Home: Where you can shop, view your account information, your daily report cards, photos and more.
- Book: Where you can review all your prior and upcoming reservations/ appointments as well as book new requests.
- Shop: If you want a package or want to add store credit to your account, look no further.
- Account: Where it’s all about you and your dog – where you can manage profiles, upload vaccination records/pictures and review invoices/estimates. You can also manage your agreements and your communication preferences, all at your fingertips.
- View: Where all report cards, photos and videos can be found.
- And more…
This portal makes interacting with It’s A Dog’s Life simpler because everything you’ll ever need is at your fingertips and within your reach.
Try Our New Customer Portal!
Use our online customer portal to manage your account, request bookings, and more.
Use the website below to log in with your primary email address or mobile phone number on file.
ItsADogsLifeMI.portal.gingrapp.com
You can also download the Gingr for Pet Parents app from the Apple App Store or Google Play store. Find us by using our invite code: 496331
Let our team know if you have any questions: email at Info@ItsADogsLifeMI.com
Report Cards/Pictures/Videos
Our team sends report cards to pet owners to inform them of how their pet did on a given day along with pictures and/or videos. We promise, you will LOVE them.
As much as our yard coaches love to take pictures and videos during their yard sessions, our first priority is the safety and security of every dog in our yard. Thus, if there are days where their safety and security is at risk, you might not be able to receive report cards from us. This is most especially true during peak times of the business - holidays, spring breaks, etc. Rest assured, should there be issues or concerns regarding your pet, we will let you know.
What do puppies need in order to enjoy our services?
Does my dog need any vaccinations?
What do dogs in the Enrichment Daycare do?
Do you accept aggressive dogs?
What happens when my dog is positive for heartworm or Papilloma virus?
Why do you offer a free Greet & Treat?
We pride ourselves in cultivating a stimulating environment for every dog that visits our facility. From the moment your dog walks in, we monitor their experience in our suites and our outdoor yards. Apart from passing the temperament test in our play yard, we want to make sure that your dog loves everything about us. We personally work with each dog to ensure that they receive the right amount of stimuli they need in order to achieve the right amount of physical exercise, mental exercise, rest and water/feeding intake.
We hope you take time to read up on our Enrichment Daycare, it's unlike any other. Most pet owners believe dogs should be active and play all day, but that is the furthest from the truth. Some dogs are stimulated in the first 10 minutes, meanwhile others need more time. We make sure that every dog is highly engaged and fulfilled during their stay.
Why should I choose Enrichment Daycare?
Dog Enrichment Daycare trains dogs to play and interact appropriately with other dogs using toys for them to gain more confidence. Also, dog daycare offers your four-legged companion an opportunity to run and play, which is a fantastic approach to keep your pet in excellent physical condition. It's A Dog's Life is committed to excel in this area and provide something that most won't or can't provide simply because they don't have the manpower.
Our team members are qualified to host play yards that not only afford dogs interactive play with our coaches but also using toys. We train our coaches to properly interact while utilizing toys because doing so provides our dog guests the physical and mental stimuli that they need. We don't just put a bunch of dogs in a room and call it play all day, instead we rotate groups of dogs in and out of our yards to be able to engage with each one of them. Our dogs don't just lay around the yards, they also engage because we make our yards interactive - and they love it.
A healthy dog is a well behaved and happy dog! As important as physical well-being, mental health is something many dogs lack because of an unfulfilled home lifestyle.
Honestly speaking, many of us have busy households and do not have enough time to pamper our pets. Consequently, our furry companions become bored, disheartened, anxious, and experience the same emotions we do. In some scenarios our best friend may lose trust in our ability to care for them and lash out.
Dog Enrichment Daycare can correct behavior problems that occur when dogs are left alone. These behavior problems include barking, whining and howling, and destruction. This happens due to the dog's increased stress level when isolated. Daycare for your dog is one of the best ways to teach your dog good socialization skills and eliminate owner absent behavior problems. Dogs who attend daycare in most cases are transformed into a calmer and more obedient pet.
Giving dogs free time to interact with other dogs and humans of all ages is one of the most important things responsible dog owners can do to help their dog develop into a calm, confident dog that is unlikely to bark, bite or become fearful or aggressive. Allowing dogs the opportunity to socialize with other dogs is probably one of the most important gifts dog owners can give themselves and their dog.
We always remind our clients that their dogs should never be in an all day playgroup all the time - for rest is just as important as play. Our blend of play/rest has been the key to our success and the happiness of our dogs.
Our dog daycare program was designed by a canine behaviorist to ensure the safety and playfulness of all our guests. All our team members are well-trained in terms of dog behavior and body language. The dogs that participate in our daycare have been temperament tested, are fully vaccinated (Bordatella, DHLPP and Rabies) and are put into compatible playgroups based on size, temperament and play style. After their respective playtimes, we give the dogs a chance to rest before heading back to their playgroup with their friends. After playing all day, your dog is ready to go home and relax with your family.
Are dogs in doggy day care supervised?
Dogs in our playgroups are always supervised so that the play never gets out-of-hand, one-sided or becomes stressful for anyone. Dogs who are acting inappropriately or unsafe towards another dog are removed for a short time-out and can re-join the group after they have calmed down and remember to play nicely with the other dogs.
Depending on the group in play, we require 1 team member for every 10 - 15 dogs in play. For ALL large dog play groups, there will always be a minimum of 2 team members in every group size, no matter the number of dogs.
How do you run Enrichment Playgroups?
It's A Dog's Life prides itself on ensuring that every dog's safety and well-being is always our priority. With that, we transitioned to off leash while using a toys program that is highly recommended in our industry. It introduces structure and attention to our dogs.
What does this mean? We all want our dogs to have manners as our human children do. Many times, your dog loses those manners at daycare, because commands and behaviors are not a focus in dog daycare programs. We have conferred with our peers in the industry and unanimously this program has proven to have a positive impact on all dogs. We are not a training center, we want dogs to be themselves, for our methodology is to obtain a harmonic and fun environment for every dog that visits. We are not doing this to address your dog’s bad behaviors but to keep our environment safe.
Our coaches are trained to create playgroups where dogs can properly interact together with our coaches using toys. Using toys in our play yards is the ideal mental and physical stimulation a dog can receive. It also trains dogs how to properly engage and share their toys with one another and with our coaches.
SPRAY BOTTLES:
Our trained coaches use spray bottles to correct dogs while in playgroups. This form of correction is found to be the most humane way to correct unwanted behaviors and regain a dog's attention in an enclosed daycare setting. The team is trained on how to effectively utilize this tool when correcting behaviors.
OFF LEASH COMMANDS:
We work with dogs as a group to teach the following commands that we use in the facility. We also highly encourage that the following commands be used at home:
- RECALL
To come when called. We say - "Dogs Name - COME” - LEAVE IT
A general term for any circumstance where a dog needs to ignore something. (i.e. another dog, toy, human, dog waste on ground). We say - "Dogs Name - Leave It” - LET'S GO
For the dog to walk towards your direction or direction you are heading. We say -"Dogs Name - Lets Go" - SIT & DOWN
These two commands are used when there is a momentary time out for a dog while remaining in the play yard. We use these as well when taking them out of their suites into our play yards, without the use of leashes. The term sit means that we want the dog to sit down. We want them to stay in place, until released ("Free"). We use down, when we want a dog to lay down for a period of time or until released ("Free"). We say - "Dogs Name - Sit" or "Dogs Name - Down". - OFF
We use this when a dog is jumping on things and should not be. This is used frequently in our boarding room with our suites - dogs tend to jump on their door to chat with dogs passing by. It is very important for their safety that they understand this. We say - "Dogs Name - Off" - FREE
We use this command when we want the dog to release from the sit down command.
These are the words we use at our facility. We want to share them with you so you would know how to talk to your dogs.
Can my dog try group playtime? What if my dog doesn't like it?
If your dog is spayed/neutered and is over the age of 6 months, we will ask for their updated vaccination records. Puppies that have had their second series of puppy shots are welcome to try our free Greet & Treat with other dogs in playgroups.
For new dog guests, a canine behaviorist performs a temperament test to help determine the dog’s play style and personality for us to find a compatible group for them to play with. Introductions to the playgroup are gradual so that new dogs have time to acclimate to the other dogs. We let each dog be by never forcing playtime or joining the group. Majority of our dogs who have tried doggy daycare have acclimated quickly as we only accept sociable dogs into the playgroup.
Your dog is given the opportunity to assess us. Should our facilities and service not be to your dog’s liking, we will help you find a facility that’s suitable to your dog’s needs, temperament and socialization skills.
Our ultimate goal is that your dog feels comfortable with us as if he or she is at home.
Our aim is to make It’s A Dog’s Life your dog’s home away from home.
How do you run Enrichment Playgroups?
For dogs that are younger than 12 months or not spayed/neutered, they are not allowed to join us in any playgroup activities or socialize with other pets.
For intact dogs, they are only allowed to board with us in the form of one is to one (one intact dog, one team member assigned). There will be additional charges for boarding or having your intact dog stay with us.
If your female is in heat or about to be in heat, she may not stay with us during this time.
What are your operational hours/dropoff/pickup schedules?
Our facilities are open to clients on the following days:
Monday - Friday: 6:30 am to 7:00 pm
Saturday: 8:00 am - 4:00 pm
Sunday: Closed (Deep cleaning/sanitizing/caring for boarding dogs day) *Boarding Drop Off /Pickup Only: 8:00 am - 4:00 pm
Boarding Pick-Up & Drop-Off Times:
Monday - Friday: 6:30am - 6:30pm
Saturday: 8:00 am - 3:30pm
Sunday: 8:00 am - 3:30pm Pick-Up and Drop- Off of boarding dogs ONLY