Welcoming a new puppy into your home is an exciting and rewarding experience, but it also comes with its challenges. At The Happy Hound Play Park, we understand that the early months of your puppy’s life are critical for shaping their behaviour, confidence, and ability to navigate the world around them.
Puppies don’t just grow into confident, well-behaved companions on their own; they need positive experiences, safe socialization, and guided support during their formative weeks.
That’s why we’ve created Puppy Steps Daycare — our intentional and structured program that helps puppies build essential skills and provide parents with the tools and support needed to raise a happy, well-adjusted dog.
Since 12 - 16 weeks old is such an essential development period, all puppies must begin with this daycare program.
Then our Puppy Kindergarten program is for you! Puppy Kindergarten has a training curriculum in addition to your puppy's day of daycare.
Exposure to new environments, sounds, and situations helps puppies feel secure and ready to explore the world.
Positive interactions with other puppies, other ages of socially-savvy and safe dogs, and people lay the foundation for healthy relationships and communication.
Teaching puppies how to rest, engage, and self-regulate in a safe environment reduces anxiety and fosters resilience.
Early exposure to daycare helps your puppy adjust to being away from home, setting the stage for future success in boarding, vet visits, time away from you and other life events.
Our Puppy Steps Daycare program is tailored specifically for puppies aged 12 to 16 weeks. It’s more than just daycare — it’s a structured experience designed to help your puppy thrive and provide you, as a parent, with valuable resources and support.
This program is required for puppies. Once your puppy is past 16 weeks, you can book them into regular daycare (either CLASS or Social).
To ensure your puppy experiences the benefit of relationship development and socialization opportunities, Puppy Steps Daycare is booked as a minimum of three days within a seven day period.
Your puppy will enjoy a safe, engaging, and positive environment, building confidence and learning how to interact appropriately with others.
We help puppies associate crates with comfort and safety, laying the groundwork for crate-training success at home and future success resting calmly, whether for future daycare, boarding, or vet visits.
Under supervision, your puppy will engage in appropriate social interactions with other puppies and socially-savvy and supportive older dogs, helping them develop essential communication skills.
Our experienced trainers provide guidance, ensuring your puppy gets the most out of their daycare experience. You’ll also have access to expert advice and support to tackle challenges as they arise.
You'll receive resources with tools and tips to support your puppy's training and development at home.
With each three-pack of Puppy Steps Daycare days, our trainers will schedule in one free co-operative care session.
Establish positive associations with essential care routines like nail trims, grooming, brushing, baths, and administering eye or ear drops. These sessions help your puppy feel calm and comfortable with handling.
With each three-pack of Puppy Steps Daycare days, you'll receive a free Puppy Social for you and your puppy to attend for more safe socialization opportunities and conversation with a trainer.
Join other puppy parents for a fun, interactive session to ask questions, get advice, and share experiences.
Get your puppy set to begin Puppy Steps Daycare! Assessments are approximately 30 mins and can be scheduled 7 days a week. Visit our Schedule a Meet & Greet page for more details.
Pickup after 6 pm by appointment only.
Puppy Steps Daycare is available in increments of three days. For maximum benefit, we recommend booking the three days within seven days to ensure your puppy’s experiences build on each other for optimal learning and growth.
Three days of puppy steps daycare: $165 plus gst. Includes one free co-operative care training session and one free puppy social.
Three days of puppy steps daycare: $324 plus gst. Includes two free co-operative care training sessions and two free puppy socials.
Twelve days of puppy steps daycare: $636 plus gst. Includes three free co-operative care training sessions and three free puppy socials.
Please see full client services agreement for full details, refund and cancellation policy. Prices do not include gst.
Please reach us at info@thehappyhoundplaypark.ca if you cannot find an answer to your question.
Puppy Steps Daycare is required for all puppies ages 12 - 16 weeks. This period is so essential to your puppy's future and is such an important formative period, our responsibility is to ensure the best foundation program and best supports are available. A puppy has different needs than an adolescent or adult dog, and therefore requires a distinct daycare program.
Required vaccinations
Puppies under 24 weeks old require two completed sets of Distemper combination vaccine
6-9 am: Check-ins, Small group play, one-on-one bathroom breaks, and play group organization
9-11 am: Morning rotational play and rest programs
11 - 12:30 pm: Mid-day rest, lunches, one-on-one play, enrichment sessions & training sessions
12:30 - 3:30/4:00 pm: Afternoon rotational play programs and training
3:30 - 6 pm: Check-outs, enrichment sessions, baths & training
Your puppy will be with other puppies and other small, socially-savvy and socially-positive dogs. Puppies need safe, supervised and managed play experiences with socially-savvy dogs to learn good play behaviours and appropriate communication.
All dogs in our daycare program play naked! Naked play is the safest play for dogs.
All-day play is overstimulating, exhausting and tiring. Dogs, just like children, need breaks to process all they're experiencing, to decompress, rest and recharge, and to maintain their play engagement at a positive level and maintain their social battery below their exhaustion threshold. Puppies need additional rest breaks, but also need those rest breaks to be supported so they can learn to positively disengage from play time and settle in a crate or kennel.
By rotating through play and rest, we are able to let each dog truly play during their play sessions and not to simply exist in a room packed full of dogs.
Our mandate is to improve your pup's life and give them the best experiences that support their development socially, psychologically and emotionally through intentionally-designed experiences and opportunities.
Lobby hours
6 am - 9 am (7 am - 9 am weekends) | 11:30 am - 12:30 pm | 3 pm - 6:00 pm
Check-in and out is limited to the hours above. Check-out between 6 pm - 8:45 pm is by pre-scheduled appointment time only.
Mon | 06:00 a.m. – 09:00 p.m. | |
Tue | 06:00 a.m. – 09:00 p.m. | |
Wed | 06:00 a.m. – 09:00 p.m. | |
Thu | 06:00 a.m. – 09:00 p.m. | |
Fri | 06:00 a.m. – 09:00 p.m. | |
Sat | 07:00 a.m. – 09:00 p.m. | |
Sun | 07:00 a.m. – 09:00 p.m. |
No daycare is offered on holidays.
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