Dog Daycare

Dog Daycare

At The Board Hound, our daycare was established to enrich the lives of the dogs in our community through healthy outlets for play and socialization. Our smaller play groups come with individual care and attention, while providing a low-stress, safe, daycare environment at our locations in Arlington and Alexandria. Since safety is our first priority, we start with providing a high staff to dog ratio of about 1 to 10. This personalization ensures that your dog is always closely monitored.

We understand that not all dogs are the same so we match energy levels, comfort levels, and play styles to create the perfect playgroup with each dog in mind. These playgroups are continuously adjusted as the dynamics fluctuate throughout the day to ensure that all the dogs stay safe, happy, and healthy. Our goal is to provide a positive play space for dogs to flourish and be dogs. Our approach is always fear and force-free.

Our facilities are temperature controlled for comfort, with flooring made of epoxied concrete to prevent paw and pad injuries. And because our floor and walls are non-porous, they are easy to clean and disinfect. Our play areas are thoroughly disinfected to provide an exceptionally clean daycare environment every day.

Our Shirlington location includes our trademarked RoofTop Play^TM space. The Board Hound is the only dog daycare in Arlington with an outdoor play area! Our unique outdoor space provides your dog access to fresh air throughout the day in monitored playgroups. RoofTop Play^TM is approached just the same as our other play areas to provide a low-stress, safe, and clean environment. Our Old Town location also features a fully-covered outdoor play space for dogs to get fresh air in any weather and any season!

At The Board Hound, we understand that every dog has unique needs while in daycare. We do our absolute best to accommodate any special request for your dog while in our care. We can accommodate a wide range of requests to suit your dog’s needs ranging from midday lunch to scheduled rest time. In addition to providing exceptional care for your canine companions, we are equally flexible in the understanding of our clients’ needs. We offer early drop off in the morning before we open, as well as late pick up in the evening.

To uphold the highest safety standards possible, all our dogs are required to successfully complete our daycare evaluation and trial day of daycare before they can attend daycare with The Board Hound. The evaluation and trial day are very important for the well-being of your dog, our staff, and all other dogs in our facility. This process gives us the opportunity to get to know your dog, and for your dog to get to know us, while enjoying all that group socialization has to offer. During the evaluation (4-hour minimum) we are able to establish a behavioral profile for your dog. This profile is used to determine the appropriate play group and daycare plan for your dog and to ensure that our daycare environment will be a positive experience. We understand that a dog’s behavior is always adjusting as each dog builds confidence, learns the rules of socialization, and gets comfortable in a group play setting. As a dog’s behavior changes, we are able to adjust their personalized plan for daycare as needed.

Our daycare evaluations are always 100% free and includes the trial day of daycare at no additional cost. Once your dog has completed a Drop-Off Daycare Evaluation, you will be able to schedule recurring daycare reservations, or daycare reservations as needed, at either location.

Daycare Pricing

Drop-Off Daycare Evaluation + Trial Day: FREE

Full-Day Daycare (up to 12.5 hours): $42 

Half-Day Daycare (up to 6 hours): $30

Daycare Packages & Pricing:

• 05-Day Package: $200 ($40 per day)
• 10-Day Package: $380 ($38 per day)
• 15-Day Package: $540 ($36 per day)
• Weekday Package: $160 per week

Daycare Pricing for Additional Dogs in the Same Family

Drop-Off Daycare Evaluation + Trial Day: FREE

Full-Day Additional Dog Daycare (up to 12.5 hours): $37

Half-Day Additional Dog Daycare (up to 6 hours): $30

Additional Dog Daycare Packages & Pricing:

• Additional Dog 05-Day Package: $175 ($33 per day)
• Additional Dog 10-Day Package: $330 ($32 per day)
• Additional Dog 15-Day Package: $465 ($31 per day)
• Additional Dog Weekday Package: $150 per week

Additional Daycare Services

Early Drop-Off services are offered Monday through Friday at both locations for $15 per daycare dog. Early Drop-Off services are not offered on weekends, holidays, or any day we are scheduled to open at 9 am.

Late Pick-Up services are offered Monday through Friday for a cost of $15 per daycare dog. Late Pick-Up services are not offered on weekends, holidays, or any day we close at 7 pm.

Transportation services are available from Old Town to Shirlington for any daycare dog that has not been picked up by 8pm. A $20 fee will apply.

Enrichment Activities can be requested while participating in daycare as well. Those services are listed on our Dog Training Page.

Bath & Nail Trimming Add-On Services

Bathing and Nail Trims are accommodated by request for dogs attending daycare or boarding. We also have a self-wash station at our Shirlington location that clients can use to bathe their dogs themselves.

Standard Bath includes Top Performance Fresh Pet Shampoo, Ear Cleaning, Brush, & Blow Dry (daycare & boarding dogs only): $35

All-Natural Bath includes Top Performance All Natural Green Tea & Mint Shampoo, Ear cleaning, Brush, & Blow Dry. This option is best for dogs with sensitive skin (daycare & boarding only): $40

Nail Trim Add-On (daycare & boarding dogs only; with bathing service): $10

Nail Trim Only (daycare & boarding dogs only): $15

Self-wash (Shirlington location only, for daycare & boarding clients only; Walk-ins welcome!): $20