Most of the Day, Nothing Exciting Happens. That’s the Point.

Observations and notes

If you looked at Stay Floofy at the wrong time of day, you might wonder what exactly all the dogs are doing here.

Sleeping.

Mostly sleeping.

One is on our bed.

Another has somehow taken the best spot near the balcony.

Someone is stretched out on the floor even though there is an entire bed available.

A few are following Birendar bhai because food preparation has begun and apparently supervision is required.

And 3G is probably somewhere wondering why everybody is making so much noise.

That is a fairly normal day here.

And I actually like it that way.

Because I don’t think a good stay needs to look exciting every minute.

A normal day starts very early

Our day normally starts around 5 AM.

Not because the dogs have requested a sunrise wellness programme.

They need to pee.

And poop.

So we start taking them up to the terrace in groups.

Some finish their business and immediately want to play.

Some sniff everything as though the terrace has completely changed overnight.

Some just stand there looking half asleep.

While they are moving around, breakfast is getting prepared and their rooms are being cleaned.

Then comes food.

After eating, they go back to their respective rooms to relax.

They always have access to their balcony and bathroom area, so if they need to do their business again, they can.

Otherwise, they are free to sleep.

On the bed.

On the floor.

Near the balcony.

Wherever they find comfortable.

While they settle, we move on to cleaning the common areas.

Once those are washed and dried, everybody gets access again and the house opens up.

And this is usually where people imagine the exciting part begins.

Dogs running everywhere.

Constant games.

Everyone playing together.

Sometimes, yes.

Most of the time?

They find another place to sleep.

Most dogs are actually a lazy bunch

Doggos are lazy.

There. I said it.

They can absolutely have their madness.

An arrival can turn the house upside down for a while.

Food preparation can suddenly wake up dogs who looked medically unconscious thirty seconds earlier.

Walking into a room can trigger celebrations as though you’ve returned after three years instead of three minutes.

And once one dog starts running, another may decide this is now a compulsory group activity.

But those moments come in bursts.

A normal house isn’t permanently running at full volume.

Neither are most dogs once they are comfortable.

Around noon, things normally become quiet.

We also try to get some rest.

Humans and doggos together.

Beds become public property.

Floors become dog parking.

Around 2 PM there are small snacks, which temporarily restores everybody’s will to live.

Then back to doing very little.

House observation: Those boring hours often tell me more about how a dog is doing than a thirty-second video of everybody playing.

The Rover test

Rover is probably one of my favourite examples of this.

Every time he arrives, the first few days are madness.

No sleep.

For him.

For the Pawdashians.

For anybody.

Everybody wants to play.

Everything is exciting.

There is always something happening.

And then, after around two days, something changes.

Nothing happens.

They sleep.

Wake up for food.

Go poop.

Sleep again.

That’s it.

And that, to me, is when the stay has actually settled.

The excitement of arriving is gone.

The Pawdashians don’t feel like they need to constantly investigate him.

Rover doesn’t feel like he needs to constantly engage.

Everybody knows who is around.

Everybody knows the house.

And suddenly there is no reason to stay switched on.

That is a very different thing from a dog being dull or unhappy.

It is a dog being comfortable enough to stop doing something all the time.

What I look for when a dog settles

I don’t have one checklist that magically tells me a dog is comfortable.

Dogs don’t work like that.

I watch the whole picture.

• Is the dog eating normally?
• How deeply are they sleeping?
• What does their body look like while resting?
• Are they constantly following us, or have they started choosing some distance?
• Do they feel comfortable lying down while humans move around?
• Do they play briefly and then settle?
• Are they comfortable doing their pee and poop normally?

Some dogs show comfort by coming closer.

Others show comfort by finally moving away.

That difference matters.

A dog who followed you every second on Day 1 and is happily asleep in another room on Day 3 may actually be telling you something very positive.

They no longer need to keep checking where the human is.

For another dog, choosing to sleep beside us may be the big sign.

You have to read the dog in front of you.

Not every dog needs to play

One thing I really don’t believe in is forcing every dog into the same version of a “fun stay”.

Some dogs love other dogs.

Some like a little interaction.

Some would rather everybody leave them alone.

Fair enough.

If a dog isn’t very interested in playing with the others, our goal isn’t to somehow convince them that they should be.

We try to create an environment that works for that dog.

Maybe that means more distance.

Maybe a quieter part of the house.

Maybe more human company and less dog company.

Maybe they are perfectly happy eating, sleeping, doing their business and hanging around a human they trust.

That can be enough.

The point isn’t to make every dog participate in the house the same way.

The point is for them to become comfortable enough to exist in it in their own way.

Why I don’t want dogs exhausted

There is one idea around pet stays that I don’t completely understand.

That the dog should come home absolutely exhausted.

Parents sometimes see that as proof that they had an amazing time.

And yes, after a very active day a dog may sleep more.

Nothing wrong with that.

But I don’t think exhaustion itself should be the goal.

Think about our own holidays.

We travel.

We walk around.

We see places.

We eat too much.

We stay up later than usual.

And then we come home and need a holiday from the holiday.

We rest.

Dogs need recovery too.

When a dog comes back home after staying somewhere else, even if they had a perfectly good time, they have still been processing a different environment.

Different dogs.

Different humans.

Different smells.

Different sounds.

A different sleeping place.

Different routines.

That’s work for the brain.

So if the first thing they do after reaching home is sleep properly for a day, I don’t automatically see that as something wrong.

Sometimes it is simply recovery.

I would rather a dog have a balanced stay with play, food, proper sleep and periods of absolutely nothing than keep them constantly stimulated just so we can say they were “busy”.

The boring work behind the boring day

Of course, the peaceful-looking house has a less glamorous side.

Cleaning.

A lot of cleaning.

Daily deep cleaning alone can take close to three hours.

Dogs are wonderful.

Fur everywhere can be cute.

Ten dogs deciding where they would like to pee is slightly less cute.

There is picking up poop.

Cleaning pee.

Washing floors.

Cleaning rooms.

Drying common areas.

Then cleaning something again because somebody waited until the exact second you finished.

It is fur heaven.

It can also very quickly become pee-and-poop hell.

That constant cleaning is one of the reasons the day has structure.

While one area is being cleaned, dogs are somewhere else.

While that dries, another part of the house is being used.

Then everybody moves around again.

A home-style setup doesn’t mean there is no routine.

Actually, I think it needs quite a lot of routine behind the scenes for the visible part to feel relaxed.

Food. Sleep. Pee. Poop. Comfortable human.

By around 5 PM, dinner preparation starts.

This is another period where the house wakes up.

Dogs move around.

Some play.

Some go do their business.

Some follow Birendar bhai because clearly dinner will not be prepared correctly without canine management.

Some just find a comfortable place in the common area and wait.

Then dinner happens.

Things gradually quiet down again.

By around 8 PM, it is good-night time.

Everybody goes back to their respective spaces and we start again the next morning.

There isn’t a grand activity programme running every hour.

And I don’t want one.

For me, the basics are still the biggest things:

Food.

Sleep.

Pee and poop normally.

Feel safe around the humans.

Then, depending on the dog, add play, companionship, exploration, terrace time, cuddles, following us around or simply being left alone.

A dog doesn’t need to perform happiness for the camera all day.

Sometimes the best update I could give a parent is technically the least exciting one:

Your dog ate properly, pooped, found a spot they liked and has been sleeping peacefully for the last three hours.

There isn’t much content in that.

But there is a lot of comfort in it.

And from inside the Floofy House, that is usually the point.