Sit Stay Sleep Services
Information about our services and policies
Sit Stay Sleep – The Basics:
Boarding: We provide a loving home for your dog while you are away. For a day or several weeks, your dog will be part of our household with access to our large fenced yard to romp and play. Lots of cuddling and attention is gratis as well.
SSS specializes in social daycare and boarding and we strive to provide a safe, sane and fun place for your dog to stay, suitable for short and long stays.
Doggy daycare services: Tuesday through Saturday we welcome daycare dogs as long as we have space and there are not too many boarding dogs here. (Boarders have priority).
No daycare on Sundays & Mondays.
Adventures: Most days we take an excursion to a stimulating fun-filled outdoor adventure (generally off-leash if your dog is off-leash worthy). With all the great dog friendly parks, beaches and trails in the area, dogs get a variety of experiences and range of stimulation and fun. We also do group neighborhood walks with 2-4 dogs to practice leash skills and walking as a group.
Dog Bath Service: Our standard practice includes a rinse off of dogs after swimming in the Bay or playing in the mud. If you’d like your dog to come home squeeky-clean, we are happy to offer complete dog baths with good quality dog shampoo and warm water (we have a hot water hose in the yard), towel dried and a basic brushing. Rates range from $25-50 depending on size of dogs and amount of hair they have.
We are insured and Kendra is Dog-Tec certified and trained in basic dog first aid/CPR.
Training (limited). We practice positive reinforcement in general and have years of experience with dogs and a solid understanding of their behavior. We are not however certified dog trainers or behaviorists.
Hours of availability: Being a home-based business means someone is here most of the time. That being said, we do have preferred hours you arrive with your dog.
Drop-offs between 7:30- 8:30 am is okay, 8:30 – 9:15 am is better. Early drop-off is available with pre-approval.
Midday pick-ups/drop-offs 12 -1 pm
Pick-ups are between 4 – 5:45 pm. Late pick-ups are until 9:30 pm – based on availability.
All drop-off and pick-up times need to be scheduled with Kendra.
Your Dog
I’m selective about the dogs SSS takes. Sit Stay Sleep being based in a residential home and I do my best to create well balanced groups with no chronic barkers.
I’ll take up to 7 boarding dogs, and with my dog Loofah, that makes 8 dogs here on full boarding nights. Tuesday through Friday daycare is very busy; with the addition of all the Covid puppies this past year, I generally have 5-7 daycare dogs those days and 2-3 on Saturdays.
Over the past several years, I’ve improved my dog management skills and have fine tuned the screening of new dogs to assure a safety and stability for the pack as a whole. I also have helpers here when I have large groups, especially in the mornings when everyone is ready to play and we do our outings.
Age requirements: Puppies must be 6 months old for boarding. All dogs under 18 months old need to be crate trained. In general, dogs are loose in the house/yard. When I leave the house, on errands, I find it much safer both for the dogs and my house to crate young dogs.
Size requirements: Because we offer mixed-size social boarding, I’ve stopped taking new dogs under 15 lb. or over 70 lb. for safety’s sake. Smaller dogs must be relatively comfortable with larger dogs, larger dogs can not be interested in endless chasing of small dogs.
Behavior: Your dog must have good overall socialization skills. This is our home (not a kennel) and we do our best to keep it that way. If your dog has a destructive side, they will need to be crated when they are left alone.
Barking: Barking when someone comes to the door, such as the mailman or a new dog arriving is okay. However dogs that bark at every noise outside, excessive demand barking, barking while playing and bark just for the “fun of it” are not be the best fit for SSS. This is a residential neighborhood. It is the just reality of my situation, and I have had to boot out many well suited dogs because if their barking, just know that it can be a deal breaker for me.
Playing: Your dog needs to be well socialized with both dogs and people and not to be overly possessive (growling or snapping at other dogs when high-value items are around). We have “toy bins” both in the yard and house with a variety of toys/bones/rubber balls and it is important that your dog will not become aggressive with these stimuli. I do not have tennis balls in the yard for free play. The tennis balls only come out when we are actively playing fetch at the park.
Spaying/neutering & potty training: Male puppies Dogs over 8 months old must be neutered, female puppies over 1 year need to be spayed.
I understand and support the science of waiting to alter your puppy, but excessive humping and fixating are not acceptable behaviors, if you have an unaltered adolescent dog it will just depend on their behavior if they are welcome here intact. Unfortunately altered adult male dogs often find unaltered puppies threatening and can be aggressive with them, it’s a risk I’d rather not have to deal with. I can not take any female dogs in heat for daycare or boarding.
Your dog must be housebroken, at least mostly.
Fleas & Ticks: It’s important that your dog be current with a flea treatment. We do our best to manage fleas here but by mid-summer some exposure in our yard and parks is unavoidable. Our house dog, Loofah, is on an oral treatment which works well.
If you are using a topical treatment, please apply it at least 24-hours prior to arrival. Fleas have built up a tolerance to many of the topical flea treatments which have been less and less effective, so there is no guarantee your dog will not pick-up a flea or two while with us. However, we do our best to manage unnecessary exposure. Ticks are always an issue when hiking in the hills. We do check dogs after each romp in the hills or playing in tall grass, but ticks happen. We do our best to limit all dogs exposure to these pests while still having a good time.