Policies & Procedures

Behaviour
Management The
K-9 Rules Adventures
& Walking

Behaviour Management Policy

We want everyone at Centennial Bark to enjoy themselves!

Safety is our top priority, and aggressive or unfriendly behaviour can be dangerous for both dogs and staff members alike. Because there will be many different types of dogs with us each day, we want to ensure the suitability of your pet for our dog day care experience. 

We ensure that dogs are supervised 100% of the time when they are together. The majority of dogs that come to Centennial Bark are playful, happy and friendly. We also welcome shy or nervous dogs, as long as they can acclimate to the rest of the pack during their introductory period.

Here are some of our principles to ensure that everyone has a great day out at Centennial Bark:

  • We do not allow aggressive or dangerous dogs.
  • We do not allow aggressive play, barking, or dominant behaviour.
  • Every dog is given a chance to adjust to the daycare experience.
  • We use consistent positive reinforcement techniques to maintain a calm energy.
  • We never condone or recommend physical punishment of any form for dogs.
  • We work with you and your dog to better understand our community rules.

The K-9 Rules

Welcome to the neighbourhood! 

Centennial Bark strives to nourish the urban life of our local community of dogs. We care for and entertain your dog in a clean, active and social environment. Our K-9 Rules help us to nurture your dog’s experiences consistently and professionally, and contribute to our dog community in a positive way.

  • At Centennial Bark, we operate against three pillars of happiness: Safety, Fun and Positive Enrichment.
  • Your dog needs to attend our trial play date before being accepted into dog day care to ensure that they and the other dogs have an enjoyable time with us. If your dog doesn’t find the daycare environment right for them, they might get frustrated, scared, angry or anxious.
  • We would like your dog to be desexed if they are older than 7 months – This helps our dog community to interact better with each other and our staff.
  • We will require that your dog maintain up-to-date C5 vaccinations (confirmed in writing by your vet), plus be fully treated for worms, fleas and ticks before they come along. So that we can protect your dog and our staff from any nasties, we will need to ask you not to bring your dog to daycare if they are not current with all their preventative medications.
  • We will ask you to keep your dog at home if they are unwell, and if they become unwell at dog daycare, we will let you know and ask you to collect your dog if their illness is significant.
  • We will find it difficult to maintain our community life if your dog is aggressive or has other behavioural concerns that may impact the experience of other dogs at daycare. We hope you understand that we want everyone (with two or four legs) to feel safe and enjoy their time at Centennial Bark, so we may need to keep any dogs away from daycare if they display concerning behaviours.
  • Our daycare hours are 7.30am to 6.30pm weekdays, and to 8.00pm Thursdays – We know that city life can be busy, so we ask that you try and collect your dog by 6.20pm (and by 7.50pm on Thursdays).
  • Unfortunately, we will need to charge you $1 for every minute you are late after 6.30pm (and 8.00pm on Thursdays). We do this so that our staff can clean up and get home for some rest, ready for the next day’s adventures with you all.
  • We are just as popular as you are, so we will need you to book ahead as much as possible. If you need to cancel a booking, we would like 24 hours’ notice so we can free up your place for a friend.
  • We might need to charge you 80% of your day’s fee if we get less than 24 hours’ cancellation notice when you can’t make it.
  • We want everyone to enjoy their dog day care experience and we would sadly need to ask your dog to leave us if they bite, injure or attack a friend or our staff, or if they excessively destroy or damage any property. But we will do our best to connect you with some professional help and guidance so that we can see your dog get back on our adventures as soon as they can.

Park Adventures & Walking Policy

Responsible canine citizens when out ‘n’ about.

These rules apply when our Centennial Bark walkers take your dog for longer walks:

  • We make sure that every dog is wearing a collar with a dog tag, identifying the dog by name with its owner’s name and phone number, before they leave the daycare.
  • We never send more than four (4) dogs out on a walk unless we have more than one Centennial Bark walker joining them.
  • We make sure that all dogs are on a leash and controlled by a Centennial Bark walker at all times.
  • We don’t encourage off-leash walking throughout the park unless we know that the dog understands and responds to the commands of ‘Stop’, ‘Come’, ‘Stay’ and ‘No’.
  • We comply with the Centennial Parklands Dog Policy at all times. A copy of those rules is available at www.centennialparklands.com.au.
  • We only take our dogs into areas of the Parklands that are designated for dog walking (both on-leash and off-leash), but we always assess the possibility of injury before entering the park. There’s a map available at https://www.centennialparklands.com.au/visit/maps#/
  • We don’t allow dogs to enter protected areas of the park, chase birds or other wildlife, or take swims in the park’s waterways and ponds.
  • We always behave professionally – we don’t give anyone excuses to complain about sharing their space with a dog.
  • We cooperate with Council staff managing the Parklands and provide our details on request. These details include the walker’s name and the address of the daycare.
  • Our dog walkers must carry the daycare mobile phone with them at all times and notify us immediately if any dog is injured or attacked, attacks another dog or a person or becomes unwell or lost. We will then notify the dog’s owner and the relevant authorities (such as Council rangers on 0412 718 611) and advise next steps.
  • We take accountability for everything we do – recording incidents or injuries in our dog files as soon as we get back to the daycare.
  • We maintain our cleaning policy when we are out and about – collecting all dog faeces immediately into a biodegradable plastic bag, sealing it tightly and dropping it into the allocated Council bins.
  • We make sure that our dogs do not urinate at inappropriate places, such as at traffic lights, on public seating, on personal property or in and around gardens.
  • We don’t let strangers touch our dogs or play with them. We don’t mean to be snobs; we just want to ensure that our dogs get the undivided attention of one of our trained staff for their daily adventure.
  • We like to share the park with others and try not to make a nuisance of ourselves with fellow park-goers, including runners and cyclists, and we stay clear of horses and cars.
  • We also stay well away from children and playgrounds, food areas, buildings and sporting grounds in the park areas. We have plenty of other four-legged friends to play with already!