Specialized Dog Boarding for Submissive Dogs at Kennel Club Boarding
Boarding & Daycare for Submissive Dogs in Ottawa
If your dog tends to back down from confrontation, gets pushed around at the dog park, or seems uneasy meeting new dogs, a busy boarding or daycare environment can be stressful for them — and stressful for you to leave them in. This page explains how we handle caring for submissive dogs at Kennel Club Boarding, what we look for, and how to decide whether our Special Care Required service is right for your dog.
The short version: most submissive dogs do completely fine here. The careful matching of playgroups is something we already do for every dog, every day. Special Care Required is for dogs who need a step beyond that.
What "submissive" actually looks like in a boarding setting
"Submissive" gets used loosely. In practice, the behaviours that tell us a dog will need a careful approach include:
- Tucking the tail or lowering the body when approached by other dogs
- Avoiding direct eye contact; turning the head away
- Rolling onto the back when greeting unfamiliar dogs
- Lip-licking, yawning, or "whale eye" (showing the whites of the eyes) in social situations
- Hanging back from groups; preferring to stay near a person rather than join other dogs
- Submissive urination when greeted enthusiastically
None of these are problems on their own — many gentle, friendly dogs show one or two of them. The question is whether your dog can recover and engage, or whether the stress builds up across a day or a multi-day stay. That's what we're watching for.
How we structure playgroups
We group dogs by behaviour, not by size or breed. High-energy dogs go with other high-energy dogs. Submissive and calmer dogs go together. Senior dogs who want a quieter day get the company that suits them.
What makes this work is scale: we have 18 separate play areas, and a large number of dogs through the facility every day. Most kennels have two or three groups and have to fit every dog into one of them. We have the room to actually match dogs properly, and the volume to give them options.
Chandra and Patrick — the owners — make the grouping decisions personally. We can usually tell within seconds of a dog arriving where they'll fit best, and we communicate that to staff before they're brought in. If we have any concerns, those get communicated too, and the dog gets watched closely through the day.
Our playgroup tracking system
Every time a dog stays with us, we record who they played with and how it went. When your dog comes back, our system pulls up the dogs they've played well with before and offers to group them together again. It also infers likely good matches from associated pairings — if your dog plays well with Buddy, and Buddy plays well with Luna, then Luna is a strong candidate too.
Over time, this means your dog isn't starting from scratch on every visit. They have a history, friends, and a known social circle here. For a submissive dog, that consistency makes a real difference: the second visit is easier than the first, and the tenth visit is easier still.
Special Care Required service
Special Care Required is for dogs who need more than careful playgroup matching. This includes submissive dogs who get pushed around even in calm groups, dogs recovering from a bad experience at another facility, anxious dogs, dogs with medical needs, and seniors who can't keep up with a full group.
What's included:
- Closer supervision throughout the day
- Smaller playgroups, with introductions handled fully under staff supervision
- More personalized one-on-one attention
- A private indoor enclosure (5' × 8') and a private outdoor run (5' × 12') for rest and downtime — in addition to access to our large common play areas when grouped with the right company
Special Care Required is billed per day and runs about 15% more than standard daycare or boarding. It's available as an add-on for both dog daycare and dog boarding bookings.
If you're not sure whether your dog needs Special Care, the simplest thing is to contact us with a few sentences about how your dog behaves around other dogs. We'll tell you honestly whether we think standard care is enough or whether the upgrade is worth it.
Signs you should consider Special Care for your dog
Consider Special Care if any of these are true:
- Your dog has had a bad experience at another boarding or daycare facility
- They've been bitten, attacked, or bullied by other dogs in the past
- They're recovering from surgery, on daily medication, or are a senior dog
- They take a long time to warm up to new dogs and new people
- You've noticed them being picked on at the dog park
- They've never been to boarding before and you're not sure how they'll handle it
- They're a small or fragile dog who'd be at risk in a mixed-size group
None of these mean your dog has a "problem." They mean we want to set them up for success rather than throw them into a standard rotation and hope it works out.
What to expect on day one
For daycare: your dog arrives, we read their body language, introduce them to a suitable group, and — assuming things go well — they spend the day with that group. At pickup, we'll tell you how it went.
For boarding: same first-day process. After that, we keep watching the group dynamics and make adjustments if needed. You can also add email updates to a boarding booking when you're selecting your dates — if you do, you'll get updates from us on the schedule you choose. Otherwise, we'll fill you in at pickup.
About our staff
Our staff are DogSafe certified in canine first aid and dog behaviour. The bigger factor, honestly, is experience: most of our team has been with us for years. They know the regular dogs, they've seen thousands of new arrivals, and they can read a room of dogs in a way that no certification course teaches on its own.
A note for nervous owners
If you've read this far, there's a good chance you're more anxious about the boarding stay than your dog will be. That's normal — and after running this facility since 2019, we can tell you it's also typical. Most submissive dogs do completely fine here once they're in the right group. The grouping work we do for every dog is usually enough; Special Care Required is there for the dogs who genuinely need it, not as a catch-all.
If you'd like to talk it through before booking, call us at 613-276-5074 or send a note via our contact form with a few sentences about your dog. We'll tell you what we think — including, if it's the right answer, that another facility might suit your dog better than ours.
Ready to book? Book daycare or book boarding online.