WATCH: '˜Bark to school! New doggy daycare looks to educate our pets

Mayor of Gosport Councillor Linda Batty with director Ros Freeman and four-legged friends Picture: Ian Hargreaves (180199-1)

Bark2School in Heritage Business Park, Gosport held its grand opening last weekend, inviting four-legged friends from the town, as well as the Mayor of Gosport, Cllr Linda Batty.

The service has spent the past five years looking for a place to call home to provide a daycare and training centre, the first of its kind in Gosport.

According to director Ros Freeman, the goal is to make sure dogs aren’t left alone at home when they could be out playing and making new friends.

Ros said: ‘We are so pleased to finally have our new centre. We wanted to be the first dog daycare centre in Gosport. We have always been dog trainers, but it feels great to also provide a daycare service.

‘The aim for us is to create an environment that is both fun and educational for dogs, with mental stimulation and the chance to interact with other dogs.

‘I think that the key for us is the education side of things though – as well as playing with other dogs, a daycare centre should also be about developing them.

‘The centre should really revolve around this, but you have to work around the different types of dogs to make it work.

‘We have lots of things that the dogs will find exciting and stimulating, like doing interactive classes and going on dog walks in groups.’

The centre will work with smaller groups of dogs than other daycare or training centres – which Ros says allows them to develop a closer relationship with each dog.

‘I suppose we are quite unique in that regard,’ she said: ‘You don’t want nervous puppies ending up more nervous, or boisterous dogs ruling the roost.

‘By having smaller groups we can work closer with each dog and make them all feel comfortable about making friends. Our limit is to look after 15 dogs in total at a time, and we will split into smaller groups when we take them out for walks and other activities.’

With the daycare and training centre now open for business, Ros is hoping that the service will become popular with dog owners in the area.

She said: ‘We want to make a healthy, stimulating environment.’

For more info about Bark2School, go to dogtraining-hampshire.co.uk.