Boarding
How old is your Dog?

If Under 6 months:
Over the years, we have found that puppies have specific needs in order to give them the best boarding experience.

Our Puppy Boarding provides extra potty breaks, more one-on-one care and attention from a staff member, and a dedicated space during their stay. In addition to standard outdoor playtimes, Puppy Boarding includes three extra potty breaks with a staff member.

Puppy Boarding is required for all puppies 6 months and younger. Puppy Boarding can be booked for dogs older than 6 months that need additional potty breaks or outside time. Only Puppy siblings share rooms; adult dogs board in their own rooms.

Our Puppy Boarding is $65 / night

If over 6 months:
We offer three types of Boarding.

Standard
Our Standard Boarding is $50 per night and includes all play time.

Deluxe
Our Deluxe Boarding is $55 per night and includes reserved pool time and a tuck-in treat every night. This is the option most of our clients choose.

Luxury
Our Luxury Boarding is $65 per night. These rooms are oversized rooms and include a raised bed, reserved pool time, and a tuck-in treat every night.

Individual Boarding
Shady Acres Pet Ranch is primarily a group play facility. Dogs play in large social groups throughout the day. While we do accept dogs that do not enjoy socialization with other dogs, or dogs that are unable to participate in group play, they require more one-on-one staff time.

Our Individual Boarding service provides 4 potty breaks, one-on-one care and attention from a staff member, and a dedicated space during their stay.

Individual Boarding is required for all dogs that are unable to participate in Group Play.

Individual Boarding is a $15 addon per night.

Daycare
Our Daycare is $30 per day. Our Daycare is for social dogs that enjoy playing in groups. We require an evaluation on your first day of daycare. Our staff will evaluate how your dog does in daycare and let you know what options are available to you. If your dog is not a good fit for daycare, they may be a fit for Day School.

Dayschool
Our Dayschool program is designed for dogs who do not enjoy socialization in groups. Dayschool dogs receive one on one attention from staff members during their day.

A dedicated Dayschool staff member will prepare a fun day of activities tailored specifically to your Dog. These activities include Brain Game Puzzles, Playing Fetch and Frisbee, Outdoor Walks, or Treadmill Exercise depending on what your dog enjoys.

Micro Socialization can be used for Dogs who enjoy one-on-one time with another dog, smaller groups of 2-3 dogs, or dogs who are needing to be introduced to, or work up to, socialization.

Dayschool is $45 per day.

Our owners worked in the boarding and veterinary industry and found that most facilities only let dogs out of their rooms for 2 or 3 five-minute potty walks a day. They wanted to create a facility where social dogs could relax, play, and have fun with other dogs. Our dogs go out in groups three times a day for 45 minutes, although this could vary based on dangerous weather conditions or a dogs individual needs. We don’t charge extra for playtime or pool time.

Our mission is to provide a healthy, safe, and loving, home away from home, for every dog. We prioritize the health, safety, and happiness of every dog in our care and we follow strict protocols to ensure that. 

No, we do not charge extra for play time. We were one of the first group play facilities in the Austin Area and we were founded on the belief that social dogs should spend a large part of their day playing with other dogs. 

Our dogs go out in groups three times a day for 45 minutes, although this could vary based on dangerous weather conditions or a dogs individual needs. Puppy Boarding includes extra potty breaks and Day School has activities that we do with each dog throughout the day. Individual Boarding dogs that are not social and can not play in groups go out for playtime and potty breaks three times per day. 

No, there is no additional charge for pool time. We also can not guarantee your dog will receive pool time since we utilize several different play yards. 

We do not charge for administering AM and PM medications. If your dog has a medication routine that is labor intensive and/or needs to be done several times per day (ear cleaning, eye medications, more than 5 medications, etc) we may charge a small fee to cover staff time. 

At our facility, the safety and well-being of every dog is our top priority. We recognize that not all dogs are comfortable in group settings, and we offer individualized playtime or enrichment activities as an alternative. There is an additional fee for these services, as they require dedicated staff and resources to ensure your dog receives the loving care they need. Individual boarding dogs go out three times per day one-on-one with a staff member, this one-on-one attention adds significant staffing cost. This aligns with our mission to provide a safe and nurturing environment, while also maintaining the quality and integrity of our services.” 

Yes, puppies require extra attention, care, and supervision, which is why there is an additional charge. Puppies are given extra potty breaks throughout the day one-on-one with a staff member, this one-on-one attention adds significant staffing cost. This ensures that we can provide them with the best possible care during their stay by having the required staff available. 

We understand that some dogs have specific dietary needs or preferences, and feeding them separately can help ensure their well-being. To maintain the highest standards of safety and health, we do provide separate feeding upon request. There is an additional charge for this service as it requires extra time and attention from our staff. This allows us to give your dog the individualized care they deserve, in line with our commitment to excellence, safety, and quality. 

Yes, there is a charge for kennel food, which covers the cost of providing high-quality, nutritionally balanced food for your dog during their stay. 

Yes, we ask that you pre-bag your dog’s meals into individual portions. This helps our team maintain consistency in feeding and ensures your dog gets exactly what they need at each mealtime. 

The simple answer is efficiency, accuracy, and storage.

One of the most time consuming activities for our staff is feeding. We must focus on the accuracy of meals and medications for each dog we care for and that takes time.

When we started out, most owners brought bags of food with instructions on how much to feed and at what times. For each dog we would need to refer to those instructions, measure food, take the food to the room, feed the dogs, and then return to the storage cubbies for the next dog. We would also have owners drop off large storage containers and bags(sometimes 50lb bags) of food with a scoop. We do not have the storage space for these large containers or bags.

By asking owners to prepare their food by feeding, we were able to be more efficient. We also know that you have measured and prepared the correct type and amount of food for each specific feeding.

Our check-out time allows us to prepare the facility for incoming guests and ensures that each dog receives the care and attention they deserve.

We are a small family-owned facility that can only board a limited number of dogs. As we gained popularity in the Austin area our facility began to operate at capacity most of the year. This started to cause a logistical problem.

About 80% of our outgoing reservations were being picked up after 4pm and about 90% of our incoming reservations were being dropped off before 10am. This meant that between 10am and 4pm we would have double the amount of dogs we could handle.

Having a 1pm check out time allows us to clean our rooms, prepare for incoming dogs, while not compromising the level of care we provide for each animal.

We do not have breed restrictions, but we do evaluate each dog’s temperament to ensure they can safely interact with others in our care. 

All dogs 8 months and older must be spayed/neutered. There are a couple reasons why dogs must be spayed/neutered to stay with us:

We are a group play facility, all dogs play in large groups outdoors for the majority of the day. We can not have intact animals in the play groups.

Even if intact dogs were allowed to stay in rooms and not participate in groups, other dogs sense intact animals and it causes all of the animals behavior to change.

No, for safety reasons we do not accept owner-provided bedding.

We do not recommend placing bedding inside rooms. When dogs stay away from home they can become nervous and will often times chew on and ingest bedding. This can lead to serious health concerns including the need for surgery.

If you request bedding, and sign a bedding waiver, we will provide fleece bedding for your dog.

No, We do not accept toys to be placed inside rooms. When dogs stay away from home they can become nervous and will often times chew on and ingest toys. This can lead to serious health concerns including the need for surgery.

We do not have a fire alarm system or sprinkler system. We do have smoke detectors with notifications and a camera system that allows us to remotely monitor the facility. In general, we have staff at the facility from 7am-7pm. These hours can vary depending on holidays or other events that affect the schedule.

There could be several reasons. We operate a total of 8 play-yards and only 2 have play-yard cameras, so your dog may be in another play yard. Your dog might be resting, in a different area of the yard, or participating in a different activity. Rest assured, our staff is closely monitoring all dogs to ensure they are safe and happy. 

We cannot guarantee that your dog will always be visible on the cameras, our priority is their well-being and the well-being of the other dogs in our care. We encourage you to trust that our staff is caring for your dog, even if they are not always on screen. Please trust our staff to manage playtime and do not call to make special requests. This places a large burden on our reception team and takes away from important duties they have making sure that all pets arrive and leave safe and happy. 

Dogs have different energy levels and personalities. Your dog might be taking a break, observing, or simply not in the mood to play at that moment. We make sure that all dogs have the opportunity to engage at their comfort level. 

We allow dogs to interact naturally and do not force them to play if they are not interested. Forcing your dog to engage with another dog could be very dangerous. Our goal is to create a stress-free environment where all dogs feel comfortable. Please allow our trained staff to direct play in the yards and trust that we will make the right decisions for our groups. Please do not call to make special requests. This places a large burden on our reception team and takes away from important duties they have making sure that all pets arrive and leave safe and happy. 

No, we cannot. Directing play with large groups of dogs is not an easy task. Our staff spends hours completing industry training on group play and dog behaviors before being signed off to run groups. We consider the overall dynamics of the group to ensure safety. If it's in the best interest of your dog and the group, we will place them together. Please trust our staff to manage playtime and do not call to make special requests. This places a large burden on our reception team and takes away from important duties they have making sure that all pets arrive and leave safe and happy.

If your dog enjoys the water, we will encourage them to participate in pool time. However, we never force a dog into the pool if they are not interested. Please trust our staff to manage playtime and do not call to make special requests. This places a large burden on our reception team and takes away from important duties they have making sure that all pets arrive and leave safe and happy. 

Our team uses positive reinforcement techniques, physical interactions, and verbal cues to manage the play yard. These are some of the specific tools you will see us use:

Squirt Bottles, we are not always within reach of a dog. A squirt bottle allows us to “touch” a dog from a distance and alert them that their behavior needs to change or just distract them form the situation. They help dogs identify specific behaviors they need to change by “marking” that behavior. They can be used to discourage specific behaviors.

Rattle Paddles, long red sticks that make noise and are used to redirect dogs from areas like gates or other dogs. We never use these devices to strike an animal, they can be used to gently move or redirect a dog from an area or behavior.

Whistles, used to distract and redirect dogs, whistles also help dogs identify specific behaviors they need to change by “marking” that behavior with a sound.

Doggie don’t, a noise maker used to distract and redirect dogs.

Air horns, a noise maker used to break up scuffles or fights.

We focus on creating a safe and controlled environment for all dogs. Please understand that Shady Acres has chosen to use these tools to manage play yards and they will be used with all dogs present. It is not possible to keep track of which tools an owner wants to be used with their dog. For example “my dog doesn’t like squirt bottles”. If you feel your dog would not be comfortable with any of these tools, you would need to elect your dog not be placed in group and instead choose individual boarding.
 

We use positive reinforcement and gentle redirection to guide behavior. Time-outs may be used if necessary. 

Time-outs are an effective and positive way to correct a dog's behavior and are used as a correction tool at Shady Acres. Time-outs are used to help a dog calm down or take a break if they become overstimulated. It’s a gentle way to ensure the safety and well-being of all dogs in the yard. 

If you notice your dog being corrected, please trust that our staff is handling the situation appropriately. We will communicate with you if there is any concern or if your dog’s behavior requires further attention. 

Absolutely. We prioritize open communication with our clients. If there is any issue with your dog, we will contact you immediately to discuss the situation and determine the best course of action.