Dog Daycare Group Leader School/Childcare Experience Counts

How does managing a group of children or dogs apply to working in a dog daycare?

If you’ve managed children, it’s the same core skills—staying aware of everything happening at once, reading behavior, and stepping in before situations escalate.

If you’ve managed groups of dogs, you already know the answer.

What a typical day looks like

If you’ve run a classroom or daycare group, you’ll recognize this immediately.

You take over a group and within a few minutes you know who’s calm, who’s more active, and who you need to keep an eye on.

As the group settles in, you’re constantly scanning—one individual is getting too fixated, another is getting overexcited, and two are starting to feed off each other’s energy. You step in early, redirect, and keep things from escalating.

Energy shifts throughout the day. Sometimes the group is settled and focused. Other times it ramps up quickly, and you need to step in, reset, and bring things back under control.

You’re moving the group between spaces, managing transitions, and making small decisions constantly to keep everything running smoothly.

You’re never focused on just one individual—you’re responsible for everything happening in the group at once.

In this role, that group is made up of dogs in an off-leash setting.

What You Need to Be Successful

• Experience being responsible for a group (typically 6 or more individuals at once)—not assisting or observing
• Ability to track multiple individuals at once and recognize changes in behavior
• Willingness to step in early and redirect behavior before it escalates
• Comfort making decisions in real time without direction
• Ability to manage movement, energy, and transitions within a group
• Residence within a reasonable commuting distance of 6628 Evergreen Way, Everett, WA
• At least 12 consecutive months in one role within the past 3 years
• Physical ability to remain on your feet for an 8-hour shift and move quickly within a high-energy environment

1+ Year of Relevant Experience May Include

• Supervising groups of children independently in a daycare, preschool, or school setting
• Working with rescue dogs off-leash in a shared space, where there was independent responsibility for the group
• Training multiple dogs off-leash in a group setting, working independently
• Managing groups of dogs off-leash in a daycare, boarding, or group play setting (highly preferred)

How to Apply

If this type of role feels familiar and you’re comfortable being responsible for a group, apply with your experience and we’ll take it from there.