I often hear people in San Francisco say “It’s so cruel to have a dog in the city.” Clearly, these people have never heard of the luxurious world of doggie daycare.

Laugh all you like, but when I was a dog owner, I found that doggie daycare was one of the best ways to ensure my handsome hound Jackson exercised his body and his canine mind. He enjoyed the fantastic services of Dog Days  in Atlanta but he spent more time at K9 to 5 in San Francisco.

Each day, I dropped Jackson off at K9 to 5 on my way to work. I’d escort him in and watch as he eagerly scampered off to the adult dog play room, complete with balls, chew toys, doggie jungle gyms, and around twenty to thirty other dogs. I loved watching him greet and be greeted by his friends when he ran in (which generally involved a lot of butt-sniffing, but who am I to judge?). The dogs would play together for most of the day with the exception of nap time, lunch time, and the occasional walking field trip outside the building.

At the end of the day, I received a handwritten report of Jackson’s activities, written in first person as though Jackson himself had written it. Each report was funny and honest: “Today I got into a tiff with Maxine because she tried to take my bone.” Or “I was kind of low-energy today. I hope Mom’s extra nice to me tonight.” It was a clever way to bring me in the loop on Jackson’s day and I looked forward to reading them. (I still have a collection of them, in fact.)

But not just any dog is allowed to play in the doggie daycare world. Most daycares require pooches and parents to complete a face to face “interview” process before the dog can attend, to determine whether or not the dog is aggressive and to get a general sense of his or her personality. Dogs must also be over five months old and be spayed or neutered. Parents must provide proof of all vaccinations.