Gurnee
Enrichment Dog Day Care
Dog Day Care. Reimagined.
The bond between you and your furry best friend is truly special. However, our modern lifestyles can sometimes make it challenging to meet all of our dogs’ needs for optimal health and happiness. This can result in problems at home, from feelings of loneliness and boredom to weight gain, anxiety, and unwanted behaviors.
At Central Bark® Gurnee enrichment doggy day care, we provide a safe and loving environment where your dog can play and learn. Through socialization, mental stimulation, and physical exercise, we fulfill their essential needs for a lifetime of health and happiness.
Our primary focus is on canine enrichment, with the goal of enhancing your dog’s overall quality of life. We achieve this through enjoyable and rewarding activities that stimulate problem-solving, skill development, and self-confidence. Rest assured, your dog is spending a fantastic day with their friends while you enjoy peace of mind. Enrichment Dog Day Care is our specialty, and we take pride in delivering it like no one else.
Central Bark®
Gurnee
3880 Grove Ave,
Gurnee, IL 60031Get Directions
Open Today 7:00 AM – 6:30 PM
Book Now
A Healthy, Balanced Day
We offer a harmonious mix of play, physical activity, social interaction, education, relaxation, and tender loving care. Each day is personalized to suit your dog’s specific needs and preferences. Our aim is to foster their physical and mental well-being, ensuring you have a healthy, joyful, composed, and well-rounded dog to cherish at home.
- Play, Exercise, and Socialization – Physical activity helps dogs stay healthy and happy. Positive experiences with people, other dogs, and new places create well-rounded, socialized dogs. We offer indoor and outdoor playgroups for dogs of all sizes and temperaments.
- Recharge and Balance – Adequate rest is crucial for a dog’s overall well-being while playing and socializing. Our daily routine prioritizes the right balance of rest, play, and learning, ensuring dogs avoid overstimulation and stay physically, mentally, and emotionally healthy.
- Education – Dogs absorb knowledge from both humans and their canine companions, continually influencing each other’s social conduct. Our expertly trained staff employs positive training methods to encourage safe play and enable your dog to cultivate positive social behaviors during their time at day care.
- Affection – Your dog becomes a cherished member of our family, receiving the care and devotion they deserve during your absence. We nurture a deep connection with your dog to instill a sense of security and self-assuredness. Regular attendance allows us to intimately understand your dog’s unique personality, requirements, and desires. This familiarity enables us to detect subtleties such as shifts in mood, behavior, or potential health concerns that might otherwise elude notice.
Commitment to Safety
Safety and Care First – Ensuring the safety and welfare of our guests is our foremost concern. As fellow dog parents, we hold each canine visitor in the highest regard, treating them as if they were our very own. Our unwavering dedication is to furnish a secure and health-conscious setting for all who come through our doors.
Central Bark® Enrichment Dog Day Care Features:
Flexible Group Play
Flexible playgroups allow us to match your dog with the social atmosphere and play schedule they can enjoy and benefit from most. This helps give them a healthy balance of play, rest, and learning and creates a safer social environment with a better quality of play. And our lower dog-to-staff ratios offer more individual attention, education, and love.
Group Play Skills
Interactive group activities and positive reinforcement help dogs practice important skills like name recall, and behaviors like group sit and calmly going in and out of doors and gates. These activities are fun and rewarding for your dog and help improve behavior and impulse control, prevent overstimulation, and create a safer social environment.
Rest Period Enrichment
Your dog gets to relax and recharge in their own private space with calming interactive toys and healthy food pairings tailored to their preferences and diet. It promotes physical and mental relaxation which can help them achieve a healthy balance of play, learning, and rest. It can also help them become more comfortable in crates by building positive associations.
One-on-One Enrichment
Personalized One-on-One Enrichment sessions give your dog the extra attention they love and the freedom to use their senses and safely explore their instincts through interactive toys, puzzles, and games. It’s fun and rewarding and exercise their bodies and minds and engage their senses. Add complexity with fitness and agility equipment.
We decided to try Bark Central because of its great reviews and we couldn’t be happier with the quick turn around!
Thank you!
Frequently Asked Questions
At Central Bark®, our goal is to provide a balanced day of play, learning, rest, and love. Learning and mental exercise can happen in various ways, including training activities, brain games, scent work, and more. Our playgroups offer several hours of active playtime paired with learning opportunities during Group Play Skills. This way, dogs have plenty of time to socialize and get their energy out, while also exercising their minds through learning.
During one of your dog’s rest periods throughout the day, they are offered a rest period enrichment activity to stimulate their mind while encouraging healthy rest. These licking and chewing activities involve food rewards, such as frozen peanut butter KONG®. These activities engage their minds while helping foster quality rest.
Did you know? Scientific studies have shown that licking and chewing behaviors (especially those that involve food rewards!) are self-soothing, decrease heart and respiratory rates, and even release dopamine in a dog’s brain.
Training Tutor sessions stimulate the dog’s minds and bodies and help them learn important skills, behaviors, and tricks.
One-on-One Enrichment sessions give the extra attention dogs love and the freedom to use their senses and safely explore their instincts through interactive toys, puzzles, and games.
Did you know? 15 minutes of mental activity is equal to 30 minutes of physical exercise!
We are happy to accommodate your dog’s feeding schedule as part of their “Rest Period Enrichments.” Simply bring their food in pre-portioned containers with clear instructions. Our trained staff will ensure your dog receives their meal in a private, quiet space. We are also experienced in handling a variety of specific needs, including day care for dogs with allergies and medication administration, though additional fees may apply.
Step 1: Login
- Click the “Client Login” option found at the bottom of all pages on our website.
- Enter either your email address or phone number that you signed up with
- Click “continue logging in”
- Then enter your password and click “Sign In”
Step 2: Request Services
You will now see the page below. From this page you can do a number of things along with requesting a reservation from the drop downs including editing your information, editing your pet’s info, adding/removing pets, checking your package credits, purchasing package credits, and adding/editing/changing photos.
- Click the blue “request services” button
- In the popup window, click the “Book Day Care or Sleepover Now!” button
Step 3: Select a Service Type
- Scroll down past the notes (after you have read them) until you get to the “Details” section.
- Click on the drop-down in the “Type” row and choose your reservation type.
- Note: Grooming requests cannot be made through the customer portal. Please call to schedule an appointment.
Step 4: Make Your Reservation Request
- Choose the pet or pets you would like to add to this reservation
- Choose the date you are looking for
- You may edit the drop-off and pick-up time from within our open hours, if you know those approximations
- You can set up “recurring dates” for the same day/days each week for a timeframe
- You can add additional reservations for other days at the same time.
Step 5: Add-on Services and Notes
- You may add any additional services (such as enrichment training, training tutor, special meals (outside of lunch), salon and spa services, etc, to their reservation.
- You may add any notes that you would like us to see in the notes box
- You may run an estimate for the total cost of your reservation request (please note that the charges for “additional services” such as salon and spa, may vary from the default that shows in the estimate)
- Once you have added everything you want, click “Save” in the lower right corner
Your Done!
You should see the page below if everything went through correctly. You will get an email confirmation when your reservation has been accepted and confirmed, if you are added to a waitlist, or if it is denied.
Nope! We got you covered! Most dogs will not need any bedding for a single day of day care. If your dog is boarding with us, see our Sleepover Guidelines. As far as treats and toys, we have plenty! Please ask about which toy and treat products are available.
Central Bark® Whole Dog Care
Our whole dog care approach offers a full range of fun and personalized products and services. To promote your dog’s physical, mental, and emotional health and happiness throughout their entire life.
