Renting indoor schools to dog clubs

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Flicker

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Can I just get an idea of how many of your yards with indoor schools hire them to dog clubs? Our YO thinks he has hit on a gold mine and has been hiring our school out quite a bit. Apart from the inconvenience of not being able to use the indoor when the clubs are there, we are also noticing a deterioration in the surface (and things like patches of dog pee, not nice).

I, personally, don't really think the activities mix, but wonder if I am in a minority.
 
I used to rent out mine to a dog club for 3 hours one night a week, but it wrecked the surface, the footfall padding it all down meant we had to spend hours harrowing and watering the day after to get it light enough to ride on, (its just a basic sand surface nothing posh) - I wouldnt do it again!
 
ew what if they didnt lift all the poo and you went face first into it. I'm sure it smells pretty bad? My sand walker used to be my dog pen for when the dogs needed out of the way, and it stinks now and is a mess cause one dog always plays with her toys and digs it all up, its also covered in empty dog cans that she steals from the bin and runs to there to play with and fluff from a long dead bed. In fact i may go clean it today now they are never in it. I dont ride at home now, so i have ignored it lol
 
Flicker said:
Can I just get an idea of how many of your yards with indoor schools hire them to dog clubs? Our YO thinks he has hit on a gold mine and has been hiring our school out quite a bit. Apart from the inconvenience of not being able to use the indoor when the clubs are there, we are also noticing a deterioration in the surface (and things like patches of dog pee, not nice).

I, personally, don't really think the activities mix, but wonder if I am in a minority.
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We were approached by a children's football coach to hire our indoor school out, we thought about it and said no.
Messing the school, risk of breaking school mirrors banging on the walls annoying horses when the foot ball kicked

What I would not like about hiring to a dog club is the feces and urine in our school surface. Horses rarely spend a penny in there but dogs is another thing. Also check your insurance to see if your covered if someone falls over etc, there is also a risk of loose dogs breaking out and chasing any yard cats etc. Also dogs digging holes in the surface............


Me personally I would say no, but think it through thoroughly OP.
 
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My yard does this. Wednesday evenings at 7:45pm. Our outdoor doesn't have lights so in winter, you can't ride in the evening unless you get there early as there are 2 lessons back to back from 6:15pm, 45mins each.

The dog people are so rude. They've been renting the indoor for years, apparently. They turn up early and attempt to get the agility equipment out when people are still riding, and get snotty and rude when challenged. Thankfully YO did have a word and not as bad anymore but they clearly don't care if they are upsetting the horses.

They had gotten used to having the place to themselves as most of the liveries can't get there till later on in the eve because of work etc.
 
One local EC nr me, pretty much has it hired to dog clubs every night at 7pm till late, meaning liveries can't ride in the indoor ANY night! No way would I be paying what they charge for livery and not be able to use the indoor! Plus their outdoor is right next to indoors, cue freaking horses at all the barking
Another close by indoor rents it Tue, Wed, Thurs and Fri from 6.45 start varying to 7.45 start....as a livery I'd be miffed, some of the livery pays for use of the arena but £15 an hour from dog clubs is more imnportant apparently??
The first venue is a top class BD establishment too
 
I know of two places that hire their schools on a commercial basis to dog clubs - one for agility on a weekly basis, the other on an ad hoc basis for both agility and dog shows.

I also rent a private indoor for when my bitch is in season so that she can have a bit of a hoolie around and do some work over the cavaletti.
 
Flicker said:
Can I just get an idea of how many of your yards with indoor schools hire them to dog clubs? Our YO thinks he has hit on a gold mine and has been hiring our school out quite a bit. Apart from the inconvenience of not being able to use the indoor when the clubs are there, we are also noticing a deterioration in the surface (and things like patches of dog pee, not nice).

I, personally, don't really think the activities mix, but wonder if I am in a minority.
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3bh said:
I used to rent out mine to a dog club for 3 hours one night a week, but it wrecked the surface, the footfall padding it all down meant we had to spend hours harrowing and watering the day after to get it light enough to ride on, (its just a basic sand surface nothing posh) - I wouldnt do it again!
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Honestly - have a think! How can dogs ruin the surface of an arena? They are so light compared to a horse. Dog pee! if a horse pees you get a bucket full not just a part cupful.

We rent our Pony Club grounds to the local dog club on the understanding that any 'woopsies' must be collected and disposed of, off the premises. They are great - they've never let us down.
 
Tnavas said:
Honestly - have a think! How can dogs ruin the surface of an arena? They are so light compared to a horse. Dog pee! if a horse pees you get a bucket full not just a part cupful.

We rent our Pony Club grounds to the local dog club on the understanding that any 'woopsies' must be collected and disposed of, off the premises. They are great - they've never let us down.
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They may be lighter but they have claws and run about a lot more in a smaller area and a lot more manically lol
 
Tnavas said:
Honestly - have a think! How can dogs ruin the surface of an arena? They are so light compared to a horse. Dog pee! if a horse pees you get a bucket full not just a part cupful.

We rent our Pony Club grounds to the local dog club on the understanding that any 'woopsies' must be collected and disposed of, off the premises. They are great - they've never let us down.
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Dogs also like to have a dig and have claws though. Also, just the thought of dog pee and c#%p all over the place turns my stomach. Imagine falling off in to that! It's all very well asking people to clean up after their dogs, but not everyone does. Personally, I wouldn't be happy with sharing a school with dog clubs. At all. I'm not anti-dog either, I have one myself.
 
sarahw123 said:
Dogs also like to have a dig and have claws though. Also, just the thought of dog pee and c#%p all over the place turns my stomach. Imagine falling off in to that! It's all very well asking people to clean up after their dogs, but not everyone does. Personally, I wouldn't be happy with sharing a school with dog clubs. At all. I'm not anti-dog either, I have one myself.
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I am with you here - I just restricted one of my livery owners to keep their dog on the lead now. When it does go in the school it digs holes and it buries things in the school surface like bones and toys.

I spent £ 6000 on a new surface and I do not want my new surface ending up as a dog playground and a dog toilet. This is a well respected / run yard and I want to keep my facilities to a standard where people don't think *ewwwwwwwww* I just fallen in/ or my horse just trod in d0g *****
 
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I agility train weekly at a local indoor school. We are always polite and courteous to the liveries (and I can vouch for this as I was one recently) We leave the school as we find it or better if someone hasn't picked up there horse droppings. The dogs don't damage the surface as they are a lot lighter than horses and don't have shoes attached to there feet. I am sure in winter it can be a pain having us indoors if the weather is bad but they do have a larger outdoor floodlight school to use.

ETA we always clean up after our dogs are instructors wouldn't allow us not to!! and as for digging agility dogs are usually very happy to be where they are and very focused. If they are the distracted type we do different tricks ect with them to keep there minds occupied they don't run loose unless its there turn on the equipment.
 
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I have known lots of places do this as long as they clean up I can't see the issue .
They are not going to damage the surface dogs are very very light .
I have known indoor schools used for all sorts of other things , archery practise and rugby training spring to mind .
 
Hm, some interesting views. Certainly, in our case, little paws do seem to be compacting the surface and the YO is probably not as diligent about harrowing as he could be...
And there has been the odd hole dug and accident left behind (and a cocktail sausage next to the light switch... Not so nice to come upon in the dark).
Fortunately the dog club people are mostly very nice although there have been some really weird ones in the past.

I guess it is a sign of the times that we gave to find alternative sources of income.
 
Our yard hires the indoor to a dog club twice a week, Thursday from 7pm and Sunday from 2:30pm. It's not really an issue for us, the outdoor is large and has floodlights. Occasionally when the weather is dire it would be nice to have a cover but I have no objection to the YOs using it to supplement their income from the yard.
 
My old yard rented the indoor (and sometimes outdoor) to dog training. Dogs always came before liveries where YO was concerned; at times no one could use it for the day as surface was raked for them and needed to be pristine.
I wouldn't have minded so much but they had no consideration for us or our horses while we had lots for them. They stuck a large plastic sheet on their 'photo wall' which was right next to the door and it flapped straight up whenever there was a slight breeze, which caused lots of accidents, and the dogs were allowed to run ragged and bark the place down. Apparently the new YOs don't rent it to them anymore.
 
The_Dappled_One. said:
My old yard rented the indoor (and sometimes outdoor) to dog training. Dogs always came before liveries where YO was concerned; at times no one could use it for the day as surface was raked for them and needed to be pristine.
I wouldn't have minded so much but they had no consideration for us or our horses while we had lots for them. They stuck a large plastic sheet on their 'photo wall' which was right next to the door and it flapped straight up whenever there was a slight breeze, which caused lots of accidents, and the dogs were allowed to run ragged and bark the place down. Apparently the new YOs don't rent it to them anymore.
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Argh, that would have driven me bonkers! One wonders why YO even bothered with liveries - should have just turned the place into a full time dog training venue.
 
Tnavas said:
Honestly - have a think! How can dogs ruin the surface of an arena? They are so light compared to a horse. Dog pee! if a horse pees you get a bucket full not just a part cupful.

We rent our Pony Club grounds to the local dog club on the understanding that any 'woopsies' must be collected and disposed of, off the premises. They are great - they've never let us down.
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I'm wondering if its the lots of human footfall that compacts the surface.

As for pee, it might only be a bit compared to a horse but horses rarely pee when working whereas dogs just pee and pee and pee, multiply that by dozens of them at least once weekly indoors and it would soon stink I would think.

Never done it, never been asked and never thought about it till now, but now I have, no, I wouldn't rent mine out to dog clubs.
 
A friend is trainer at an agility club that rents an indoor school all year, one night a week. They've been there years with no issues. There are only 2 45 min lessons, with a max of 6 dogs. The course is different between lessons and week to week, so no one part of the school gets a hammering. The dogs not running but part of the lesson sit quietly in the viewing gallery with the owners. Okay the one running usually barks in excitement, but it's one dog at a time and only 90 mins per week. I also hire this school for riding, the surface is excellent and not damaged. All poos get picked up immediately (dog and horse), and renters take care of it and respect it. It can work very well.
 
I used to do agility and obedience at a local indoor that rents it out at least 2 nights a week. The surface seems fine, and the dog people are religious about picking up poos, and also washing down with a bucket of water if they wee up the walls (to discourage it.) Seems to work pretty well.
 
My dog agility trainer hires a nearby indoor school during winter for us to train in, we are very careful to pick up dog poo but of course not much can be done about pee but then obviously horses pee far more (quantity wise) than dogs so I really don't see that being an issue personally... At the place we go though, its more of a riding school and they simply don't do evening stuff in the winter anyway so its of no inconvenience to them. The horses couldn't care less, they just doze in their stables they're so used to it. As for dogs digging up the surface, I don't see why they would since they'll be on leads unless they're running. Certainly at my class no dogs get a chance to dig. I wouldn't like it if I was a livery and wanted to use the school but then I guess that's the risk - anyone can hire out their schools, to other riders etc. so I don't see any difference that its just a dog club hiring instead.
 
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It wouldn't bother me if dog clubs , or anyone else , hired the school.
It would bother me if I was paying a good amount of livery for a yard with facilities that I couldn't use in the evenings because of outside bookings
 
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