A useful daycare note describes what staff will actually see, not labels such as friendly or shy. Write how your dog plays, who she plays well with, how staff will know she has had enough, and what they should do at that point. Keep the wording plain enough that a new staff member, meeting her for the first time on a busy morning, can group her correctly without guessing or needing to phone you for translation.
Describe Her Play in Observable Terms
Start with pace and style. Say whether she prefers chase, gentle wrestling, parallel sniffing and wandering, or playing alongside dogs rather than with them. Note how she starts play, whether she offers play bows, rolls over, or barges in, and how quickly she becomes aroused once a group gets moving. Add how she responds when another dog corrects her: a dog who backs off after one growl needs different partners from a dog who answers back or keeps pushing.
Be specific about suitable partners. Record the size range she is relaxed with, whether she does better with calm adults than with boisterous adolescents, and whether unfamiliar males, unfamiliar females, or very small dogs change her behaviour. If she has known friends at the daycare whose company settles her, name them, because familiar partners are useful information for a first grouping. Avoid writing only that she loves everyone, because that gives staff no way to choose between a lively young group and a quieter older one.
Write Her Limits as Instructions
Separate preferences from hard limits, and phrase each limit as an action. Useful examples include no rough wrestling, no toys or balls in her group if she guards them, no crowded indoor play, and a lead or quiet pen rather than a busy yard when she is tired. State what settling looks like for her, whether that is a crate, a mat, water and shade, or simply distance from the group.
Describe her early warning signs in the order staff are likely to see them: turning her head or body away, licking her lips, shaking off, moving to the edge of the group, trying to leave, becoming stiff, staring, or snapping when space is not given. Then say what should follow each stage, such as offering a break, moving her to a calmer group, or ending play for that session. Staff can act on that sequence; a note that only says she can be reactive cannot be acted on until something has already gone wrong.
Keep the File Current and Test It
Update the note after any incident, any change in her health or confidence, and any report from staff that she played differently from the file. Ask the daycare to tell you which group she was placed in and how she settled, then adjust partner types and limits from real sessions rather than from your hopes for her. A short trial session, watched or reported in detail, is worth more than a long description written before she has ever played there.
Review the wording with the daycare rather than simply handing it over. Ask staff to read it back in their own words, check that their grouping categories match your partner description, and agree how they will record changes so the next shift works from the updated version. If she attends more than one facility, use the same core note at each one and add only the details that differ, such as yard size or rest arrangements. Consistency helps her as well as staff, because she meets the same expectations and the same kind of companions wherever she goes.
End with your contact details and a clear instruction for anything staff are unsure about: separate her calmly first, then call. That order matters, because a dog who is already over threshold needs space before she needs a discussion. KinsLe's Pet Passport holds this play-style and social-limits note alongside her identification and health records, so a revised grouping instruction replaces the old one everywhere her profile is shared for daycare.