Skip to content
English
Visit Our Main Site
  • There are no suggestions because the search field is empty.

Off-Leash Dog Play Supervision: Roll Calls

The hourly roll call procedure for confirming every dog's location and physical well-being during off-leash group play.

Purpose

Roll calls are the hourly check that confirms every dog in group play is exactly where it should be, and that no dog has been overlooked. Do them consistently and they catch small problems (an early heat-stress sign, a missed injury) before they become bigger ones.

At a Glance

  • Frequency: every hour, and again after each dog rotation.
  • Method: physically touch each dog and look it over, not just count heads.
  • Roster: check off each dog's name on the daily roster as you confirm it.
  • Indoor dogs: the same process applies to dogs napping indoors, not only the play yard.
  • Hot weather: treat every pass as a heat-check too, watching for early warning signs.
  • See Management Methods for Dogs During Off-leash Play for the staffing and group-size rules roll calls run alongside.

Steps

  1. Pull up the daily roster for your play yard every hour, and again after each dog rotation.
  2. Go to each dog in your group. Physically touch the dog and visually look it over, don't just count from a distance.
  3. As you confirm each dog, check its name off the roster.
  4. Look the dog over specifically for anything that could have happened during play: an injury, a limp, anything out of the ordinary.
  5. In hot weather, add a heat check to the same pass: watch for early signs of heat-related trouble while you're already right there with the dog.
  6. If you're an indoor attendant with napping dogs, run the identical roster check-off and physical look-over for every dog in your care.
  7. Repeat the full roll call again at the next hourly mark, and after the next rotation, for as long as dogs are in group play.

Edge Cases

  • Indoor napping dogs get the same roll call as play yard dogs. A calm, sleeping dog still gets touched, looked over, and checked off, not skipped because it's quiet.
  • A rotation that happens between hourly roll calls still triggers its own roll call. Don't wait for the next hourly one if a rotation just moved dogs around.
  • Hot weather doesn't change the roll call itself, it changes what you're specifically watching for while you do it.

Who to Ask

If anything about a dog's condition during a roll call gives you pause, that's the reason the check exists: don't wait for the next one to say something.

What is the process for running an hourly roll call?

Get the roster, go to each dog, touch and look the dog over, check its name off, and repeat every hour and after every rotation. Indoor napping dogs get the identical process from whoever is attending them.

Roll calls are a safety practice as much as a headcount. Treat the physical check as the point of the exercise, not the checkbox.