Tuesday December 22 2015

Cattery

There are plenty of cute kitties in the cat room today! Habanero, Marley and Guss were all out together today. I first found Habanero and Guss laying in the cat tree. Guss was on the top, making sure he could see the whole room. Habanero was snuggled into the cubby, taking a nice snooze. Once I joined them, they all began to move around. Habanero went ovet to the scratching post that was on the ground and began clawing away at it. Marley was perched by the window, watching the rain drip off the roof, and watching cars come and go all morning. She tried out the cat tree too and she loved it. She liked a lower level then the others did, but she was still comfy.
Chief decided he had to share his cat tree, so he let the others climb all over it while he wandered around the cat room. He likes to peek his nose into everything, including everyone else's condos and the cabinet where all the food is. He sniffed the treat bag a bit, hinting that he would like one, so I quickly gave him one and he was on his way.
Ava was a little snuggle bug today. She cuddled in her adorable basket all day, taking the best snooze. Earlier in the morning she was sitting by the window watching everything outside and the rain must have put her in a cozy, tired mood. She snuggled in her basket and rubbed her head all over my hand when I pet her. She began purring after a few times I pet her. Once I stopped, she drifted back to sleep.

GROUPS

The first group of littles were the first group of the morning. Lola wasn't particularly happy with the weather this morning and neither was Coco. Timbits, on the other hand, didn't seem to mind too much. He ran off to spend some time saying hello to Pearl and Cooper. Rocky took some time to have himself a good stretch and then headed out to do a little exploring. Beanie, Pearl and Miko went trotting off further into the yard to do a little exploring.  Maya went even further and went straight out to the far yard. Poochio wouldn't leave my side until I have given him some pets and attention. Miko noticed someone getting love and came running back to get some pets for himself. Not too long after that Cooper came running over wanting some loving. When they had had enough attention they went trotting over to the far yard gate. Cooper stuck his nose to the ground and set off in search of interesting smells. Miko decided to go and see what Beanie was up to and then went over to check on Poochio. When Cooper was done exploring in the main yard, he made his way into the far yard. It wasn't long before pretty much the whole group was in the far yard. Intially everyone set out to do some exploring. It wasn't long until Miko and Timbits started running around. Timbits then made a beeline my way to have a quick cuddle and then went bouncing off for a visit with Poochio and Merida. Over in another part of the yard Maya found herself being asked to play by Beanie. She didn't seem quite sure if she wanted to play at first, but she soon convinced her and they had a great time bouncing and running around. Timbits decided to head out to do some more exploring. He was joined by Miko and the two of them were quite interested in checking out all the cracks between the rocks. Pearl, who was off doing her own explorations, ended up meeting up with Timbits. She gave him a quick once over before continuing on the scent trail. Shortly after that Timbits was done with exploring and wanted to play. He had a lot of fun running around with Cooper. Maya who was busy checking out a particularly interesting chunk of ground, soon caught their eyes. They made their way over to check it out with her. Pearl was curious as to what everyone found so interesting and went running over to check it out herself. I made my way back to the main yard to check on Lola and Rocky. I found the two of them just hanging out and relaxing, though Lola was hinting at wanting to go inside and out of the drizzle. 

Viggo and Tsavo got to spend the day together again. These two missed each other while they were away from Tails & Trails. Tsavo was in a rambunctious mood today and all she wanted to do was play with Viggo. She tried multiple times to get him to wrestle her or jump around with her but Viggo was too relaxed to get into the playful mood. She did this really cute thing where she jumped and put her front paws on Viggo's back and stood there telling him that she really wanted to play right now. Not even that convinced him.  Maybe it was the weather that was keeping him in a mellow mood. He was still pumped to see Tsavo outside though! These two stayed close the entire time. Viggo was a sniffing machine today. He sniffed every single rock there was to sniff, and then some. Tsavo did veer off of Viggo a couple of times to see if someone else would play, but she was with Ocean and Fez, the two older dogs. Ocean did show some interest, and teased Tsavo a bit, jumping quickly around when Tsavo came near. Tsavo took this as an invite to play, but then Ocean would wag her tail and walk away.

Next up was the second group of littles. Tennya, Dugan and Keegan were quick to put their noses to the ground and set off on a search. Cricket set out to do some exploring as well though wasn't quite as nose to the ground. Will was happy to meander around the yard checking things out as he went. Kouza made a beeline right for the far yard. Once she was out there she stood facing the field and listening intently. Kouza then spent some time talking with whatever had caught her attention. Dugan, Cricket and Tennya followed Kouza out to the far yard. Tennya headed out to explore in the grass while Keegan headed over to the rocks. After he'd seen all he wanted to see, Dugan rejoined Keegan who was waiting by the gate. The two of them then went trotting off together into the main yard. Kouza finally done with beyond the fence, made her way over to me. She was happy to receive some bum scratches and pets. When Kouza had had enough, she left me to go and check on Shadow. Cricket, who had clambered up onto the rocks, noticed I had some free hands and made her way over for some pets and scratches of her own. She then went trotting off to follow Tennya around. 

Cai likes it when he and Tsavo get to spend some time apart from each other during the day. They like getting together when it is time to go home and sharing what they did with their day. Cai walked with Duke, the German Shepherd, right when she arrived this morning. Cai and Duke really like each other, but Cai was sad to not see Duke when she went out for group time. She was out with Percy, Max, and Bennie. Cai was obsessed with little Bennie today. Although Bennie is usually not as comfortable with bigger dogs, Cai is quite gentle so Bennie liked him as well. These two stayed close the whole time they were outside. Of course, it wasn't easy to stay quiet while they were outside with Max. Max had the whole group jumping in on a game. Our husky, Isis, was so excited to play with Max. She and Max were the first ones to race around the yard. Percy,like always, was trailing Max, barking at him getting him to be even more excited. Max is Percy's favorite friend in the world. Today, Percy was more excited than usual, which means he was ecstatic. He ran right on Max's heels when he was running around the yard. Eventually the game was to chase Bennie around the yard, because he was the fastest out of all of them. Max was always the first one to catch up to him, and then Cai right after him. This group was so fun, and definitely the highlight of my day!

Fez took it easy in the yard today. He was in a very small group of only four dogs. The rest of his group was feeling a little relaxed and tired because of the rain so he fit right in. He was happy to be able to get outside for some fresh air but even more happy when it was time to come inside. I sat with Fez in his kennel for quite a while, petting his head, rubbing his belly and gave him plenty of treats for being so cute. He ended up falling asleep in my lap, I slowly left his kennel and tried to not wake him, but he woke up and nudged my hand for one more pet and treat.

The last group of the morning couldn't wait to get outside. Sadie was quick to run over to Magic and see what she was up to. They were soon joined by Rex, though he didn't stay long as he spotted a bone near the kennels. Sadie then found herself being asked to play by Brenyn. Soon they were racing around the main yard. They then went flying out to the agility yard with the others close on their tails. Once in the agility yard they took a quick break from playing so everyone could get together and check each other over. Sadie ended up spending quite some time checking out Riley's ears. Rex was soon bored with the socializing and turned his attention to a nearby puddle. He proceeded to have a grand old time splashing and digging in the water. Jax was also done with the socializing and decided to head out to sniff everything that caught his attention. It wasn't too long after that that Sadie and Brenyn went racing off once more with Duke with Rex and Chloe on their heels. Apparently not satisfied with only running in the agility yard Sadie took the group racing back out to the main yard. Duke wanting a bit of a break left the fun to come for a little visit with me. Once he'd had the loving he wanted he went to go and see what Brenyn was now up. She was playing with Georgie. Georgie ended up making a bit of an impression on Duke and went to see about maybe getting her to play with him. After a little while they were joined by Rex. Riley wasn't keen on the crazy running around the yard but every time his friends stopped to play and wrestle he was quick to jump in and join them, until later in the group when he noticed my hands available Rileyand made his way over for some pets of his own. Since no one was playing with her anymore Sadie used that as an opportunity to get in a good stretch. Sadie now all limber was ready to race around once more. She raced off to the agility yard with everyone on her heels. 

ENHANCED

Rex and I went through some basic commands in the playroom today. We started with sit and stay. He seems to have those ones down, and can do them with only the vocal command. We also worked on leaving toys and other things alone when he isn't suppose to be touching them. We walked by some intriguing looking toys that are totally Rex's favorite toys. I made him walk by them casually, and then when I said so, he ran after them and picked them up mid run! He's such a clever guy. He also really likes it when we work on "stay". I make him place and sit on the cot in the room. Then today I walked around the room and then told him to lay down. He did so perfectly and then I rewarded him for his hard work.

Cricket and Will are so cute. Today the three of us spent some quality time in the playroom together. Cricket is a live wire, and right when I sat down, she climbed right over my legs, onto my chest and then proceeded to give me countless kisses all over my face. She's such a sweetie. She then enjoyed a really nice back rub/scratch. She was in heaven. Will is a little more shy than Cricket and likes to let his little sis to be the more outgoing one. He is always a little nervous when I first go to pet him, but then he realizes that a nice pet on his back is a good thing and warms up to me. Both of them enjoyed some treats that I gave them both just for being so darn cute!

For Timbits training today we started with 'sit' which he has basically mastered. Since 'sit' is a good starting point for 'down' we then decided to work on that. Timbits is definitely going to need some more work on that. He has a bad habit of letting his butt pop up. Not wanting to bore him we moved onto some recalls. Timbits is actually quite good a coming when he is called especially when there is food involved. Since he is just a puppy and prone to having a short attention span, I decided to try him with 'watch'. While we haven't phased out the treat yet as it's still early, he was quite quick to catch on where to look. After that it was time to work on some heeling. Timbits did quite well while working with the treats.

Maya was excited to get out for some training this afternoon. Like yesterday we started with some basics like 'sit' and 'down' as well as some 'stays'. Maya does really well with these and is quite happy to do them even without a treat. Next up was some recall work. After we did it a couple times we moved on to some focus work. I was quite impressed with how quickly she remembered 'watch' and how long she held eye contact. Since she had it down pretty well for the moment we moved onto some leash manners. Maya wasn't quite sure she understood what we were up to but was happy to follow me around as I took us on a random path of sudden turns and stops. When we were done with training we headed back to Rocky. I gave him some pets and scratches then tried to see if he was interested in playing a game. I tried the guess/scent game, where they have to guess/scent which hand the treat was in. Rocky wasn't overly interested, but eventually guessed the right hand.