Wednesday January 20th, 2016

CATS:
It is always easy to locate Chief when you enter the cat room. He is either in his kennel or on his cat tree in the hammock but today was different, he was perched on the windowsill looking outside! I'm sure he could sense that the weather had perked up a bit and wanted to get a bit of tanning time in while he could!
 Drew had tucked himself away in the cat tree when I went in for a visit today. He immediately hopped down and headed right over to me for some petting and belly rubs. Him and his pal Chief sure do like to keep each other company, its cute to see how they share the cat tree and our attention when we pop in throughout the day.
Missy had the right idea for today in my opinion. She was curled up in her kennel in the nook that the sun slightly shines into, getting nice and toasty. When I opened her door up to say 'Hi', she immediately rolled onto her back, exposing her nice toasty tummy and let me rub her belly for a little bit before returning to nap-land :).


Enhanced 
Max was first up for a training session this morning. He's very eager to do his work, especially when there are plenty of treats. I started off by doing some 'sits' 'downs' and 'stays' with Max just to get him into the training rhythm. He was very enthusiastic to perform each task, although I did have to remind him to complete his 'down' command all the way before he was rewarded for it. He even threw in some 'shake a paw' all on his own, hoping for extra treats! Next up, we visited with Katie who was working with Sadie in the reception area. I had Max sit at my heel and wait until I gave him the 'ok' to greet Katie and Sadie. He was patient but very excited, so I made sure he didn't jump up when I let some slack in his leash. After walking around, trying our best to be casual with Katie and Sadie, I took Max into the front playroom to work on his recall. I had him 'sit' and 'stay' before calling him over. He figured out very quickly that I had a pocket full of treats though, so I decided to head to the back playroom and eventually out into the yard where there were plenty more distractions. I let Max's leash go and he sniffed around the playroom, and while he had his nose down and was turned away, I called him over. He was quick to respond and is starting to sit automatically each time he comes. We did a few more of these before I took him into the yard. Nicole was on the other side of the fence so it was a great distraction in an open area for us to practice with. Max had a little bit of a harder time focusing with all of the distractions, but he eventually caught on and came back to me each time I called.

I decided to try and work with Boris and Tasha in a hands-on setting today instead of having them practice simple commands. During their indoor group time, I had Boris and Tasha 'sit' and wait patiently until it was their turn to get a treat. Boris could hardly sit still because he wanted to hop in and grab the treats as I was handing them out to the other dogs. It took a few tries to get him to be patient, but caught on soon enough. I also sat down with Tasha to give her some cuddles. Boris was jealous, of course, and tried to nudge his way in between Tasha and I. So, I took Boris to the other side of the room and had him 'sit' and 'stay' while I went back to spend time with Tasha. This was a very difficult task for Boris, and he was vibrating with anticipation of his release from the 'stay' command. I had to remind him a few times to stay put, but all in all he did well. I also practiced having both Tasha and Boris 'sit' and 'down' together. They were side by side, and Boris had a hard time not jumping to snag his mom's treats, but we practiced until he was able to keep his cool. The final part of training today was focused on Boris' recall. He responded well in the playroom, so I took him out into the hallway to see how he would react. He was distracted by the smells of all the other dogs who had already passed through, which made the perfect recall setup. Even without a leash in a distracted hallway, Boris responded to each of my commands. I think the next step will be to take him out in the yard to practice his recall with other dogs in a more open space with plenty of distractions.


Everyone sure was happy for the change in weather today! It was much nicer to run around in the warm sun with each other than in the chilly cold, as the past few days have been. Everyone was chasing everyone in one big game, but it was Chigo who got the ball rolling. He was running around everyone trying to get them to chase him and soon enough, everyone was more than happy to help him out. Everyone dashed into the other yard and had Chigo snuck into one of the outdoor kennels. It looked like he was waiting to sneak up on someone! Chigo managed to stay hidden and he hopped out as soon as Maverick ran by, and then ran like a mad man back to the other yard with Shyla in tow. Shyla chased him to the other yard and then decided to spend some time sniffing around as a cool down from her workout. Maverick decided to do pretty much the same but was also very interested in another pooch in the yard who he wanted to get playing. It was a tough job getting Maverick back in today (probably because of all the fun he was having) but eventually I was able to convince him to come back inside to join his sister. Max was very happy to be in on all the chasing action today and also enjoyed playing around with his pal Maverick. The two of them connected right as they got outside for group and from then on Maverick made sure that Max was involved in all the playing and even continued the fun after everyone else had gone to cool down! Max was happy to spend some one-on-one time in the playroom during his training later in the day.

Mr. Miko was quite pleased with the gorgeous sunshine today! He shot out of the door as soon as he could, to get his paws on the snow! When I got outside, he ran right over to me and was trying to get me to run around with him. He managed to get some of the other pups to play with him for a bit but they were a little more excited about lounging about in the sun. Once in the playroom, Miko found himself a nice plush toy and carried it around the room to display it to everyone. He came and joined me so that I could give him a nice back and chin scratch and then it was time to head back to the comfort of his bed for a mid-afternoon nap!  


This group had a serious case of the zoomies today and was ready to get all that energy out in the yard! Right out of the door, Apple was quite happy to be outside with all her friends and was even happier that some new ladies joined in on the group play today! Sky was more content to just howl into the breeze and make his was around the yard sniffing here and there and checking in as needed with his sister. I love how it seems like they talk back and forth to each other, as you can hear one of them bark and the other barks back in response! Bella and Jake made their way into the center of the yard to mingle with some friends. Jake had some fun with a friend named Merida who ran around the yard a bit with him. Shortly after, another human-friend came out and everyone was so excited about her that they forgot to play with each other! Jake and Bella then made their way to the door signaling it was time to go into the playroom to warm back up. Taylor had lots of fun on her walk today with her new pal London. She was so excited to meet another new friend that she forgot to focus on her nature walk! She then got to run around in the yard with her friends and was very happy to be outside with people too! She would often stop mid-play session to come over to me to hop onto my lap to check in and see how I was doing. She has such an adorable face its nearly impossible to ignore her snuggling needs!

I think there was a secret mission going on between Boris and Finnigan today to see who could wear who out more. Every time I looked for either one of them, they were wrestling and running around like crazy. Eventually, Zak broke away from Sadie long enough to get into the fun stuff that Boris and Finnigan were doing together which then encouraged all the other pups to get involved too! Sadie was the one being chased and she loved every minute of it! London was more preoccupied with Finnigan for a little while, who really wanted to play with her but she was more interested in refereeing the chasing and wrestling matches that were going on. Finnigan was smitted by London and he followed her through the yard as she refereed the other dogs' game. Finnigan was happy to hang out with London and bounce along with her as she chased the pack.


Bella was right in on the action this afternoon! She was very happy to be around everyone as much as possible and was in such a good mood that she wanted to finish her afternoon with a happy roll in the snow before heading back inside. 
Tasha joined in on the action, but for the most part ,was happy to just watch her son play around with everyone else this afternoon. They went on a nice walk together this morning so perhaps she just wanted a mellow afternoon after all of the exercise walking through the snow earlier.  

Macie started her day with a nice walk in the forest with her pal Justice. She is always so happy to see us in the morning (probably because she knows that means breakfast time) but nonetheless always greets us with a perky face! She went out this afternoon with Justice and the two of them had quite the mellow attitude about them today. Instead of burning energy off by running around, they each made their way around the yard, sniffing every nook and cranny and generally keeping to themselves. They probably just wanted to enjoy the fresh air and nice, warm sunshine without all the craziness today!