Monday, April 25th, 2016

Groups

Max was very eager as usual to go outside with his sister Sadie and join the others. When they first got outside, the pair took a lap around the yard and let off some steam. They both spread apart and started roaming around the yard separately. Sadie had her nose glued to the ground and was sniffing along the fence while Max sniffed around for a second before running up to all the dogs to say hi. Sadie wasn’t being too playful today and kept to herself mostly, while Max kept on jumping from dog to dog to say hi before running off on his own. He kept on having bursts of energy where he’d be calm wandering around and then all of a sudden he’d be running around in circles. Before it was time to come back inside, he started to get Sadie playful and they played tag for a bit in the main yard as all the dogs watched them.

Kimi and Lobo were both very excited to go out for their walk this morning. I walked them right as they came in and they were so eager to go they couldn’t stop running up and down the hallways. Kimi took off right as she got outside this morning with her group and started to explore the further yard while Lobo wandered around near the door. It didn’t take long before Lobo got tired and decided to lay down and take a snooze in the sun. Kimi wasn’t as tired though and kept wandering around. When Max was running around and digging in the yard she ran up to him to see what he was doing and even helped a little bit.

Tanner is such a sweet boy. He spent his day in the staff room with Merida just relaxing together. He went for a walk this morning with Kimi and Lobo and was trying his best the whole time to keep up with them. Outside he doesn’t like to do much involving the other dogs, but much prefers to have his head and back scratched. Ranger, on the other hand, loves to walk around the yard with the other dogs and greet each one individually. He enjoyed his trail walk with two other friends and he made sure to sniff along the trail very thoroughly.  Tanner and Ranger went out in the same group today, and they started off by following their noses individually around the yard. Tanner kept on following me around the entire time and sneaking up behind me to squeeze his head through my legs to say hello! He just wanted his head to be scratched. Ranger said hello and gave all the dogs a sniff before wandering around the further yard. He ran around with Max for a little while before continuing to dig in the dirt where Max left off.

Nymeria was having a blast outside this morning with her sister Scarlett. She loves being around her so much and didn’t want to leave her side the entire time. Right as we all got outside, Nymeria ran after Scarlett the first chance she got and chased her around in circles and around all the others. When she laid on the gravel with her paws in the air, Nymeria took that as a chance to start wrestling and began to pounce on Scarlett playfully as the others crowded around to watch. When Scarlett got back up she ran to the grass yard and Nymeria followed quickly behind her. It didn’t take long before she caught up and they were wrestling around in the grass once more. The rougher the playing got the more everyone else got involved and ran over to play with them as well.

Maggie kept it easy today and was very calm throughout her time outside with the others. When she first got out, she started to wander around the yard and sniff along the fence. A bunch of the other dogs would come up to her to sniff her and say hi but she kept to her explorations and watched the others from the edges of the yard. Maggie came out of her shell a little bit later when two dogs began to run around her and got her a little bit excited. She started to jump up and down and chase them in circles before calming down and going back to sniffing.

Finnigan was being so funny outside during his group today. He has so much energy and is always running around wherever he goes. Right as he got outside, he was looking for a playmate and began to run around them in circles to see who wanted to join him. He was jumping up on their backs to say hi but the other dogs were very focused on sniffing the yard, so I took it upon myself to play with him. I started to run around him in circles as he chased me before he picked up a bone and started to chew on it. He spent the rest of his time outside laying down chewing on his bone.

After morning groups, Maple headed out for a walk with her new friend Hailey and Charlotte walked with her pal Justice. Maple and Charlotte were both full of energy today and were the most playful dogs in their after-walks group. Their high energy really rubbed off on the others as they played and ran around together. Charlotte was very social right from the beginning and ran around to say hi to everybody before picking a playmate. Maple was the opposite and ran around on her own at first. She did laps around the yard before she found a piece of a bone on the ground so she ran and scooped it up immediately so no one else could have a chance to take it. She walked around with it hanging out of her mouth to show off. Whenever she would walk by a dog that was interested it would turn into a game of tag. Charlotte was taking turns playing with each dog. She was teasing them by running into the play structure then laying inside as they all crowded around her barking at her to come back out.

Sophie and Oliver were the calm ones in their group today. Sophie doesn’t like to play much but still makes sure to greet the other dogs and I before finding a sunny spot to sit and watch. She kept on coming up to me whenever I was near her and brushing her head against my leg to be pet. She loves attention and I sat there for a bit to keep her company before seeing the others. Charlotte even ran up to her a few times and got her to bounce around which only lasted a second, though, before Sophie decided to sit back down. Oliver was very social during his outing and wandered around with all of the dogs in his group. He didn’t play much but he would make sure to stay near them and he liked to follow them around wherever they went. As Charlotte was digging in the mud, Oliver made his way over to join her and he stuck his head in the hole to sniff it out before pawing at it.

Baxter was such a playful guy today! He loves his toys and the entire time we were outside I didn’t see him once without a bone in his mouth. When he first walked out the door, he and Kyah began to say hi to the others and run around with them since everyone was excited to get outside. Kyah was really interested in two of the dogs and followed them around the whole time, trying to play. They played for a bit then took a little break and wandered off on their own. Kyah wasn’t done playing with them, though, and wasn’t going to take no for an answer. She followed them around and jumped on their backs to get them excited again as they started up a game of tag. When Baxter was done sniffing everybody, he ran to the further yard as fast as he could and found a bone right away. He ran around with it in his mouth and tried to tease me as he was trying to get me to take it from him. When I finally got the bone from him and he sat politely at my feet until I gave it back then he ran off again.

Enhanced

I took Nymeria to the front playroom for her training. She was so excited it took her a couple minutes to settle down and put her mind to work. We did some sit to downs then some down to sits. Nymeria tried to throw in some paw work at the same time. Next we did a little recall work, at which she did quite well. We only did recall a couple times before moving on to some 'leave it'. Nymeria has moments of really getting it and moments of being extra stubborn, but for the most part she does remarkably well. While we were doing 'leave it' I threw in some 'look at me' to keep interesting. We then headed out to the hall to do some recall with a few more distractions. It took her a couple seconds longer to respond but she still did really well.