Monday July 18th, 2016

Groups

Ivy and Benji were both so happy to head out for their group time. They both set out to do some exploring. Ivy soon wandered off to the far yard. Once she was out there she met up with Charlotte. They hit it off immediately and were soon having some golden fun. Charlotte became distracted by Julie. Ivy, curious about Julie as well, went over to check her over for herself. Benji finally joined Ivy in the far yard. He stopped at the entrance and spent some time debating on what he wanted to do. In the end he decided to head out and do some exploring. Along the way he met up with Ryder. They gave each other a good once over then headed out to explore together. Ivy took a break from playing with Charlotte to do some exploring of her own. Benji curious about what she was looking at left Ryder and went to join Ivy. Satisfied with what he'd seen, Benji started to head back to Ryder. He was stopped by Charlotte who gave him a very low play bow. Benji decided to ignore her and continue on to Ryder and me. Ivy noticed Charlotte was ready to play once more and went and pounced on her. Soon they were having a great time racing and wrestling around the yard. Benji was unable to resist the lure of playing with Ivy and went running over to join the fun.

Ryder headed out to do do a quick tour of the yard. He then came trotting back and stuck himself to my side. After getting some pets Ryder and I headed to the far yard. He left me to go and see what Benji was up to. They spent some time together checking one another over. The two of them then set off to do a little exploring together. Benji split off for a minute when he went to check on his sister. It wasn't long before Benji was back and Ryder and him hung out some more. I crouched down to give them some pets and Ryder came and pressed himself against my legs, wanting all the attention. Benji went running off to play Ivy and Charlotte. Ryder let him go and stood back to watch their antics. After a while Ryder and I headed out to check out more of the yard. As we were touring Charlotte came and joined us. She set eyes on Ryder and decided she would rather like to play with him. Ryder wasn't sure at first, but soon they were running around together having fun.

Charlotte was so excited to back. She went bounding out the door looking for someone to play with. It didn't take long for Charlotte to find Ivy and even less time to convince her to play. Charlotte was bouncing around her and play bowing. She then got distracted by Julie and went to see if maybe she might want to play. Not having much luck with Julie, Charlotte when running off to see what the rest of the group was up to. When she came to Benji she decided he was who she wanted to play with next. Charlotte dropped into an extra low play bow and waited to see what he would do. Benji wasn't quite interested at that point so Charlotte went to do a little exploring. Shortly after she got started Ivy went racing over to her wanting to play some more. Benji wanted to play with Ivy as well and went running over to join her and Charlotte. The three of them had a great time playing together and were so fun to watch. Towards the end of group time when Charlotte was taking a break from playing with Ivy and Benji, she met up with Ryder. She took quite a liking to him and was determined to make Ryder play with her. Soon they were running around together.

Hershey wasn't quite sure she wanted to go out for group, but once she got out there she changed her mind. Some plants growing from by the fence caught her attention and she had to head over to check it out. Hershey then spotted Bear, Molly, and Dushka hanging out by the far corner and decided to go check it out for herself. By the time she got there the others had started to disperse. Hershey was then quite happy to have the area all to herself while she explored. Once she was done there she headed out to check out more of the yard. Hershey eventually had seen all she wanted to see of the far yard for the moment. She then decided to make her way out to he main yard to join me. Hershey did a little more exploring on her way over, but was happy to stop to get lots of pets and attention. She ended up leaving me when a scent on the breeze caught her attention. She followed it back out to the far yard and stood with her nose in the air trying to figure it all out.

Ranger was all about the exploring first thing this morning. He even brushed off the pool in favour of making his way around first the main yard then heading out to the far yard. While Ranger was wandering around he met up with Dushka. She took quite an interest in Ranger's ears and he seemed pretty happy with the attention. With his ear thorough investigated Ranger set out to do some more exploring around the yard. Once he finished that it was pool time. Ranger made a beeline right for the pool and went to climb in. Dushka was already in the pool so he only climbed half way in. Once she was out he got the other half of him in the pool. Ranger pretty much spent the rest of our time outside alternating between hanging out in the pool and doing a little more exploring.

Bear made his way outside and immediately headed out for the far corner of the yard. He stood staring out beyond the fence taking in all the sights and sounds. Bear's actions caught the attention of Molly and Dushka. Bear seemed pretty pleased with the company, but soon decided to head out to check out more of the yard. His path brought him over by the play structure. Bear seemed to find it quite interesting and spent some time going around it and checking every little nook and cranny. Once he had thorough checked out all of the far yard Bear made his way back to the main yard. Bear tour around, but quickly realized it wasn't nearly as exciting as the far yard. He decided to make his way back to the far yard to wander around some more.

Riley was very excited to go outside today. Once he walked out the door he started to run around in circles while saying hi to all of the dogs. He ran over to all of them so quickly that they all took a step back before he was allowed to sniff them. Once they all calmed down and Riley was done greeting all of the other dogs, everyone started to get really playful. As the dogs ran as fast as they could into the further grass yard, Riley was right behind them where he chased them around the grass in circles until one of the dogs stopped as they play bowed at each other. Riley was getting really excited again and began to bark to let them know he wanted to play. The others all huddled around him until one of the dogs took off again and started another game of tag. He ran around the play structure then over to the pool where all of the others decided to take a break and hop on in, even though Riley was very curious about the pool he decided to stand around it instead of jumping in like the others.

Casper and William are such curious dogs. They love to wander around the yard and explore the entire time that they’re outside. When they went out for their group this morning the two took off and started to roam around the gravel for a little while and sniff along the small trail of rocks that are between the grass sections. After Casper was done sniffing around there, he left William behind and he made his way out to the further yard where some of the dogs started to become interested in him. They chased him around the yard as he started walking and were trying to get him to play. Casper was taken by surprise but he quickly began to run around with them in the yard then made his way back to William with the others tagging along. William made his way back to the door at this point and was hanging out in the shade with some of the more quiet dogs. Casper got him to follow him back out into the yard where they toured around for a little while longer before going back in the shade to take a break.

It was such a joy to see Apple come in this morning! All of the staff made sure to go in and give her lots of attention as soon as she came in this morning. I sat with her on her bed as she walked over to join me and cuddled up right next to me until someone else walked in and she ran over to greet them. Outside she wandered out to the further yard and started to explore around the grass when I walked over to her. She was so busy sniffing the rocks that I had to call her over for her to look up at me. When the other dogs head me calling Apple, they ran over and tried to play with her as she was sniffing along the fence. To my surprise Apple wasn’t in the mood to run around and play for once. She decided to stick to herself and kept on exploring around the yard. I got her to come over to me and I gave her some more pets before she decided to wander off and socialize with some of her friends.

Joey and Giacomo were a little quiet when they first came outside this morning. They stayed together for a bit until some of the other dogs began to play and Joey started to get very interested. He wouldn’t play directly with them but always stuck around them and chased to wherever they would go. Giacomo was keeping it easy and wandered around the gravel for a little while before he started to go up to some of the dogs to say hi. Joey ran over to me after he played with the other dogs in the yard and he ran straight between my legs where he got me to pet him. I reached over to pet Giacomo as well but he took off and started to roam around somewhere else. When all of the dogs started to play again after they had a dip in the pool, Giacomo decided to run along with them as well, even though the two weren’t wrestling around with anyone they still had fun running around the yard and chasing the dogs around.

Mel and Syrus were both so playful outside today. They both ran out the door and started to run around with the biggest smile on both of their faces. Mel couldn’t wait one second before jumping straight into the pool. It’s safe to say he was the first one in and the last one out during groups today; he just can’t get enough of the water. Syrus on the other hand, could take it or leave it. He walked over as all of the other dogs hopped in the pool after Mel and circled around it very curiously. As Syrus made his way around, he took a little sip out of it then jumped back and ran a few feet away so he wouldn’t get splashed by any of the other dogs. Syrus hung back to watch, enjoying the company of his friends. He ran from one yard to the other during a game of tag and was enjoying himself so much. He took little breaks between each sprint and went off to the side of the yard by the fence to sniff along the tall grass. Meanwhile, as all of the dogs were playing in the further yard, Mel ran over as well to join in with all of the action. He was still soaking wet when he came over and did me the slight pleasure of shaking all of the pool water onto me! I can’t help but pet him though as he comes over to me, dripping wet. He’s so sweet. Syrus walked back over to the agility yard and began to wander around again. When no one was by the pool, he snuck over to take another sip of water before running up to me for some attention. He had his tongue hanging right out as I pet him so you could tell he was enjoying it.