Wednesday, October 19th, 2016

Jemma flew out of her kennel, bolted down the hall, and darted out the door the moment I opened her gate. She didn’t hesitate or look back; she knew it was time to get playing. The second she stepped foot in the yard she spotted Mowgli and bee-lined it towards him. Without thinking twice she flew in the air and pounced right on him, demanding the games to begin. Mowgli was not going to deny this request, and instantly toppled over letting Jemma wiggle around on top of it. Mowgli squirmed his way out from underneath miss Jemma, and began mouthing at the back of her neck. Jemma took this as a request to lie down and begin flailing about. As Jemma and Mowgli continued their games, Finnigan spotted the action going on across the yard. Finn is not one to deny any sort of romping around, and was very speedy to make his way towards this pair. Without even sniffing or asking, he pounced right on top of Jemma and joined in on the game. Mowgli and Jemma were more than happy to have Finnigan join in on their session and the duo quickly became a trio. These three are such a busy group of dogs, keeping one another very busy throughout their whole time outdoors. Finnigan and Jemma love to roll around on the ground, mouthing at one another and gently pawing at each other’s faces. Mowgli tends to stand back and bounce around; poking his face in when things die down to get the games started again. Finn and Jemma continued to romp around until a new friend Dani bolted by the, capturing both of their attempting. Finnigan was quick to leap up and zoom after her, with Jemma shortly behind him. They looped around the yard with their ears flapping in the wind, trying there hardest to catch up to the speedy Dani. The shining of a mud puddle in the yard soon interrupted these games. This caught Finnigan’s attention and he zoomed over to it with his eyes glowing. Before I could even say his name he was on his side in the puddle. He began to roll around; flopping left and right, looking much like a fish trying to stay under. Jemma thought his antics were hilarious and began bounding around him, getting her almost as filthy. Jemma’s requests to play got Finnigan up, sending him zooming into the grassy yard where he lay down and rolled all around. As Finnigan was rolling around, Jemma began to pounce all over him and their usual shenanigans started up once again. This pair continued goofing around right until the moment it was time to head indoors. I had to follow the pair around the yard, offering them cookies to follow me indoors. The moment they got in their kennels they both crashed, re-charging their batteries for their next outing.

Dani was very eager to make her way into the playroom for some one-on-one fun this morning. She immediately put her nose down and started to sniff around the room. I brought the toy bin down for her and Dani dove right in! She dug around for a minute or two, so I started to pull out a few different options for her. Dani loved the stuffless fox stuffy, and started to shake it and fling it around the room, running after it every time she let it fly. She played with this toy until I took out a ball and bounced it across the room. Dani took off running after it, but left it on the ground when she reached it. She enjoyed running after it, though, so I threw it as many times as she wanted me to. When she was finished, Dani decided to roll around on the floor, so I gave her a good back scratch when she stood back up. Next, she had another burst of energy and picked up the fox stuffy again. To finish off our time in the playroom, I got a sweet potato treat and Dani showed off her lovely "sit" and "down" for me. She's such a good girl!

Max and Sadie were such a delight to walk this morning. This duo has done wonderful in the mornings getting ready for walks lately. They took no time at all calming down and letting me hook them up. As soon as we got on the trail, they put their noses to the ground and began marching. They didn’t stick to the trail today, rather they weaved left and right ensuring to check out every scent under their paws. They were just as happy to be in the yard this morning too. Sadie was very happy to explore and sniff. She had a couple requests to play, but politely declined so that she could continue venturing around the yard. Max on the other hand was full of beans. He was zooming from dog to dog looking for a mate to play with. Max was thrilled to meet up with Bella and Boris and romp around with them. He asked them to chase him, but this duo was much more interested in boxing and wrestling. He decided that was fine and he joined in on their shenanigans. Max left this duo to introduce himself to the lovely Oakley. He was quite the gentleman with Oakley, politely sniffing her over and giving her nose licks while she stood by my side. He got a brief play out of her, and then made his way back to Bella and Boris who kept him occupied until it was time to head back indoors.

In the yard today Boris was thrilled to meet the lovely Bella. Bella is a regular Wednesday daycare dog that is usually in love with Justice. Bella was just as excited to have Boris, as close to a duplicate of Justice as it gets. This pair instantly hit it off. They were flirting with one another right away, body bumping and kissing each other’s ears, which led to some intense boxing and wrestling. Bella really gave Boris a run for his money, which really surprised Boris. Her strength overpowered him at some points, putting him on his bum, which he was shocked about. Bella was very happy with herself and continued to leap all over him, looking for more and more fun. Boris was more then happy to give in to her games and box around with her. Boris and Bella were very happy to be joined by Max, who took their games to the next level. Their boxing and wrestling briefly turned into a fast paced race around the yard. Boris was happy to put a halt to this by slamming on the breaks causing Bella to roll right into him. Max then toppled over the pair as well, leading them into another wrestling match. The pair kept each other very busy for their whole time outdoors, only taking breaks to get some pats from me. Bella was very happy to sit on the picnic table with me at the end of groups and give me a bunch of kisses while Boris went to check up on Tasha. Today Tasha was a little more laid back in the yard. She darted in and out of a couple games, but never committed to one dog. She was happy to watch Boris have so much fun, but was even happier sitting by my side on the picnic table enjoying the sun. Tasha loves kissing me when I snuggle her, and today was no exception. She is a great dog to keep me company, while supervising all the crazy young ones goof around.

Tasha and Boris were wonderful dogs to spend extra attention time with this morning. They are usually very rowdy, constantly wrestling and playing, however today they were much more laid back. All Tasha wanted to do was sit with me in the chair and snuggle up while Boris was very occupied by toys and bones in the room. I alternated cuddling with Tasha and playing tug with Boris. When I was cuddling Tasha at one point, Boris pounced on me and the pair began to maul me with kisses. It wasn’t the worst situation to be in, although the end of it I was covered in their goober. The pair finally let me come up for air, taking off to check out the window and what was going on out in the yard. At one point it looked like they were looking at their own reflections in the window, thinking about how good-looking they are.

Tasha was an excellent walking partner for our training session today. She walked politely by my side and kept an eye on where I was going, knowing that I am prone to sudden turns and changes in directions, which is my way of keeping her attention focused on me. We stayed outside on this beautiful afternoon enjoying a our walk, with frequent chances to "go sniff," which Tasha enjoyed almost as much as the treats she received occasionally. We then moved to the lounge, where Tasha showed me how it was done on the place board. She couldn't quite believed she had to stay in place for as long as I asked her to, but she did it for me anyway and for that she got lots of yummy rewards.

Boris was working on the ecollar today and boy does he know his stuff. He rocked his recall and basic obedience and was so good, I thought it might be fun to try some distance downs. He was on the long line, so when I was a good distance away, I asked him to down. I was so impressed when he understood the down out of the regular context (he especially seems to like being right at your feet and curling into a comfy down most of the time). We practiced a couple of times and then I discovered I was out of treats, so I decided to see if he could stay in his down while I briefly went around the corner to get another handful. And he almost made it! I asked him to down again and sure enough, he got it and waited until I came back. I had brought him an especially big and yummy treat and he deserved it after so much hard work. 

Oakley had yet another busy Wednesday with us! These last two Wednesdays Oakley has been much more active than usual. Today, she didn’t take as much initiative as last week, however she played just as much. Her group mates spent a lot more time begging her to play than she would have liked, but she politely gave in and played around with the crazy hooligans. Oakley liked the attention Max, Boris, and Bella gave her. They all requested to play with her by pawing at her, then running away. After declining, and then asking again, she gave in and zoomed around with them with her bum tucked and ears back. She looped around the yard, making her way back to my side as fast as possible. Her pals weren’t going to let up asking her once again to join in. Oakley finally fully gave in and briefly wrestled around with Max, who was such a gentleman. The pair then began to kiss and cuddle right by my side, occupying both my hands with pats and scratches. Oakley was then happy to follow me around for the remainder of groups, nudging at me to continue petting her. She propped her self up next to me on the picnic table, resting her chin on my shoulder and then offering me lots of wet kisses. We enjoyed sitting in the sun with group-mate Tasha, watching their friends play around in the yard.

Maya and Makayla had a fun-filled day enjoyed with new and old friends. After their morning trail walk it was off to socialize with old pals Tycho and Lucy. They seem to pair up as Makayla enjoys Tycho’s energetic personality while Maya gets along with Lucy’s gentle demeanor. During afternoon groups we decided to switch things up and they were joined by some of our regular daycare guests including Kyah, Charlotte and Vega. They were amused by this groups energy as they ran circles around them playing fetch with the Frisbee and jumping up and down from the agility tunnel. Maya the sweet girl made her rounds in the yard making sure to sniff out and say hello to all of her new friends. She always made sure to make a quick stop at my feet for some extra head rubs. Makayla, on the other hand, was more interested in what the others were doing and her eyes followed them back and forth and would often join in the chase a few feet behind. They must have enjoyed themselves because this afternoon I saw them sprawled out on their beds having a nice afternoon nap!

There were lots of little friends out in the small dog yard for Amber and Iris to play with today! Every day I feel that Amber is starting to come out of her comfort zone, especially when she gets to see some of the regulars. Although she tends to stay close to her older sister Iris for comfort, I will often catch her sniffing around the yard by herself. All of the other guests are always very interested in Amber and will come over to say hello. Amber will confidently let them give her a sniff and she will politely say hello back. Little Resa was especially interested in Amber and invited her to chase her but Amber preferred to watch the chase action from a distance. Iris on the other hand is fully confident out in that yard and is especially interested in extra hugs and attention. Today I had her rolling around on her back as I gave her some belly rubs. I like to think of little Iris as the referee of the group; when the others are getting just a little bit too rowdy she will run over and give them all a big bark. She can’t have them interrupting her belly rub time!

Indi and Tobin have become such great friends over these past couple of weeks since they often get to share outdoor playtime and trail walks together. Tobin the big gentleman loves Indi’s energetic personality and she really entices him to play and brings out the energy in him. Indi is such a confident girl and is truly loved by everyone out in the yard. She is quite the curious girl as well since she needs to sniff out every inch of that yard before she will commit to playtime. She will do the same every time we let her out of her kennel, she has to make a lap around the hallway to say hello to everyone and perhaps take a look to see if there was any fallen kibbles! After a few laps around the yard she was ready to play so she happily ran over to Tobin for a quick wrestle. I could see the excitement in Tobin’s bum as he started to vibrate back and forth as he followed Indi around.

Rex was excited to find two different Frisbee’s out in the yard today because that meant a good game of fetch was in order. He was joined by Jax the retriever who was just as excited as he was. Rex could hardly wait for me to throw it for him; up he would jump impatiently on his hind legs as if he was telling me to hurry up. Off he would go chase it and this would entice the others to follow suit. Jax the big smiling man would love to chase after Rex but actually wasn’t that interested in the Frisbee itself, I think he just loved to be part of the action as most retrievers do. Speaking of retrievers I would often find Jax alongside Charlie at my feet looking for some extra love. These two lovable guys would follow me everywhere and look up at me with those big puppy dog eyes, how could I resist! Rex was too busy too care for extra attention, there was too much going on and friends to visit and he had to make the most of his time. Rex’ handsome older brother Fez was a busy man himself as he made his usual rounds of the yard. He also just couldn’t resist the mud puddle much like yesterday but at least today he didn’t have a full-on lye down but rather just got his feet wet! I think the best part of his day is the one on one trail walk he gets in the morning. He can hardly wait to spring out of his kennel and out into the fresh air always with a great big smile on his face.

Jax and I decided to enjoy our one-on-one time out on the long line to start with. It was such a great day in every way and having Jax sit cuddled right up beside me loving every minute of his pets and cuddles was icing on the cake. I encouraged him to have a sniff around but it wasn't long before he was back by my side. So sweet :) For the second half of our time together we went inside so that Jax could explore the toy box and it didn't take him long to pick out a bone. He walked around proudly with his new treasure and I could see that he wanted to take it back to his kennel for a good chew. When our one-on-one time was over, I made sure he had the bone and he was very happy to get some me time with it. 

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Last but certainly not least, Ranger and Kaos joined the others out in the yard. As usual Kaos is a favorite amongst the other guests and today was no different. Everyone ran over to say hello and Kaos like the sweet girl she is got on the ground and let everyone give her a nice sniff. She enjoyed seeing so many new faces today and for such a big girl, she is definitely very gentle and welcoming to anyone who comes her way. I could tell that she just wanted to run today and let her energy out, you could find her running circles around the yard with her big cheeks flapping in the wind. She led the great chase as everyone followed closely behind her! Ranger another special daycare friend was just happy to be surrounded by so many furry friends. He is another gentle giant that always has a great big smile on his face; it’s a lab thing. He made his usual rounds of the yard but made sure to stay close to the pack so he could also see what was going on. I can’t help myself but go over to him for some big wet kisses from this sweet and gentle boy.