Wednesday, December 28th, 2016

Harlow and Rumple are such a pleasure to spend extra time with. Harlow is an absolute hoot. He is so easy to please, and he entertains himself very much so too. The moment he saw me enter the room he knew it was time to play. Harlow loves playing with our rope on a stick. He has very impressive jumping abilities, leaping several feet in the air to catch the feather at the end of the rope. After lots of playing with this toy, he  switched over to a ball. Harlow accidentally pushed the red ball under the door frame and ended up pawing around at the gap until Kinsey walked by and pushed it back under. To him this was a magic trick. After some more ball fun, Harlow was re-united with his favourite toy; the bag of cat nip. He goes absolutely bananas for this. We had a great time tossing this back and forth until he was distracted by Rumple waking up to stretch. Harlow leaped across the room into Rumple's condo to greet him. Rumple wasn't too pleased with the rude interruption from his cat nap, swatting his brother away. Harlow took the hint and went back to playing while Rumple enjoyed some cuddles and scratches behind his ears. I was happy to keep Rumple company while Harlow continued to entertain himself. Rumple is a big fan of the comfy bed we prepared him, which he only leaves if it is mandatory.

Kouza was quite perky and bright early this morning when I approached her kennel door for her first outing; she gave me that clever grin of hers with a tilt of her head to say hello! A little bit later, Kouza joined me on a special one-on-one walk out front where she took her time exploring, often burying her head right into the snow. Instead of going back, Kouza spent the rest of her morning up front with me for her extra attention time. Kouza has a strong sense of smell and she must have smelt something yummy behind the chair because she was determined to see what was under there and squeezed her little body through the crack. I finally enticed her back out and she happily sat by my feet for some head rubs. Shortly after, Jax the bulldog made his way up to the front as well and the two of them had fun sniffing out the toy bin together to see if there was anything interesting. It was a busy morning for Kouza; next up was her group outing and she was thrilled to get back outside, especially with that bright sun shining down on this crisp day. While most of the small dogs were running laps in the far field, Kouza spent her time sniffing the snow alongside good pal Julie. I couldn’t resist taking a seat beside Kouza again for some love - she was quite cuddly this morning, but when isn’t she!

I loved seeing Jax’s smiling face first thing this morning; this beautiful Golden boy always carries that great big grin on his face and is such a fun-loving boy! Jax was ready to hit the snow to play with some of his favourite friends including fellow ball-obsessed Golden Molly, but today he thought he was seeing double because little Charly, another Golden very similar to Molly joined his group! To no surprise the three of them were glued at the hip and boy did they bark and play and roll around in the snow together. Jax was easily distracted by best Husky pal Kyah who was trying to get his attention from the moment they got outside. The two of them jumped up onto their hind legs and did a little tango before Justice another resident Husky stole Kyah away but this led to the great chase around the yard. Justice and Kyah were in the lead with Jax and the Golden girls not far behind. Next stop was the agility tunnel where everyone huddled around at their favourite meeting spot and wrestled the morning away; just by looking at Jax face you could see how much fun he was having with his gang!

Finnigan, our fun-loving daycare guest, was in this morning and ready to play his day away! He was very happy to see Boris and Tasha again because he had so much fun wrestling around with them last time and of course he had his best fetch pal Charly by his side most of the morning as well. Finn’s time outside consisted mostly of stalking Charly since she had his favourite red ball in her mouth as he impatiently waited for her to drop it. Back and forth they took turns carrying the ball around in their mouths until the other snatched it back! There wasn’t much ball-time however since frisky Boris was in this group and he couldn’t be bothered to play with the ball; he wanted to run laps and get everyone to chase him! Well Finn couldn’t resist a good chase and neither could Tasha. Off they went speeding around the yard like maniacs having the best time! Tasha’s attention was then distracted when she saw her favourite little Golden girl Merida, the odd couple as I like to refer to them, but they love a good wrestle together and Merida can definitely hold her own against silly Tasha. While Finn and Charly were busy with the red ball and Tasha was playing with Merida, Boris was making friends with Syrus another handsome Husky friend. Syrus loved having the attention of another male and that meant that the two of them could have some boy fun and play a little rough but all in good fun of course! Although everyone was mostly paired off for the morning, at one point everyone was chasing Boris and Syrus around the yard and they all had a massive wrestle and even little Merida took the opportunity to play with big Syrus and he just loved that. What a fun and playful group!

Jax the Bulldog was ready to go when it was time for his walk and extra attention. After his short walk we made our way to the front room. Jax looked around then decide to sit and see if anyone would offer him anything to eat. When I told him he couldn’t have anything he was okay with moving onto the toy basket. We went rooting through it until we found a ball. Jax was thrilled and went chasing after it when I gave it a toss. We didn’t end up playing ball for long as Jaz quickly decided it was cuddle time and made his way over to me to demand love and attention. He even gave me some kisses. A little while later it was time for Jax’s group. He went marching outside and took in his surroundings. Jax took a few steps then turned and waited for me. We made our way further into the yard. Jax then came across a section with some super yummy ice chunks. He proceeded to try and gnaw some chunks off so he could chew on them. Eventually he was distracted from the ice when he spotted the ball a couple feet in front of him. Jax marched his way over and started to mouth the ball. He then picked it up and started to head my way. I met him half way. I crouched down and soon we had a nice little game of tug-o-war going on. Cara noticed our antics and came running over to see what was going on. She then waited around impatiently for Jax to give up his ball. Brodie ended up coming over as well, though he didn’t stick around long. Next thing I know Jax and Cara are side by side starting at me, barking and waiting for me to throw the ball. Of course Jax won’t actually let me take the ball, so we were at a bit of an impasse.

 Cara and Brodie were happy to head out for their group time. The two of them immediately set out and put their noses to the ground, in search of something interesting. Cara and Brodie went around the main yard together, before Brodie left the snow to explore in the grass that had become exposed from the warm day a couple days ago. When he finished with that Brodie decided to make his way out to the far yard to do some more exploring out there. Cara took a few more minutes to finish checking out the main yard before trotting out after her brother.  Brodie finally lifted his nose from the snow and spent some time staring intently beyond the fence. Cara still had her nose to the ground, only now she was rubbing it against the snow instead of sniffing things. It wasn’t long before the rest of her body followed her nose. She was having a blast rolling around in the snow. Cara only stopped when Jake came over to see what she was up to. Before he had even left she was back to rolling. Finally Cara finished and went trotting off to see what Brodie was looking at over by the tunnel. Brodie then went to go and explore more of the yard. Cara started to tag along, but then changed her mind. She was feeling sassy and started to bounce around and bark at me. It wasn’t long before she was chasing my feet as I ran around with her. Brodie ignored our antics and continued on exploring. Cara’s attention was stolen from me when she noticed Jax and his ball. We both headed over and soon Cara was trying to get him to play with her while still managing to sass talk me. Brodie made his way over wondering what his sister was up to now. He watched for a while, before deciding he didn’t need to be involved and went to do some more exploring.  Brodie then found himself being asked to play by Jake. They bounced around a bit then took off running. Cara teamed up with Jax and then I had both of them barking at me about the ball. Her attention was broken though when she noticed Brodie and Jake playing. She went over to see Jake and started to bounce around with him as well.

Duke went charging out to the agility yard. He made his way all the way over to the far part of the yard then came running back to see where I was. Once Duke had established I was on my way, albeit a bit slower, he went trotting off again. He stopped along the way to check out things that caught his attention. Eventually Duke was back in the far part of the yard. He made his way over to the fence where he spent some time staring out between the crack. When nothing proved overly interesting on the other side Duke went to see what Maggie was up to.  They then spent some time exploring in the snow and sampling some ice chunks. Duke finished with Maggie and went trotting off once more. He soon found his way over to me and demanded all the love and attention I could give him. Duke was especially fond of the bum scratches. Satisfied, Duke made his way over to the icier section of the yard where he attempted to gnaw off a good size ice chunk.  He didn’t have much luck, but I think he enjoyed trying. Duke then went running off to do some more exploring around the yard. He eventually met up with Gryphon. It took about two seconds before the two of them were off wrestling. Duke had a great time during his extra attention today. He followed me to the playroom and ran into the room with excitement. He galloped around and checked out all of the toys laying on the floor and the toys that were in a bucket. He pounced on a red Frisbee, and ran around the room with it in his mouth. He looked like he was waving the Frisbee in the air. I left the room for a second to grab some treats for Duke, and when I came back he was sitting on the couch waiting for me. I came and sat beside him. I think he could smell the yummy treats in my pocket, because he was staring at me intensely with his ears up. I gave him a treat and he happily crunched on it. After, he ran around the room again and picked up a rope toy. I grabbed onto one end of it and we played a bit of tug of war. To end of our time together, Duke snuggled onto the couch with me for a cuddle. He flopped onto his back and showed me his belly. I gave him lots of scratches. Whenever I would scratch his chest, he enjoyed it so much that he would kick his leg super fast.

Maggie was quick to make her way over to the far part of the yard. She immediately put her face to the ground and was off in search of something. Maggie soon found that something, which was apparently extra appetizing ice. She had a great time scratching at it until there were enough shavings to lick up and chew on.  Maggie caught the eye of a couple of the other dogs that were curious about what she was up to. First Tonka and then Duke made their way over to see what she was up to before settling in to do it themselves. The boys eventually moved on, but Maggie was content to stay were she was, for a little while longer anyways. She did eventually decided to head out and explore more of the yard, seeing if there were any more good ice sections.  When Maggie spotted me, she took a break from exploring to come over and get some pets and cuddles. This soon got her feeling a little frisky and she went bouncing off before throwing herself to the ground to start rolling in the snow. When she finished Maggie got up and headed back out to explore more of the yard and see about anymore good rolling spots. She managed to find a couple.