Wednesday, January 11th, 2017

Boris was the life of the party today. He is always so excited to meet new faces and play with any dog he can. What made me laugh the most today was when he tried to get Lexi, one of our senior but puppy at heart dogs to play. Lexi was happy to have his attention and she briefly danced around with him. After I called him off the older lady, he met right up with his pal Bella for some more intense fun and games. Soon enough Bella had her boys Boris and Justice racing after her. Boris was hot on her heels, leaping over the tunnel and zooming around the yard for her. Their games were nothing short of entertaining to watch. Boris loves to play very rough with all his friends, and loves it even more if they play rough back. He was happy to have Bella, and was also keen to meet up with Oakley. Later on, Boris got Kyah and Tasha going too. His is such a spunky boy it is lovely to have him here to get all his group-mates playing.

Tasha was keen to get here and head straight out for her walk. Tasha is always the leader of her walk no matter who is accompanying her along the trail. She did a great job pulling me through the sticky snow, which I was actually appreciative of today. In the yard, Tasha was quick to get out the doors and greet all the dogs outside with her. After saying her quick hellos, Tasha made her way around the yard with her nose to the ground. She was extra interested in the perimeter of the yard, digging to investigate the smells beneath the snow. Later on when she noticed Boris playing around, she left her sniffing and exploring to put him in his place as usual. Boris really didn’t listen to her, which only got her going more. Next thing I knew, Tasha had intense zoomies and was bolting in circles around the yard. Tasha got lots of her playmates racing around with her, including Boris. She split off from the main games to play one on one with Boris and then her new friend Oakley. Tasha was very happy with her day, overall.

I was so excited to get in this morning and see that Kai is spending some time with us. She is an absolute lovely lady. I had a great morning walk with Kai, along with two other friends. She stuck by my side most of the time, straying off the trail to sniff and explore occasionally. In the yard, Kai was so excited to see so many outgoing playful dogs. Kai instantly began bouncing around, looking for someone to play with her. Lots of dogs were very interested in her outgoing personality and gave her a brief dance. She was super excited to have young Finnigan give her the time of day. These two danced around and rolled in the snow for a while before Kyah stood right between them looking for some attention. Kai was happy to part ways with Finn to do some interacting with Kyah. These two were funny, walking in circles sniffing each other over and over until Kyah gently pawed at Kai. The pair awkwardly danced in a circle before Kai took off to do some exploring. While she was investigating the yard she decided the snow was perfect for a bath. She rolled around in the wet snow, enjoying every ounce of this sunny, mild day. From here, she rolled onto her belly and lay around watching all her friends play, happily accepting the occasional pets from me. Kai and I spent some time together in the playroom during her one-on-one time this afternoon. She was very interested in what I might have hidden in my pocket, so I put a few of the treats I was carrying into a Kong. Kai kept very busy rolling the Kong across the floor to reveal the yummy treats inside. Once she’d gotten all of those, I asked Kai to sit and shake a paw for the remaining treats. We then spent some time together hanging out on the couch. She really likes all of the pets and attention that you can give, so we hung out together until it was time to head back to her kennel.

Oakley never fails to put a smile on my face. I look forward to Wednesdays because I know she will be in. Today Oakley was happy to wiggle her way into the back with me and get comfortable in a kennel. She was very happy to see that I provided her with a very cushiony cloud bed. We had a nice morning walk with two other dogs along the back trail. This mild weather brings out so many smells, leading to her nose being glued to the ground for the whole walk. In the yard today Oakley was fired up. I have never seen her so playful! Of course she was excited to see her best buddy, Kyah. This pair had their usual, awkward, encounter; sitting next to one another licking and sniffing each other’s faces before gently pawing at one another. This only lead to more intense games on the tunnel. Their tunnel shenanigans drew the attention of young Boris, who was intrigued by Oakley. Boris never takes no for an answer which Oakley caught on to, and their games lasted a while. I had a good laugh watching Oakley bounce around with this handsome boy, swatting at him up on her hind legs. The pair made for awesome good games, which soon lead to more games with other huskies. Oakley was very excited to be involved in so many activities today. Of course, she took time away from her friends to get pets and cuddles from me. At the end of outdoor time, she assumed a comfortable position in the warm sun lying on the ground watching her mates goof around.

Bella couldn’t have had more fun today. She was beyond thrilled to have BOTH of her husky boyfriends in her group. When she got outside and spotted them across the yard, her eyes lit up with pure joy and excitement. She took no time at all to zoom full speed across the yard and pounce full force right on Justice. Justice was a little shocked at first but quickly realized his best buddy just wanted to play. Bella let him know by swatting at him over and over and licking his ears and face. Justice replied by play bowing and howling at her. This only set Bella off, sending her full speed across the yard. Justice was hot on her heels and quickly ended up leading the chase. Bella sprinted after him full speed, soon accompanied by Boris and Kyah. They raced around the yard with their tongues hanging out for a while until Boris decided to pull Bella aside and have some one on one fun. Bella was thrilled to box and wrestle with Boris and then return to Justice for some more fun with him. Bella was sure to greet each dog in between her games with the huskies. She was also sure to give me some pets and cuddles, however, nothing was as appealing as games with her two boyfriends.

What does a day in the life of Max and Sadie entail you might wonder? Well these two spoiled daycare pups always start their morning off right with a long trail walk, their absolute favourite part of the morning! Long limbs and perky tails is all I can see as they take the lead in front of me, trotting through the sparkling snow. A quick rest inside before they are whisked away again into the yard for some much need play-time; but not before they show me how pretty they look when they sit patiently. Well as patient as they can be, you can still see their whole bodies vibrate in excitement just anxiously waiting for me to give them the go ahead. Off they go springing into the yard and straight to their usual laps around the yard to burn off even more energy believe it or not! The rest of their morning is spent wrestling, jumping on and off the picnic table, chasing one another across the yard like speed demons and catching some air as they fly into the air after the ball. Another quick rest, then its time to do it all over again, and they play and run as if it’s the first time all over again!

Monkey was surprised to see that he didn’t need his ski-jacket on this morning; it was quite the mild morning and perhaps brought out some “spring-fever” in Monkey who started zooming around the yard the first chance he got. I am not surprised, there is a silly playful pup in Monkey that often comes out, and I get to see that side of him the longer he visits with us. He tries to act all reserved at times, but he can’t help his need to play and this is seen as he zips across the yard when out with his group. He is usually quiet the first few moments of group, but then out of no where he leaps and bounds so fast that his hind legs catch up with his front as he weaves in and out of his friends. Everyone stops what they are doing as they watch Monkey zip around and this entices the group to chase him, just as he planned! A few plays with little Charly and Tag later and he is pooped! Monkey joined me in the playroom for some one-on-one time this afternoon. He wasn’t quite sure what he wanted to do first, so I helped him out and offered him a Kong with some treats hidden inside. He spent some time nosing the toy around on the floor, trying to loosen the treats from its hold. Monkey gobbled up each little cookie as it rolled out onto the floor. Once he was sure all of the treats were gone, Monkey went over to the toy bin to see what treasures lay inside. He found a ball that he particularly liked, and nosed it around until I went over and picked it up. I threw the ball across the room and Monkey ran over as fast as he could to catch it. He didn’t pick it up, but seemed to really enjoy chasing it, so I threw it again. Monkey chased that ball as many times as I would throw it for him, though he never wanted to actually bring it back to me! He’s so silly. We spent the remainder of our time together hanging out while he chewed on a bone that he found in the toy bin.

Finnigan decided that he would like to spend his day in the staff room today; as we led him down the hall upon arrival, he jumped up on the door for us to let him in, spoiled or what! Finn was so happy to see staff dog and best friend Charly there and they played as if it was the first time meeting! The playing continued outside but Finn was distracted when he saw his favourite “older-brother” Jake, Finn zoomed over as if he struck gold and thought those long floppy ears looked extra delicious today. Finn spent a good chunk of his morning hanging off this big goofy fella until Golden Molly took his attention away. Hey she looks just like pal Charly he thought; sorry Charly, you have been replaced! Next up was a good old fashioned wrestling match with Molly with Charly hot on their trail eager to join in. To no surprise, Finn spent most of the morning outside just rotating through groups until we were able to finally catch him, jokes on us!

It was such a fun and playful group with Percy and Hudson to end the morning rotations. Percy was happy to be back and ready to get back in his usual daycare routine. That meant a lot of herding, singing and ball catching to make up for lost time over the holidays! Percy sniffed that yard from top to bottom but there was no ball to be found so we decided to have a game of snowballs! The warmer weather made the snow perfect for packing so Percy spent his morning jumping into the air after them. He was confused to see that they disappeared after they hit the ground, but lucky for him I had an endless supply of snow! Hudson was a busy bee this morning running around and playing with friends. He is such a lovable and social dog that he fit right in with this group. He found companionship with Oakley and Barley and wasted no time getting frisky with his newfound friends. Oakley and Hudson were literally inseparable; they were rolling around together in the snow and all you could see was black and brown fur intertwined with the odd glimpse of some pearly whites as they playfully chomped down on one another. Needless to say, I think Hudson had a pretty good start to his visit and this is only the beginning, lots more fun to be had when this silly pup is around.