Saturday, February 18, 2017

Storm was happy to meet a couple new huskies today. Boris and Tasha joined us for daycare and they were a quick hit. Tasha was quick to meet up with Storm and begin flirting with him. Storm wasn’t too sure at first but after some sniffing and body bumps he realized Tasha was a lovely lady. The pair danced around for a bit, drawing much attention to themselves. Soon enough Boris was in on the action too. When he came over, Tasha let him and Storm enjoy some time together. Storm and Boris made for great play partners. They are equal in size, which results in some great competitive boxing and wrestling. Boris and Storm were great pals, body checking one another around and leaping all over one another. Their games got very intense at one point, which was when Tasha swooped in to control the young boys. She began putting Boris in his place as usual, which led Storm to understand their playing was a bit much. After settling down, Boris, Tasha, and Storm were happy to follow Koda, Magic, and Justice around on their races around the yard. This husky group was so full of energy it was great fun to watch.

Sophie seems to really enjoy this warm weather. She did much more moving around and exploring today than she has been doing. She had her nose to the ground as she made her way around the yard, attempting to avoid the young ones at all costs. She didn’t succeed at this very well, as Charlotte spotted her from a mile away. Charlotte bee lined it for her sister and began bouncing all over her asking her to pay. This cued Sophie to flee the big yard and make her way into the sunny corner where she could relax with her quiet friend Mylo. Here, Sophie was happy to accept loads of pets and cuddles from me. Charlotte had so much fun today. She is becoming pretty inseparable from her fellow young golden girlfriend, Windy. These two spend endless amounts of time together in the yard. Charlotte loves jumping all over Windy and then when Windy tries to pounce back, she will flop onto her back and begin flailing her limbs around. Charlotte loves playing the submissive one, as she gets away with some naughty behaviour this way. Windy doesn’t mind when Charlotte leaps all over her; in fact she seems to love it. The pair wrestled and ran all around the yard for so long today, until their buddy Jake joined in. Charlotte broke off from Windy to have some one on one time with her bloodhound friend, Jake. Jake too is very tolerant of Charlotte’s silly games. Charlotte loves pulling on Jake’s long ears as well as gnawing on his excess skin. They seem to enjoy doing this to one another actually. Jake loves holding Charlotte's long tail in his mouth as well as grabbing her ears and the hair on her back. Between all their mouthing, they are always sure to wrestle around and get in a couple fast chases around the yard.

Mylo is slowly but surely warming up to all of us. He was happy to follow me down the hall and out into the yard when it was his group time. When he got out into the yard he motored past the other dogs and into the big yard to do some sniffing and exploring. Once Mylo did lots of exploring and settled into his surroundings, he met up with Sophie. Sophie is a lovely older lady who enjoys hanging out with other quiet dogs. They had a good time relaxing in the sun for a while until Mylo showed interest in me. Mylo began to follow me around slowly. When I sat down he came right next to me and offered me a kiss. From here, he was happy to be pet and cuddled. We had such a nice time hanging out in the sun on this beautiful day. After all our one on one time, Mika came over to check Mylo out. They had a good time sniffing one another before it was time to head back indoors for an afternoon nap.
Mylo is gradually getting more and more comfortable with people and places. He loves his kennel, with it's familiar bed and smells and he is starting to explore the yard and connect with our pet activity coordinators. For his extra attention time, he was assigned to someone he wasn't familiar with yet, so Alyssa sat quietly with him and pet his head, neck and back and then let him come over to me, behind the desk, where he got between my legs and the back of the desk so I could pet him some more in a safe, cozy environment. Gradually as the days go by, Mylo will become more and more relaxed with gentle pets and cuddles and lots of things to explore. 

Benji was such a little cuddle bug today in the yard. He started off by saying hello to each of his friends. He was happy to reunite with them after this walk this morning. The first one he said hello to was Rango, and gave him a quick kiss. Everyone then moved to the farther yard where the playing broke out. Rango and Kima were racing around with Coco and Timbits at first but Benji all of a sudden got a huge burst of energy and raced after Kima. Kima stopped and rolled over in the snow and Benji stood there for a second, unsure of what to do next. He decided to come over to see me, where he placed his two front paws on my lap when I crouched down to say hello. He gently kissed my check and I returned the favor with lots of rubs behind his ears. We sat together in the snow while the others raced around and Benji couldn’t have been happier!

Newt and Olive both had a blast today in their groups! Newt spent some time with the little dogs and there were so many fun dogs to play with! First she perused the yard a bit with Teddy and Samson. These three slowly made their way into the far yard where the rest of the dogs were already playing. Newt first looked at me and wanted to come over for some cuddles. It was very cute the way she was playing! She loved Rango and followed him around while Rango chased Kima.  She would run in the line with the others and then as soon as I called her name, she came racing back towards me with a huge smile on her face. She loved getting her ears and bum rubbed! While I rubbed her back, she wiggled her bum back and forth; it was so cute to watch! Each time she went back and played with her friends and then came racing towards me again.

Olive had so much fun with her friends today! Her favorite friend in the yard today was Gunner. These two lovebirds wrestled for most of the time that they were outside. Olive would jump right on Gunner and then run away and he would chase after her. They continued like this for the longest time. Every couple of minutes, they would take a break and just stroll around the yard and see what the other dogs were up to. Olive always went to say hello to Dexter, who was exploring the yard for most of the time. Olive was so tired by the end of her playful group that she stopped to take a quick break and lay down in the snow. I saw her chomp on a few mouthfuls of snow before she got up for one more quick zoom around the yard before heading back inside,
Max found the Jolly-ball in the yard again today and boy was he ever excited! He made sure that he was the first one to find it. Once we got in the yard, Max disappeared into the back corner. I was wondering what he was doing but then he came racing around the corner with the big ball in his mouth. It is so funny to see Max pick it up because every time he does, he has it in his mouth a different way and it is so cute. He was always such a good boy when he brought it back to me. Each time he would run as fast as he could towards me and then come to a full stop and plant his bum on the ground and drop the ball. He and I played with the ball for the entire time he was outside. He only let me cuddle him for a few moments before returning to his favorite toy.

Henry loved all of the new friends that he met today! Dexter was his favorite new friend, and Henry wanted to follow him everywhere he went. In between following Dexter, Henry stopped to play with Molly. Molly was playing with a plastic toy and Henry tried a couple times to get his mouth on the toy at the same time. They both tugged on the toy and Molly got it and zoomed away with it. Henry then pounced over at me, looking for another toy. I didn’t have one on me so I just began to chase him around. He pounced back and forth in front of me, in a playful stance with his bum in the air. I started to play chase but he had lost interest in me and went to go see his doggie friends. He joined in on the big wrestling match with Olive and Gunner for a while, but then he was back to looking for Dexter in the yard. Dexter was on the other side of the fence and Henry was barking at him because he couldn’t get to him. I led Henry to the other side and he bounced up with joy and went over and nudged Dexter to play with him. Dexter protested at first but then chased Henry around for a bit and the two boys had so much fun together.

Molly was absolutely obsessed with the orange rubber Frisbee today. She made sure to keep it with her at all times, in case someone else came along and wanted to play with it. She barked at me a few times to let me know that she wanted to play tug for a bit and so I grabbed a hold of the other side and she tugged on it for a while. After a few seconds, Henry came zooming in from the other yard and grabbed the toy with his mouth too. Molly is very polite though and was happy to share her toy with Henry for a while, but once he let go, she was so happy and she let go too. I threw the toy across the yard and she raced after it. She kept it with her, chewing on it as she laid in the snow. Every few minutes she brought it over for me to throw. Once I threw it and it went over the fence into the next yard and Molly was so anxious to get it back. I went and got it for her and she was leaping up and down, waiting for me to throw it. It was so fun being outside with her today!

Dexter had such a great first day! He spent some time in the staff room when he first arrived while he waited for his walking pals to arrive too. He loved being in the staff room, and got lots of pets from all the staff as they went in and out. On his walk with Boris and Tasha, Dexter sniffed so many good smells and his tail was wagging the entire time. After his walk, his kennel was all set up and he settled in for a quick drink of water. Later on in the morning, he went out for his group and had so much fun! At first he made sure to explore every inch of the yard, making sure to check for new things as he went. He made lots of friends, including Olive, Phoebe and Henry. Olive and Gunner were wrestling around the yard and Dexter thought it looked kind of fun so he joined in for a while. He then came looking for me. I gave him a good bum rub and back scratch and he loved that. His back paws were almost dancing as he was getting his massage, it was so cute! Afterwards, he went back to exploring, which didn’t last long before Henry came over looking to play! He chased Henry around the yard, making sure to say hello to Phoebe too! He was so tired by the end that he happily went back to his kennel for a little nap before his next outing.