Monday, March 20th, 2017

Sam had a lot of fun outdoors today. This spring weather is so nice for running and playing. She loves hanging out with her husky pals no matter what shenanigans they’re up to. Today, Justice and Kyah were very focused on fetch which kept Sam moving. She loved racing after the ball with them, but never tried to snatch it. She mostly enjoyed the chase and the fast action. She did a lot of laps around the yard with Justice and Kyah trying her hardest to compete with them. She was really pleased when Magic darted over to check Sam out. Magic and Sam had lots of boxing around. They make a good pair, tossing paws back and forth while romping through the snow. Sam was very intrigued by Magic as she looped in and out of the tunnel, which encouraged the other huskies to join in too. Soon enough Sam had three huskies looping over and through the tunnel and she tried her hardest to keep a close eye on all of them. She stayed very busy for her whole outdoor time, running around with her friends and cuddling with me. Sam and I spent some time together this afternoon and she is just the sweetest. She sat like a good girl for a few treats and explored around the reception area. She enjoyed chasing after a tennis ball and thoroughly sniffed the big stuffed bunny on the floor. Sam came and settled down in front of me for some good bum scratches.

Max and Sadie had so much fun with me in the yard today. I should really say they had so much fun with the blue chuck it ball. They kept so busy for their entire duration of outdoor time playing with it. Sadie was a big fan of playing fetch. She was so agile, bolting across the yard weaving around the boulders and her brother Max to get to the ball. Sadie and I had a lot of fun tossing the ball back and forth. Max wasn’t too far behind on getting involved. Of course, he tried his hardest to get it from Sadie however she did a pretty good job of playing keep away. They ended up wrestling all around in the snow, briefly forgetting about the ball. It wasn’t long after this that Max spotted it rolling away and pounced on it, then returned to me. I had good fun laying a couple rounds of fetch with him while Sadie relaxed in the snow. After this I sat down by Sadie offering her some pats and cuddles. Max joined us and we had a good team snuggle before returning indoors.

Max and Sadie joined Kinsey and I in the reception area today for their training session. The reception area has plenty of distractions in the form of doors, dogs, and people so it was the perfect place to challenge Max and Sadie. Both dogs know the basics and do very well when asked to stay on their beds in "place." Initially Sadie had a harder time focusing on Kinsey instead of me, but with lots of positive reinforcement, she soon realized who would be rewarding her. Some of the variations we tried were turning our backs, walking around, going close to the door, but both Max and Sadie were up for the challenge! We then asked them to "break" separately and wow, they did it every time! Our goal is to get them to "go to place" from a distance so we will be working on that this week as well. 

After working on place, we did some puppy push-ups, asking Max and Sadie to "down" and "sit" in quick succession. They both did great even though we did not reward them during the pushups, only when they were done and had been released. 

I took Sadie back to her kennel and came back to the reception area to work on Max's reactivity with other dogs. While I asked Max to lay on his bed, Kinsey went to get Ricky. We chose Ricky because he can be a little exciteable and becomes quite vocal. As predicted, Max got quite worked up when he heard Ricky on the other side of the door and I had to correct him at first. He was ok to lay down with Ricky now in the same room, but he couldn't release his focus on the other dog. I moved him to the other side of the room and finally got him to watch me instead by asking him to lay down facing the opposite direction. He tried to look past me, but when I asked him to "watch me," it seemed like the spell was broken and he was willing to maintain eye contact with me instead. He got lots of praise and rewards for that! 

Chloe had a lot of fun in the small dog yard with her favourite toy the Jolly Ball as well as a nice new blue rubber ball. She was very surprised to have some strong competition for both toys. Competition keeps Chloe on her toes and very active. She was first battling it out with Chloe for the Jolly Ball, pawing it back and forth and running in circles around one another. Chloe was proud to be the winner of the fun game and paraded around the yard showing it off. It wasn’t long after this that she spotted Tucker running around after the blue rubber ball. She diverted her attention from the Jolly Ball to get ah old of the rubber ball. She chased Tucker around the ball trying her hardest to get it but Tucker wasn’t going to give up. After a request from me to “drop” the ball, Tucker gave it up. As I launched it across the yard, Tucker beat Chloe to it a couple of times. She was shocked y this, however she continued to try and get it. Lot of hard work paid off as she finally did get a hold of the ball. She spent the rest of her outdoor time running around with the ball in her mouth saying hello to her friends an sniffing the yard.

Georgia had another fun day at daycare. She sure does keep herself busy when she’s here. She spent her whole walk flying in circles around me. She was so interested in all the smells along the trail as well as every tree and bush along the path. Her walking mates were confused by her eager moves while they marched ahead on the path. In the yard, Georgia was up to much of the same business. She didn’t stay still for longer than one second. Georgia zipped and zoomed around the yard from dog to dog and toy to toy investigating and checking everything out. She as happy when she met up with Molly the Bernadoodle, who is also an eager outgoing pup. They made for a good pair, play bowing back and forth and then boxing all around the yard. While Georgia was playing with Molly she met Marley who was keen to goof around too. She left Molly to dance with Marley and then took off on her own for some speedy laps around the yard. Georgia kept very busy with her friends and on her own all day outside.

I was thrilled to see Keegan’s sweet face bright and early this morning, he excitedly greeted me at his kennel door for his first outing and leaped out the door to take in the cool fresh air. After a morning outing, he was ready to gear up for his trail walk, his favourite part of the day! Today he was joined by buddies Juliette and Benson and they made the perfect walking trio. Little Keegan led the way, he may be little but he has a strong nose and loves being the leader of the pack! A quick rest later and he was ready to go again, this time with all of his favourite four-legged friends out in the yard for a morning of play. We all know how much Keegan loves to cuddle and he spent most his time wrapped between my legs for extra head rubs alongside little Xiao Bao. But he is also a curious boy and enjoys running around and sniffing out the yard with his little pals. Kouza was very happy with the warmer weather. She really enjoyed her morning walk down the driveway this morning and made sure to stop every foot or so to sniff out the new smells from the melting snow. After her walk, she spent some time up front in the reception area with us for her extra attention session. Again she spent most of her time curiously sniffing out her surroundings and making sure to really get a good sniff of the toy box to see if their were any new special treasure she could find.

Sophie surprised me today with her endless amounts of energy and love for the red Frisbee. She was in a group with fellow fetch-loving Goldens Charly and Molly so when I came out to entice them with the Frisbee, Sophie was the first one to jump up and try to immediately snatch it out of my hands! She caught me off-guard because I didn’t realize just how much she herself loved to play fetch! Well Sophie was just thrilled to prance around with the Frisbee in her mouth and wouldn’t dare let the younger ones steal it away from her, not this time! But she couldn’t fend off the jaws of silly daycare pal Finn, another toy loving friend. Finn was ecstatic when he stole it away but he soon realized that Molly was on the hunt for it as well, she let Sophie have her turn but no way she was going to let the young ones steal her thunder! This soon turned into an epic tug of war battle between Finn and Molly. Both stubborn, neither would let go of the other end, and this could have gone on for hours if I let them. Finn finally pulled it away, but with this he had to pay the price, endlessly he had to fend off the others who were just lurking behind his back just waiting for him to drop it, Finn was up for the challenge!

While Sophie and Finn were having a fetching time, Tanner was off leaping around the yard trying to outrun Piper who was hot on his trail. Must have been something in the air, because much like Sophie, Tanner was full of beans today, age had nothing on these two today that’s for sure! He was catching some fantastic air this morning, I think he was leaping more then he was walking! And of course always wanting to get in between my feet for cuddles. Every so often Tanner would peak his head between my legs and say hello! What a fun group it was today, Spring is definitely in the air and our four-legged guests can feel it!