Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Kai is always the happiest girl! She flashed her best smile for me as I approached her kennel with leashes in my hands. She loves walk time, and today was certainly a beautiful day for it! She kept her nose down, sniffing along the longer grass at the trail’s edge. Kai would stop to sniff, and when she noticed her walking buddies and I continuing to walk forwards, she would pounce ahead and run to catch up. Kai stopped to roll around a few times, of course, before we made it back to her kennel. A little bit later during group time, Kai met some new friendly faces in the yard! She was greeted by a young German Shepherd named Ammo, as well as a couple of other buddies. I stopped to give Kai a back scratch and she happily stood by my side while the other dogs zoomed around us. She wasn’t sure she was ready to join in, until Ammo play-bowed to her. Kai had a little burst of energy and ran around for a moment. I jogged over to the agility jump and Kai followed me, excited to see what I was up to. After a little bit of coaxing, Kai jumped over and I gave her a treat! She jumped back and forth over the bar a few more times, showing off her skills. It was lovely to spend time with such a sweet, fun girl! Later in the day, after a couple of group outings, Kai and I went to explore in the forest. She absolutely loves our trail walks, and today was no exception. We went down to the creek, where Kai found a good spot to roll. She almost rolled all the way down the creek bank, but luckily stopped herself before reaching the water! We walked leisurely through the woods, enjoying the beautiful day.

It was so great to meet our new friend, Ammo today! He was eager to participate in his group time and his walk over the course of the day. He started out on a trail walk with his daycare friends Issy and Mocha, led by Nicki. I watched as I walked along behind them, and Ammo spent his whole walk time bouncing back and forth between sniffing along the trail and asking Issy the husky to play! He went into full play mode when we entered the yard for group time later in the morning. He met up with a young husky named Icarus, who matched his energy level and personality perfectly. They raced around the yard together, zig zagging around the tunnel, the pool and the other dogs. Eventually, Ammo had all of the dogs in his group playing a big game of chase around the yard, with him in the lead. He only stopped running so that he could dip his paws in the pool and play with the hose that I was holding. Ammo is such a goofy guy and had a great first day with us!

It was a great daycare day for our friends Tanner and Percy. Tan Man was in a good mood, as usual, and pounced his way around to say hello to his friends, old and new. Percy started off the same way, but quickly found a ball and scooped it up. As Percy ran around with his prize, Tanner bumped into Ammo the Shepherd puppy, who immediately asked him to play! Tanner play-bowed and pawed at his new friend, and they took off running around the agility tunnel. Percy noticed the group starting to race around and flew across the yard to join in, with his toy still in his mouth. Percy went back and forth through the agility tunnel and barked happily as he bounced along with his friends. Once Tanner had done a few laps, he slowed things down and came to sit at my side for some pets and attention, while Percy continued his shenanigans.

April loves to be outside! We went for a walk around the trail shortly after April arrived this morning, alongside two other dogs. April marched along at a good pace, following her nose and watching the dogs ahead of us. Later on, April was as eager as ever to head out into the yard for group time. She immediately went to dip her nose in the cool pool water before saying hello to a few friends. She spent her outing roaming around the yard and and enjoying the day. Since it was such a nice day out, for April’s extra attention we spent some more time outside. April was thrilled to be back out on the trail exploring, going for a stroll. At the end of the trail I let her take a dip in the creek. She splashed in the water, cooling off her belly. She climbed back up the bank to the trail and continued on our way. To finish off our time together she wandered through the long grass before heading back to her kennel for a big drink and a rest.

Issy and Mocha started their day off with a trail walk with a new friend named Ammo. Ammo is a young German Shepherd, who took a particular interest in Issy. It was so funny watching him pounce and play-bow to her, trying to entice her to play. They met up again later in the day during group time. Issy was feeling quite spry today, and went right up to greet Ammo once again. Meanwhile, Mocha stayed put in her special spot by the door. I went to encourage Mocha to join us out in the sunshine, and she followed me out for a brief time. She watched as Issy hopped around with her grandson, Nyxx. To my surprise, Issy hopped into the pool without hesitation! She splashed around briefly to cool her feet before wandering over to the grassy side of the yard by the playroom window. She buried her nose in the dandelions and continued on sniffing.

Barney and Pepper had a blast running around this morning with daycare gentlemen Miko and Pippin. With these two little guys around I was surely in for a morning of entertainment! Pepper had just come from the grooming spa and she was feeling extra frisky after her bath and was ready to play. She started running laps around the yard and soon enough the rest of the small ones started following her into the far yard. She spotted good pal Timbits from the corner of her eye and they had a playful standoff, both of them just waiting to see who would make the first move. Tim started sprinting and Pepper excitedly took off after him and this started an epic chase around the yard, Pippin and Miko weren’t far behind either! Barney just thought it was hilarious to watch the group run circles around him, but he ran into the green turtle pool to take cover because he didn’t want to get run over! When he wasn’t lounging out in the pool, he was sitting on top of the picnic table with a great big smile on his face; this has been a favourite spot of his for some time now! It has been so nice to have both Barney and Pepper boarding with us and we will be sad to see their smiling faces leave but excited to have them back again, that’s for sure!

Pepper is always such a sweetheart to spend time with. I pulled out a few toys in the reception area and she pounced after them. This only lasted a short time before she started barking at me. I figured we would go outside and enjoy the sun. She romped through the grass, racing to the end of her leash as fast as she could, spinning around and racing back towards me. I had a couple treats in my pocket so we practised some sit, stay and comes.

Barney is such a sweet boy to spend time with. We went out to the bridge by the creek where Barney enjoyed some pets. He gazed down into the water so we went down to the bank, but he decided to keep his paws dry for the time being. After some exploring, Barney and I went for a leisurely stroll around the field.

Miko was in an exceptionally cuddly mood this morning. Usually he is too busy running and playing to bother with a cuddle in the yard, but this morning he ran right up to me and demanded some head rubs; what a treat that was! But he didn’t stay for too long, just enough to get some love but then he was off chasing Pepper and Timbits around the yard.  Miko never misses an opportunity to run around with his favourite four-legged friends; he loves being in the centre of the action. Pippin on the other hand had his eyes set on the red ball from the moment he set paw into that yard. It has been our little game every time he is in for daycare and he is a fanatic over fetch lately and quite vocal about it too. He will excitedly bark and whine until I throw the ball for him, then off he goes leaping into the air after the ball, only to bring it back to my feet to throw it again. I really confused him when I dropped the ball into the pool, he didn’t want to go in after it, and Miko ran over as well and was very curious about the pool. The small ones didn’t want to go for a dip today after all! I got the ball back out soon and Pippin was happy to play again.