Tails & Trails Pet Journal: Wednesday, May 17th, 2017

Loki came in to his group time right where he left off yesterday: playing. He trotted outside into the yard and began to greet his friends. Loki wasn’t quite sure who he wanted to play with so he took his time choosing a friend. Eventually he saw his good friend Shelby and knew she was the one. Loki and Shelby didn’t leave each other alone for more than a minute at the beginning of their group time. Shelby insisted that Loki join her for a run around the yard but he wasn’t so sure. He simply enjoyed jumping up and play tackling with Shelby. They ended up doing a little bit of both. Shelby would take off in front of Loki, while Loki chased closely behind her. Once he caught up he’d begin a play tackle, which would always last until Shelby could run free once again. They continued this game for a while but eventually Loki went into the yard on his own. It looked as though he was ready to venture around the yard. Loki took his time to stop and sniff every bug, rock or toy that he passed but he always continued on sniffing.

Amber and Iris were very interested in sniffing throughout the entire day. Right from the get go, they had their noses down and sniffing the grass throughout their walk. Occasionally one of their little heads would pop up to smell the air but they always returned back into the grass. At one point during their walk, they had seen a little turtle right in the middle of the trail and weren’t too sure what to do about it. Iris seemed interested in sniffing the turtle but Amber hung a little bit further back. Eventually the two girls decided they weren’t interested in becoming friends with the turtle so they quickly trotted away from it and continued with their walk. During their group time, Iris was quite a cuddle bug. During the beginning of her long group, Iris followed me around wherever she could. She especially enjoyed sitting on my lap up on the picnic table. As soon as she saw me sit down, Iris followed my steps and climbed onto the picnic table. Once she sat up on my lap, Iris made sure to give me plenty of kisses. Amber wasn’t so sure that she wanted to be up on the picnic table but she stuck around quite close to us in order to make sure she knew where Iris was. Once Iris had decided to get off of my lap, she and Amber scurried over to the fence and began to sniff the grass once again.

Finnigan was full of beans, as per usual today. He was very energetic as soon as he arrived, that he was bouncing all over anyone he could find. It took a bit of time to get him into his kennel because Finn was quite preoccupied with greeting all of us. Once we finally got him in, it ended up being his group time shortly after. Finn was still full of energy so once I opened his kennel door, he went racing out into the yard. We spent most of our time playing around in the agility yard and boy was Finnigan ever excited! He sprinted around the yard a few times, only stopping to greet a handful of friends. Once he had decided that he had run around enough, Finn started to play. However, just before he started playing with everyone, he chose to go for a little swim in the big puddle in the agility yard. Of course he got completely covered in mud and water but that’s what he loves to do. As soon as he got out of the puddle, Finn took off around the yard once again to show all of his friends how much fun he was having. Soon enough he spotted a ball in the yard and it was game on. Finnigan spent the rest of the time chasing the ball around the yard. He did everything he could to get the ball whether it was jumping high up into the air or play a short game of tug-of-war.

Kane was such an excited boy today and was definitely the hit of his group. He seemed to always have something to do, whether it was running around the yard, playing with friends or simply finding a toy on his own. As soon as Kane got into the yard, he started running full speed. Kane spent his first few minutes doing laps around both the agility yard and both of the regular big dog yards. He had so much energy that I’m sure he simply didn’t know what to do with himself. Soon enough he spotted me with a rope toy in my hand and came flying towards me. With one sideways jump, Kane had the other side of the rope toy in his mouth and was already playing a game of tug with me. A few of his friends joined in on the fun but he was always victorious after each round. Kane would then race around the yard with his toy in his mouth, as proud as he could ever be. When he wasn’t playing tug-of-war, Kane spent his time looking for a new toy to play with. Next up was a bright red ball. As soon as Kane saw the ball he knew that he had to get it. He joined his friends in a game of fetch and wasn’t sure what to do when he wasn’t the first one to get the ball. However he soon realized that I would be throwing the ball again so Kane raced back over to me. This time he got to the ball first and once again he showed off his toy in a proud manner to all of his friends.

I’m always excited to see Chloe on Wednesdays, it makes for such a fun filled day. Chloe was in an extra happy mood with all of this sunshine and beautiful weather that we had. Once she got into the yard, she was completely preoccupied with greeting all of her old and new friends that she wasn’t thinking about toys yet. Chloe wanted to find the perfect friend to play with but she ended up finding a few. Chloe spent time racing around with her old friend Kane, as well as some new ones. Soon enough she had seen the ball in my hand and was ready to play with her favorite toys. She joined our husky Justice for a few round of fetch. Whether or not she was the winner of the game, Chloe was always happy to play another round. Sometimes I caught her running ahead when I hadn’t even thrown it yet, silly girl. After their game of fetch was over, Chloe was ready to play tackle. She play tackled with Justice for quite some time before moving on to a few others. Chloe would jump right back onto her hind paws while tackling up in the air. At one point she wasn’t playing with anyone but was simply bouncing around the yard, jumping from one friend to another in a constant play bow. Towards the end of the group time, Chloe was ready for an extra cuddle and kiss before she went inside.

Oakley and Bella loved the sun today throughout their long outdoor playgroup. The two girls spent a lot of their time side by side whether it was roaming around the yard, sniffing along the fence line or simply sitting up on the picnic table while soaking up all the rays that they could get. Oakley was quite the cuddle bug as well today. Right from the moment I saw her, Oakley trotted over and immediately sat by my side waiting for a head and back scratch. Of course she got one because who could say no to those beautiful puppy dog eyes of hers. She loved to follow me around today and especially enjoyed when I sat up on the picnic table because she could climb up beside me. Even when I would get down, Oakley stayed up there with Bella and the two of them enjoyed observing the rest of the yard from its highest point. Bella was focused on searching for any smells in the yard so she and Oakley would occasionally take a break from the picnic table to sniff around. Bella was usually in the lead when it came to sniffing. She seemed to always have a smell that she was following and it would lead her all over the yard. Sometime I’d notice her along the fence line, climbing on top of the big rocks in the yard or even in the little kiddy pool that we have in the middle of the yard. Oakley was quite often shortly behind Bella but sometimes she would stray from her to come see me once again. The two girls were quite excited when I opened up another grass yard for them to roam around in. They spent the remainder of their group time going back and forth between the two yards before Oakley and Bella decided it was time to snuggle for a little while. I had both of them right beside me while I gave them each an extra kiss and pet.

Sophie T. was full of energy during her long outdoor playgroup. Once she realized it was time to go, Sophie was up off of her cot and sitting by her kennel door ready to get out into the sunshine. Sophie was excited to see that we were out in a different grass yard than she’s been in before. She did a few laps trotting around the yard before finding a toy shortly after. Sophie found a bright red ball sitting in the grass and decided it was time to play. She brought the ball over to me many times to play fetch and was always good at returning the ball after she had caught it. I tried to get Sophie to do a few tricks for the ball such as jumping up, sitting pretty or spinning around. She did an excellent job of all of the tricks and was always so happy to get the ball back. Sophie especially liked jumping up for the ball. After we were done playing fetch, Sophie found another toy to play with, a stuffed elephant toy. She brought it over to me with her head held high and was ready to play a game of tug-of-war. We continued to play on and off for the remainder of her group.