Smokey verses 4 Black Labs!

Seems like a fair fight...

Nice While it Lasted

Kit is cute as a button but a button with a destructive streak. Last time she was here another dog taught her to chew on the outside wall of the kennel. I was just expecting more of that this stay. Alas no, she found something new to chew on. The caulk that I installed last month to make the outside runs easier to clean. Nice while it lasted. I am going to have to remember to keep putting Kit in this particular kennel every stay!

Just a Bit More Food than Needed

This is Maggie Mae and this is her food. Not a stay's worth of food, a day's worth of food. I measured it out, 10 cups total. I was told half a bag in the morning and half a bag at night along with the 3 treats in each bag. They even dated each bag for me. I poured those first 5 cups and thought to myself, if this little thing with zero percent body fat really eats that whole bowl she must have a tape worm the size of a boa constrictor!

When she took 5 meals to eat 5 cups, I had a new and better measurement of what she eats. I asked about the enormous bags of food; they were just worried about her running out. I found myself just having to do the math: she was supposed to stay 7 days,so 70 cups of food, that is actually enough food for 35 days!

Six Pack!

And try as I might, I can't get them all in one picture. Also difficult to do, get them back into the right kennels in the right sets.





















I did however manage to get a photo with none of them in it.

Be a Dog, Smell a Butt! You Will Be So Much Happier!

I would often shouted that advice at a beagle named Scooter. He never did take my suggestion to heart. Dog personalities really do vary. You get from All Dog, to All Human, and, for me, sometimes all in the same weekend.

All Dog
These are my players, all speed, happiness, and no manners or steering. They will smell everyone, early and often. They play or try to play with everything on four leg and sometimes even me. They ofter won't take 'No!' for an answer to a request to play, that is when I have to play referee.

All Human
These are the dogs that think they are people. They have a slightly panicked look when they end up in my kennel. They look at me and in their eyes I see that not only are they people, they consider themselves to not be Dog-People either. I know that look, my mom has it everytime my labs got near her.

All Human can be overcome. They just need to relax, smell a butt and be a dog! If you can get a All Dog to pester All Human into playtime they will get it.

I have watched this change happen over and over again. From freaked out and cowering at my feet to running, wrestling, leaping, sniffing, and wagging with the pack. It is a joy to behold. Only I wonder what they think when they get back home. Do they look at their owners and think, "You are great on the petting, scratching and sitting with stuff and the letting in and out and feedings are great but, heck, you are just not all that much fun."

It might explain the dogs that drag their owners from the car to kennel.

Special Orders! I Don't Get Them!

As I have said before, if you are feeding your dog and it takes more than three ingredients or three steps, you are working too hard. I remind you that your dog considers a dried up cat turd on a hot sidewalk to be a rare and wondrous delicacy.

People keep telling me that their dog is a picky eater. I find that to be impossibility. Dogs by nature will eat anything, most often things that they never should have tried. Like my dog that once barfed up a piece of leather with a brass rivet in it. That is when I figured out what happened to my boat shoes.

Universally, the extra treat added to the dog food for these finicky eaters is something that is all protein and fat: Chicken, eggs, cheese, or hot dogs. I even had a dog that came with bologna. Dogs, as a rule, should only eat dog food. It is designed to give them all that they need everyday of their lives. Giving them all this extra is only throwing off the balance of protein, fat and minerals. Besides, that extra stuff tastes great and can only make dog food less appealing.

So, if your dog won't eat and the vet says their is nothing wrong with them. Let them get hungry. I have learned that no dog will hold out not eating for more than 48 hours, no matter how mad they are about being in the kennel. Then add lots of exercise to work up an appetite. Or, and this a drastic measure, get a second dog. Nothing like competition for the food to make one more interested in breakfast.

Or drop them off here. Between the playtime work outs and all those other dogs looking at their food, I rarely have a picky eater with a full bowl for long!

Three Days Off!

I am getting pretty spoiled not having to hit the door by 7am. I am making up for it by digging in and getting the kennel into shape. Really, just a fluke that I have exactly the right amount of time for the caulk to cure falling when I finally get my car back to go buy the supplies, with the right weather to pull it all off.

I caulked the new concrete, this should make it easier to clean and I also water-proofed the concrete. I am hoping this makes a world of difference on my ability to get sun-baked poop off the concrete. Oh the stuff, I never used to think about.

The kennel will be 8 years old this November and it is showing the wear and tear of non-stop dogs. Now, that the website is done, I hope to get back to designing a new, better kennel. Once that is up and running, the old one is going to get a makeover!