The moment I met Oslo, I knew I was going to have my hands full. He is a young husky cross full of energy. He loves to go for walks and you can barely get his harness on because he is so busy dancing around with excitement. He is like a male, short-haired version of Tundra, Marja's dog. They are both full of life and have more energy than they know what to do with. He made for quite an interesting "photo shoot" 'cause he really hammed it up for the camera with the kong I brought for him.
It seems to be the season for puppies. I've seen them out on walks, playing the park and we've even had the chance to look after a few. They are so cute, playful and irresitable. Here are a few pictures of Maggie, Kaylee's new sister.
Doesn't she make you want to go out and get one of your own?
At the daycare, as the day progresses, the nap times gets longer and the play sessions become shorter. Perkins likes to take advantage of these nap times to check everyone out while they are down at his level. He usually manages to rouse them from their rest for a play session but in these pictures, no one took the bait.
He started with Coulee....
...moved on to Ponz...
...and then tried Tazzie...
No luck.
He should have tried Kinsey. She looks like she was still up for some action.
Today was just as much fun as yesterday...in fact more so because it wasn't as stressful in the morning doing all the dog introductions because most of them had met the day before. Coulee almost pulled my arm off in excitement when we walked up to the door. She was a little dissapointed she was the first to arrive. :)
We are getting things more and more organized each day as we figure out what we need, and are missing. For example, I went out and bought some bins today to keep all the dog's leashes, food, etc. in so nothing will get mixed up.
All the dogs got along really well today so we just had one big playgroup. They were all exhausted again by the afternoon and I'm sitting here with two very sleepy puppies (Tazzie is visiting for a while).
We are experiencing some technical difficulties...the internet won't be up for a few days (I can still check my e-mails at night and in the morning from home...) and our debit machine won't arrive until next week but other than that, things have all gone much smoother than I could have even dreamed. Amanda is a wiz with the dogs and has already taught them "gate manners" so they don't all try and slip through the gates every time you go in and out.
If you haven't already done so, come on down and take a peek!
Yesterday was sooo much fun. I had a great time, the dogs had a great time and I think Amanda had a great time too. I haven't laughed that much in a long time! The antics of all the different dogs kept me smiling all day long.
I took a few pictures but capturing dogs running around inside a building does not make for particularly attractive photographs. At least with my skill level.
The playset that you see made a great place for the smaller dogs to run into and get a break and a good place for the older dogs to jump up on, It also made, as you can see, a great item to run around.
In the photos you'll see Perkins - the daschund, Gyp - the border collie, Katie - the black goldendoodle(?), Ponz - the staffordshire, Wicca - the corgi (she started the race that I captured on film), Vito - the corgie/border collie, Tundra - the husky cross and Coulee - the retriever cross. Not seen in any of these is Daisy a beautiful golden retriever and Kaleb a flat coat retriever...they were having a snooze when these pictures was taken. At the time Daisy was actually sitting on a recliner with her butt on the chair and her front legs on the ground looking very comfortable but when I tried to get a picture she came running over for some petting and I lost my photo op!
I have to admit, I am a huge fan of Kongs. They make great, almost indestructable toys. It looks like they are thinking about creating a new line of Kongs that squeak and look like the classic kong. I'm so tired of squeakers that quit in a day so if they can make one that lasts....
Let them know what you think of their idea by responding to their survey.
No time to do a proper blog...the daycare is opening in 5 days!!!
One of my favourite parts on dogs are their ears. They are usually one of the softest parts but they are also so expressive. Keila and Chili have my favorite kind of ears...
...the ones that try to stand up straight but just can't quite make it.
I couldn't resist adding in just one more cute picture of Chili.
I hope you are all having a great weekend!
Okay, here you go.
Before....
After....
Before....
After....
The window still needs some work but you get the idea. On the other side of the window is the grooming area.This wall used to be plastic fake wood. Not exactly what we wanted right at the front entrance so we painstakingly painted it - getting in all the grooves was very time consuming. But in the end, it was worth the effort.
The floor mats were really hard to photograph because they are so dark (except where we've tracked dust onto them!) but here are a few shots that give you the general idea. The chair is already sitting in the "little dog" area waiting for its first guest.
We still have tonnes of work left to do but thanks to my Dad and his wife Shelley we are so much closer to getting it done. They came for a "holiday" and worked for 5 full days. They have blisters all over their hands and paint all over the clothes and I'm eternally grateful!
Actually you are just going to have to wait. I downloaded all the photos and the lighting is awful, the colours aren't accurate and most of them are blurry. I was using my point and shoot camera instead of my "good" one. Serves me right. I'll bring the good camera tomorrow. It is looking great though! Even the non-believers (i.e. all my helpers) are starting to like the black trim and floor and the green office walls. In the meantime you'll just have to be satified with the before and after pictures from the outside...My dad did a heck of a weeding job!
It was a very busy weekend for me. I had lots of dogs and cats to look after, my dad and his wife arrive to help with the daycare and Coulee and I had entered an event at Go! Dog! Go!'s agility trial. Thankfully we were only in 1 event as I don't think I could have managed any more than that.
I'll post more about the daycare tomorrow - we got the floors done in the daycare area! It looks awesome. For now, I'll show you some of the dogs doing what they do best on the agility field. I didn't get many pictures of people and dogs from my classes because I wasn't able to spend much time watching. :(
