Different day, different dog 28 - Houdini attempts!!!

WE HAVE NEVER LOST A DOG!!! I think I must be proud of that fact as a client pointed out that I had mentioned it twice during the same Meet and Greet (for Toby and Casper). But I think that this is an important point to make when we are selling our business to a client, they will never admit it but they secretly will want to hear that we have never....

1) Lost a dog
2) Seriously injured or killed a dog
3) Stolen all of some ones worldly possessions
4) Beaten the dogs or locked them in cages

But we have one dog that is trying his best to dispute our first promise! Nugget (Springer Spaniel) and his "brother" Marley (Patterdale X) have had many different escape attempts, mainly from their garden when we are picking them up or dropping them off. But so far we have thwarted their plans! Today their owner said that Nugget had put his his head through the gate (again!) and got it stuck, even though there is now chicken wire across it. This picture made me smile, not sure Nugget would have looked as composed as this though :)

Different day, different dog 27 - Green-eyed monster

Only wanting to make this a quick post...not had a great day today, been slightly emotional. The meaning behind the picture is because I am sure that Kendal is probably jealous of this retriever and his 2 balls!!!! As I write this he is down at the vets having the snip :( I am not sad that he is losing his balls as I am not intending to breed from him (the rescue kennels are full enough without adding more dogs to the world) and I am certainly not intending to show him (the Kennel Club would probably require blood tests to confirm that he is in fact a pedigree Westie!) I am sad because he is going to wake up not knowing where he is and in pain; with out ever knowing why.

All dogs that come to Day Care must be neutered or spayed over the age of a year old, this stops un-wanted litters, dogs fighting over bitches and not to mention a higher chance of aggression from the males and the non-stop scent marking!!! It has never been easy having to tell the owners that it is crunch time....to snip, or not to snip! But Charlie, Milo and Alfie have now all been through it and I had to practice what I preach!!! Plus....good luck to Berrick, who will be having his op in a couple of weeks time!!!

So on top of Kendal being at the vets we have also had to say good bye to two of our girlies we walk. Maddy (Westie) came onto our books last summer after Megan (GSD), her companion, sadly passed away. She was walked on her own for a while until her owners could face finding her a friend, they found her Cookie (another GSD). Jenni and I have been involved with Cookie from as soon as she came home at 8 weeks old. She was TINY, especially for a GSD...in fact she could fit through a safety gate. But over the last 6 months we have visited and then walked her for 5 days a week, every week. We have been involved with all her training and we have watched her grow up, but we have also watched Maddy develop into a big girl.

We always knew this contract was not going to be forever and I don't think we knew how much we were going to miss them. At times they have been frustrating, un-responsive or just general rebels. But today as Jenni hung up their leads for the last time there were tears in her eyes. We started this company because we care about dogs and this has just proved to us how much. We will be staying in touch with Maddy and Cookie, but it will be hard not to turn up to their house on Monday :(

Different day, different dog 26 - zzzzzzzzzz!!!!

We have had a crazy week over the last 7 days; our evenings have been busy with "Meet and Greet", we have taken on extra walks during the days and our mornings have been hectic with planning our pick up routes.

But we have not been the only tired ones! We have a new Day Care dog called Tia, she is lovely, little Patterdale. After her first day with us we thought she may be a little tired, this was certainly confirmed the next morning when her owner fetched in a cute photo of her cuddling a teddy bear fast asleep. It is now on our notice board in reception, to show any prospective clients the benefits of Doggy Day Care...a calm, settled dog :)

Different day, different dog 25 - DOG RULES

Please don't look at the date this was posted....I said DON'T look...ok, you looked! I have failed the 365 day project, again! But I have another valid excuse, at the start of the week my computer became infected with a virus, within a day the computer was un-usable :( So I am now sat tying this on a shiny, new computer! But I did not fail the 365 day project completely, as I thought about what I was going to post each day. So I will now make an effort to catch up to where I should be! If I had only made a brief decision to try and post every day, after firstly visiting technophobe relatives and then contracting a virus, I would have given up! But I am determined to make 365 posts, hopefully one a day....but if not, I will have at least made the effort.

I wanted to find something that shows the slow decent of boundaries that can happen when you get a new dog. I go around advising all my clients the best ways to feed your dog by lifting the dish, crate training, not allowing the dog onto the sofa...etc. When I found this poem it made me smile, as it shows step by step what I have done with Kendal. Though thankfully I am at least a couple of steps up from the bottom of the poem....for now!

DOG RULES - By Rest Rivera

The dog is not allowed in the house.
Okay, the dog is allowed in the house, but only in certain rooms.
The dog is allowed in all rooms, but has to stay off the furniture.
The dog can get on the old furniture only.
Fine, the dog is allowed on all the furniture,
but is not allowed to sleep with the humans on the bed.
Okay, the dog is allowed to sleep on the bed, but by invitation only.
The dog can sleep on the bed whenever he wants, but not under the covers.
The dog can sleep under the covers, but by invitation only.
The dog can sleep under the covers whenever he wants.
Humans must ask permission to sleep under the covers with the dog!

Different day, different dog 24 - Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to us, happy birthday to us.... :) More For Paws is 1 today!!! 365 days of blood, sweat and tears means that we have beaten the odds and not only survived our first year in business, but are going strong!!! Thank you to all our clients, we hope you are still with us for our second birthday....we may even throw a party ;-)

I found lots of "doggy birthday" pictures on Google....most of them with lots of balloons, streamers and dogs that look like they have been slipped some doggy Prozac. They all looked like how a toddlers birthday party starts....this picture looks like how every one feels at the end of the day! Im guessing I wont look that different from that in 10 hours time!