Bodhi

   Bodhi is our newest member to our Large Dog Program, that he joined this morning. He's a two year old, sixty pound Akita mix full of life! All in all, Bodhi did great on his first day here! He was a social butterfly, and played quite a bit with most of the dogs. Although, he did take a particular liking to Yammo And Moose...

Happy Monday all,
~Shaunte'

 

Archie

Yesterday, we had the pleasure of meeting Archie. He is a two-year-old, twelve-pound, Yorkie. Archie joined our Small Dog Program, where he made lots of new friends.  He "spoke" very good dog and played well with the others. He thoroughly enjoyed his time here at Fort Fido. Archie is welcome back anytime. We look forward to seeing him again soon! Good job, Archie! 

Here are some clips of Archie's first day at the Fort.

Have a great weekend,
- Gary

Presidents Day Fun!

As you all know, Monday was Presidents Day... To honor some of the old leaders that used to run our country, check out our past Presidents; hamming it up with their dogs below. 

Presidents Day Fun Facts!

• Thomas Jefferson was the first President to require dogs being licensed
• It's a known fact that George Washington named his dogs: Drunkard, Taster, Tipsy, Tipler, and Sweetlips
• Theodore Roosevelt had a Bull Terrier that ripped the pants off of French Ambassador, Jules Jusserand. Talk about almost a scandal. Long story short after that happened, the ambassador eloped to the island of Elba. He must have been pretty embarrassed to leave for an Island! lol
• Ronald Regan had a dog named Blind! 

 Have a good rest of your night,
~Shaunte' 

Niki

 Niki was our assessment, that we had the pleasure of meeting today. She's four in a half years old and weighs thirty five pounds! She's a Border Collie/ Basenji  mix that joined our Medium Dog Program. Niki came in here initially a tad bit shy... But as the smells and sounds of Fort Fido became more familiar to her, the tail went up, and she made her place right at home. 

We noticed she took a particular liking to one of our "newer" dogs, Cate. Check them out hanging out! 






Niki is more than welcome to return for more fun with our medium dogs! Have a marvelous Monday night everyone, 
~Shaunte'

 
 

Sam

This morning we had the pleasure of welcoming, Sam, to the Fort. He is a four-year-old, twenty-pound, Miniature Australian Labradoodle. Sam spent the morning mingling with the other dogs in our Medium Dog Program. He did a good job today, and is welcome back anytime. We look forward to seeing him again soon.

Have a great weekend,

- Gary

2nd Place Winner & New Fromms!

 See that handsome dog above? His name is Sherman, and he was the dog that came in second place for our Valentines Day Basket Giveaway. Since Sherman's owner's guess was the closest to the treat number, (besides first place)he was able to take that container of treats home this past weekend.

Enjoy, Sherman!

 Also, as of this week, we now carry Grain-Free Fromms Gold. The Kibble's main ingredient is Beef, but it also contains Pork, Potatoes, Peas, Dried Tomato, and much more! 

Feel free to stop on by in person to check it out.


Have a marvelous rest of your night,
~Shaunte'

New Toy Shipment!

 It's that special time again; we got a new shipment of toys! Check out some of the goodies below... They're all bright and colorful to go along with Spring.

 David and Nancy also happened to find a really cool new toy display a while back. Introducing, the Slinger!

 It's like a Chuckit, but on steroids... It comes with a basic ball- but you can also buy other accessories along with it.

 Something I love about the design of this ball, is it allows your dog to breathe better. Instead of being completely closed off like a tennis ball, it's hollow in the middle.

 


Here's the other toys you can buy as an accessory to your Slinger...







Come on by and check them out in person before they'll all gone! :)

Have a good evening,
~Shaunte'

 

Valentine's Day Basket Giveaway

  Today was the day- we found out who the lucky winner was for our Valentines Day Basket giveaway...

 You're all probably wondering by now how many treats were in our container, so I'll go ahead and say it. 278 was the magic number! 
(P.S., don't feel bad if you're guess was far from that. When I initially told David my guess of 70 when he first asked me, he looked at me like I was silly! Guessing is not my forte; you aren't alone. Lol) 

  I must say, I loved how interactive the basket giveaway was this time around. We had lots of participants so that made it even more fun. Check out our lucky winner, Daisey, seeing all her new goodies for the first time in the video below.

This girl couldn't keep her nose away; she must have smelled some of the yummy treats in there! Just look at that tongue!

We can't wait to hear which toy is her favorite.

 As you can see, this girl was exceptionally excited when her dad Jacob, picked her up from daycare today. She could barely keep herself still! Check her out sneaking another peak below...

 

 Congratulations Daisey! Looks like you're going to be one busy gal; now that you have all these new toys to play with. 

Have a wonderful weekend,
~Shaunte'

Cate

Yesterday, we had the pleasure of meeting Cate. She is a beautiful eleven-month-old, forty-pound, Blue Heeler/Australian Shepherd mix. Cate joined our Medium Dog Program, where she spent the morning mingling with and observing the other dogs. She did a good job, and is welcome back anytime. We look forward to seeing her again soon!

Cate was featured in yesterday's Facebook photo shoot. Check out the photos below.

Have a great weekend,
- Gary

Happy Hump Day!

... You guessed it, it's Hump Daaaayyy! Or, as we like to call it, "mount day" in dog terminology. 

The reason we aren't fond of using the word "hump" is because most of the time when a dog does that, there isn't a sexual motive behind the gesture. It's actually quite interesting once you know what to look for... I'll write out a scenario and explain below.

Say for example, you're at the dog park with your canine family member; you see two dogs off in the distance. One is mounting, while the other just stands there. Who is in the wrong here? 

Most people would say the Mounter but in reality, it's the other way around. When a dog mounts, they're doing it to get a reaction from the other. Whether they give them a warning growl, snap back real fast, walk away, or sit down. They want to see at least something. It's a way for dogs to show dominance and figure out what place they're at within the pack. It's even possible for pups as young as 3-4 weeks to start doing it... Although, when practiced at such a young age like that, it's primarly play and social learning at that point.

Anyways, if all the other dog is doing is just standing there as it's being mounted, then he isn't showing the best Dog Speak and that can be confusing for the mounter.

When you see this happen don't get mad at the mounter- unless they're doing it obsessively, or continue to do it even after the other dog lets them know to knock it off. 

 

Instead, one thing we noticed that has worked is guiding  the dog on what to do when it's being mounted. You could help command them to sit and usually that works and the other stops.




What if your dog is an obsessive mounter? How do you stop that? 

A technique you could try is every time the dog approaches the other with obvious mounting body postures, step calmly in front of that dog to block him. Take away his space. If you’re skilled, you may be able to simply lean your body forward, or thrust out a hip or knee to send him the message that the fun is about to stop. 

In the end it's all about balance,respect, and consistency with the Canine Species.

The biggest reason I wanted to write this blog today is because I thought it was fitting (hehe) and because I know it can be missleading when you see a dog mounting the other. I find it absoultely facinatcing to watch the interactions of dogs now that I know what to look for. I hope my blog taught ya somethin new that maybe you didn't know before! :)

Have a marvelous rest of your night,
~Shaunte'
 

Snow Day Fun!!

Woohoo, yay for snow days! 

Personally, I was pretty excited when I woke up on Saturday morning, to see that the sky was overtaken by thousands of little intricate snowflakes. It made me smile from ear to ear; I enjoyed playing in it a bit on my days off as well...

Anyhow, I hope you all had a wonderful start to your week and stayed nice and dry wherever you were... Whether you had to go to work, or stay at home with the fam- since our weather was kind of crazy this morning.

The dogs that did make it to The Fort today, had a blast. They stayed nice 'n toasty, played to their hearts desires, and listened to Norah Jones with us. 

Check out some of the other pups who attend our Daycare, but didn't come today because they were too busy hamming it up in the snow...

Rogue loves to help

her momma make Snowmen!

 Hugo did his best at making a "Dog Angel"

Dempsey (in the front) and Rusty tagging along!

Mr. Max loves balls and snow... Put the two together and he's a happy dog!

Neo's first time in that cool white fluff, falling from the sky!

  Shadow and Chance spent most of the day playing in the yard with their human siblings!

 Kato and Katniss getting their paws wet on the fluffy snow.

 As you can see, the dogs certainly had a blast today;I'm sure they weren't the only ones too. Enjoy the rest of your evenings everyone. 
 ~Shaunte'