- Bona fide Buddy -

Our newest recruit, Buddy, had his assessment this morning. He is a nice, three year old, seventy-five pound, Rottweiler and Labrador Retriever Mix. A Dog Daycare Veteran, Buddy acted happy and excited upon entering The Fort's Big Roll. I believe a bit of deja vu set in for Buddy, because he totally seemed as if he'd been here to play before. As more and more members of the Big Roll Pack arrived, Buddy was ecstatic. He speaks pretty good "DOG", which allows him to make friends quickly and easily. Buddy played with a few different canines including Beau, Kingsley, Marty, and others. With that said, Buddy is welcome back anytime. Good stuff!

Here's some short film of Buddy having a blast.

Take it easy,

-Grant

This Week's Cool Clips

We caught a couple of great clips over the past few days that we haven't had a chance to slip in here, with all of the new dogs coming in! So here's a great peek at some of our friends from this weekend and earlier this week--

We caught Maggie on tape tearing it up with pups Buddy and Jack. Maggie is an older gal, and it's great to see that she can still keep up with the wild young'uns!

Next up is this cute clip of Tikvah and Rudy, who were boarding together for a few days. These ladies are just the best of friends, and really enjoy each other's company.

Lastly, we got a hilarious look at Jackson chasing the herding ball. Sometimes it is really surprising which dogs will take to the herding ball, I didn't expect this little Frenchie to get so worked up by it! He didn't even notice Yuki trying to play with him, lol.

We'll see you back with more news and clips on our next blog post!

-Hope

A Peek at all Pooches!

Koji loves to be King of the Castle!

We got some really great clips of our dogs in action today, in every size! In the little roll, ball time was the main attraction, and all the ladies up there were having a really great time. Frizzy dominated, as usual, though Marlee was close behind her trying to edge in on the game. Dixie and Oreo mostly enjoy chasing the other dogs, which ball time is a great opportunity for!

In the medium roll, Avi and Jackson were back at it again-- these two just can't keep away from each other. Size definitely doesn't matter to these two, they play just fine despite their differences. We could all learn a thing or two from that!

Big dogs Zipper and Buddy were peas in a pod, just a couple of hound-dogs. Good thing that they were playing all the time, not crying all the time! Not any crying at all ;-)


Hope that you enjoyed the look inside!

-Hope

Great photos, dog sculpture

Right on! I've scored three, absolutely grand pics, of a few awesome Fort Fido Pack Members. Please check them out, click on the photos to enlarge them.

The first two photos, are of the ever-so-photogenic Buddy. This Shih Tzu Man definitely knows how to strike a pose! I'll tell ya though, he isn't just a glamour shots model, this dog is a real player. He can (and does) handle himself with any dog that comes his way, large or small.

Now, for one of my favorites, get a load of Riley. His ma found him surfing the web, landing on his favorite Blog and Youtube Channel... Who'd a thought? Hahaha!

At last, here is something rather exquisite, for you fine-art lovers out there. Follow the link below, to feast your eyes on this, truly, one-of-a-kind piece... Some beautiful, Post-Modern Art. A Canine Sculpture extraordinaire, in the raw, if you will.

Canine Sculpture, A Masterpiece

Cheers,

-Grant
P.S.

Birthday boy & A great clip!

 

Today was our pal Buddy's second birthday. Congrats little dude! With that, Fido's Pack really lucked out... Buddy's ma, was very kind to make homemade dog cookies for all the dogs in attendance today. Talk about super cool, thank you Bonnie & Buddy. Please be sure to grab a few cookies for your pooch on the way out, there are plenty. :)

Earlier today, we captured a real swell clip of Fort Fido "power-doodles" lol, Jackson and Lucy, playing fast & furious in the Medium Roll. It is what these two dogs do best! They have gotten to know each other quite well over the past few months. It's really neat to see them play so wonderfully together.



Be well,

-Grant

Jocund Jack!

Jocund - What a perfect word to describe this morning's new Fort Fido guest. Say hello to Jack! He is a fun-loving, eleven year old, forty pound, American Eskimo (One of the famous "Spitz Breeds").

Unfortunately, Jack has a lot of things going on at home right now. His owner is in the hospital, not to mention, it is also the holiday season! Talk about a change in routine for a dog. Despite these recent life changes, Jack did absolutely first-rate today in the Medium Roll. He even busted-out into some play with new Fort "bad-boy" Hopper. It's a funny thing about Hopper, he really has a thing for American Eskimos, his other new pal is the legendary Buddy.

Now back to Jack, we really enjoyed having him in here today. He seemed to have a ball here as well and is welcome back anytime.... And not just because we are partial to the American Eskimos LOL!

We wish Jack's owner a speedy recovery!

Also, on behalf of the entire Fort Fido Staff (David, Nancy, Grant, Hope, Gary, Matt, Jacob, Andrea, Kelsey, Lexi & Taylor), have a truly Happy Thanksgiving! There are so many wonderful reasons to be thankful.

-Grant

summer pics and articles

Summer began today, woo-hoo! I thought these two pictures I received would be fitting.

From Buddy boy, looking as stylish as ever in his summer shades. Haha, I wonder if they stay on? They look like a perfect fit.

Here is one from Diego, lounging around with no glare in his eyes. Awesome! Thanks you two for the super photos. If anyone one else out there has photos of their dog in summertime action, please, send them in and we'll post them on the blog.

 

My cat's Vet sent me an issue of Healthy Pet Magazine. There was a plethora of great articles. Here are three I enjoyed.

5 tips to living with multiple pets

Fun ways to exercise with your pet

Dog park etiquette

Take care,

-Grant
P.S. Ahhh, thought you might like this too. LOL!

Spittin' bout da Spitz

Haha, what a tittle, sounds like some type of rap album. Bone thugs, "Dawg" related lol, definitely not canine related but the next image is:

What exactly is this group of Spitz-types doing? Run you little hedgehogish fella! Gary has one of those haha...

Mollie, one of The Fort's many Spitz pups.

My mom, Nancy, was researching Spitz Breeds (some of her favorites) over the weekend and I learned many things from her about them. I had no idea there were so many breeds that fell into this category. We have a number of Spitz-types at Fort Fido including; Huskies, Malamutes, American Eskimos, Akitas, Samoyeds, Pomeranians and Basenjis, just to name a few. The defining characteristics of the canines in this group are, a very fox or wolf-like appearance, with pointy ears and tails that curl up onto the back.

Now, to the best part of Nancy's research. After thumbing through our dog books and visiting numerous websites, she stumbled upon this day-making gem.

Performing Japanese Spitz



Wow! This had me cracking up... If only I could find a half-dozen more American Eskimos... Got a good start with Buddy and Mollie hahaha!

Take it easy,

-Grant

A President's Day

(I found this picture and info. today, thought it was pretty cool. Click on it to enlarge.)

It's kinda slow in here today, due to the Holiday and all but it makes for a nice Monday lol. There was still lots of doggy fun to be had because we got to mix and match some of our pack. I'd say Buddy and Koji had the most fun being able to be downstairs in the Medium Roll. It's fun to allow the dogs that are into it to "Run with the Big Dogs". :)

Here's to a good day!

-Grant
P.S. Got a swell clip of Mr. Koji finding a bit of romance with the ever-so-popular Pupcake.

The Rolls, The Clips

From the Big Roll, Mother Maggie was on patrol as usual... There is always some "correcting" to be done when Chocolate Lab gal Kodiak is in the thick of it! Osbourne seems to be watching in amazement lol, "How does she do it?".





In the Medium Roll it was business as usual. You know, Tikvah in every shot doing something super fun, Zeus too, haha. ;)



Samantha had us chuckling with her "after-romp lounge position". A dog has to be mighty comfortable to be on it's back like that, especially with the pack. :)



Upstairs, known as the "Little Roll", was its fast and furious self. We captured a bit of Wrastlin' in between ball time. The usual suspects were hitting it hard; Buddy, Chloe, Pearl and Frizzy just to name a few.





Take care,

-Grant

Santa Claus is coming to town...

Rather, "Santa Butters", is coming to town hahaha! You may recognize Buddy, he is one of Fort Fido's poster boys. He is a very handsome American Eskimo that has been coming to The Fort for years. You just can't beat his striking look! It's been awesome to use pictures of Buddy for marketing, specifically our Website/Blog Logo. He is one photogenic little canine. Twas hilarious this morning when Butters came in as Kris Kringle, we had to get a pic of it.


Long time Fort attendee, Black Pearl, brought us in some excellent Christmas Cookies. Thank you! Ironically enough, Hope, with Dave's glasses as a prop, looked very similar to the "Cool Santa" depicted on the sugary dough haha! Nancy had to score a photo of that one.




I'll leave you with four clips of The Rolls. Two from the Medium, one from the Big and one long one from the Little Roll.









Cheers,

-Grant
P.S. Just a side note, other dogs in our Website/Blog Logo include (From left to Right) Faramir, Mr. Bingley, Lola and Ruger. All but Mr. Bingley still attend and have been doing so since 2006. Thanks dogs for looking so good! ;)
P.P.S. Here is Buddy from 2009 in another costume lol!

Sweet St. Nick Flower Dog

(Click Photos To Enlarge)

Buddy's ma, Bonnie, sent us an amazing flower arrangement from Buds & Blooms. It is multiple flowers shaped into a very artistic "Santa Dog". Thank you very much Bonnie, this pup brightened our day and has gotten many a compliment! Cortez couldn't help himself, he just had to pose with the new Santy.



This morning I found two good links from MSN.

The first link is actually from the Today Show. It is the Top 11 Animal Stories from 2011 and there are some tremendous ones. Although not all the stories are canine related, several of them are. ;)

Now, I have seen this next link before and it cracked me up, some folks think it's creepy, I guess I'm somewhere in the middle lol. Checkout the book, Yoga Dogs. I was reminded about this book while glancing at MSN's Humorous Holiday Gifts.



Have a great weekend!

-Grant
P.S. Christmas is right around the corner... If you need to get some "Holiday Things" done without Fido's help, feel free to drop him or her into The Fort. Please note, we are NOT closing or changing our hours of operation in the month of December this year.

Christmas Buddy and Clips

Checkout this great photo of Fort Fido's very own "Buddy" with Santa Claus. It turned out real nice but my scanner didn't do it justice. Buddy's owner told me that Bud snagged Santa's beard right before the shoot, haha, typical Buddy style! Also, notice that Mrs. Claus had to fill in for the Jolly guy in this pic lol.

Remember, send us in your holiday pet photos (or any pet photos for that matter), they are all Blog worthy and we love receiving them.


Clips from today:

Two different colored "Golden Retrievers", Lulu & Sam played hard today.



The Medium Roll was as wild and boisterous as any day.



The Little Roll was also it's high-energy, fun-loving self.





Take care,

-Grant

Happy Friday!

Here are some superb news articles that Hope found earlier today.

Dog and rooster alert family to fire

World's oldest dog dies

Dog rescues dumped kittens

Blind horses and dogs find sweet life on farm


Here are some clips from the rolls today.

First up, two from the Medium Roll.

Miss Black Bella has a blast here all the time, look at her make the rounds lol.



Fort Fido old-schoolers Annie (Lab Mix) and Sofee (Boston Terrier/Pug/French Bulldog Mix) have been best buddies for a few years now, they are some great dogs.



Two from the Big Roll as well...

Mollie and Polo played quite hard this morning, they can handle it though. ;)



Bubba, Max and Sam were an unstoppable trio of pals most of the day.



Last but not least, the Littles.

Buddy and Chloe go at it.



The chase is on in this one with Chloe for the win Haha! She usually steals the show up there, always doing something fun.




Happy Friday y'all, have a nice weekend,

-Grant

_ - = Roll Clips = - _

Here are a few we captured today.

There was a lot of feisty action upstairs in the Little Roll. Not sure what got in the water lol but every dog seemed to want to "wrestle play". Good times! You can find Buddy, Chloe, Frizzy, Ginger, Pearl and Raleigh in the thick of it.







The Medium Roll had Miss Tikvah at it again... She's growing like a weed and doing first rate. She finally got the ever so popular medium-gal Sofie to play with her. Zeus, is a big Tikvah fan and so is Gibson, surprise, surprise!





Take it easy today,

-Grant

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Click on the photos to enlarge them, have a fun evening and stay safe!

-Grant
P.S. We thought Zeus came in as Casper today hahaha.

Pics of our Buddy and a great link from Louis

Buddy's ma Bonnie was kind enough to drop me off some great photos of the kid at home. Here he is in three cute pictures posing, looking out the window and looking out the back door.





Louis's ma Sandy sent me this video link about "Kandu" the two legged dog. This one you just gotta see, it is truly awesome, check it out!



Cheers,

-Grant

clip time

Everyone's favorite time.

From the Little Roll... It's just a never ending ballgame as usual. You can spot Buddy, Chloe, Raleigh, Koji and Cooper.



Two from the Medium Side.

You can spot Gibson, Marley, Emily, Zeus and Gemma having a party. Diego's back is seen as well lol ;).



Emily and Marley continued to hit it off all day long.



In the Big Roll, Abby and Marco Polo played hard in the AM!



Also, newer friends of The Fort Rocky and Mollie found love today haha.



Take it easy,

-Grant

wrestling clips of the day

One from the Medium Roll featuring a hard to beat tag-team of Lab pup Emily and Black Pug Cooper. Those two were battling it out against Fort Fido old timers Bella and Lucy. From this clip it sure looks like Emily and Cooper will be walking away with the title hahaha!



Upstairs was a triple-threat-match with Little Buddy, Miss Mia and the original Bad-Boy Miller. I'm not too sure who the victor was in this one, the only thing I do know is that this trio should sleep well tonight!



Take care,

-Grant

some good shots and links

Golden Retriever Buddy and Boxer McGee couldn't get enough of each other today... It shows in this clip from the Big Roll.



From the medium play area we see Miss Hershey and Mr. Winston having a go at playing together. "Opposites attract" is what I thought when I witnessed that one lol.



Another good one from the Medium Roll has Barkley (if you click that Barkley link it will show a search of all the Barkley Blog Posts, there are several, he's a character!:) giving Niko a run for his money. Barkley plays regularly with two huge Norwegian Elkhounds and thinks he is one hahaha! Needless to say, he has no problem handling himself around bigger dogs.



Upstairs in the Little Roll it was business as usual. A great gang of little pack members ready to play fast and furiously at ball time.




Trouble, the dog who inherited $12m from billionaires dies

Firefighters rescue dog after plunge in river

Dog takes a clue from 'Lassie'

What your dog wants you to know about the heat

Dogs can instinctively sense a friendly face

Enjoy your weekend!

-Grant