Happy Holidays!

Thank you everyone for your lovely cards! We are open every day, 7 days a week (including holidays). Here are some fun times the dogs have during the holidays.

Rainier, Santa, & the Nutcracker!

 Maggie Rose (Left) & Thorn (Right) getting cozy for the cold nights approaching!

 Pearl enjoying a walk on the boardwalk =)

 Dakota (Right) and Sierra (Left) spending quality time at the park

Louis dreams that he is a motorized Santa

Happy Holidays and stay warm through these cold winter nights!
- Zach

A few clips

A few clips from today...

Here's a great one from the Little Roll, it seems to always be a party up there! In the clip, you can spot Dixie, Pearl, Willow, Mimi and Pippin.

The next two are just some quickies of Diego, Penny and Reilly having some fun.

 

All for now.

Take it easy,

-Grant
P.S. Ah, I also wanted to add this clip from yesterday of Pippin and new dog Max. Pippin usually doesn't get too playful unless he has been staying with us for a few days... He can also be tricky to capture on film, but alas, I got a little shot of him here, beginning to have a good time. :)

Cute pics and a funny article

Just thought I'd throw up a few cute pics that I've received recently.

Here is one lingering from The Holidays... Old school friend of The Fort, Kaira, "hugging" her Xmas present from us. Awww!

These next pictures are of our main-man-dog, Louis, rocking his Husky Gear after their win at the Hunger Bowl. Go Dawgs! Hilarious!

Last but certainly not least, checkout this interesting article I got from Pearl's Ma. Not surprisingly, her and I have discussed, at great detail, how and why dogs poo the way they do. LOL! Maybe it's TMI, but it is our biz.

Thank you to you all for the outstanding photos and links. It is much appreciated.

Take it easy,

-Grant

Just a few things

Our pal Pearl scored this awesome "cave" from her Grandparents for Xmas a few weeks back. That is one lucky pup! According to Pearl, she would like to get more accessories for the new tent... She plans on doing a lot of  "Glamping" (Glamour Camping LOL!) this summer. Hahaha!

 

In other happenings, found this video clip quite randomly. Apparently, the gentleman hosting, Huell Howser, was a longtime host of "Califronia's Gold", which is a popular Public Television show in Cali. Unfortunately, he recently passed away. I liken him to a Grant Goodeve, Rick Steves or George Ray type lol, however, I haven't seen the show. We are obviously only KBTC / KCTS folks around these parts. Anywho, the dog related clip from Huell's show had me rolling.

 

 

All for now, take care,

 

-Grant

Ginger & Macey

 

 

Meet Ginger & Macey, two swell dogs, from the same family, that assessed this morning.

Ginger, is a four month old, eleven pound, red & black colored, Shiba Inu. She did rather well upstairs in the Little Roll. Ginger is a very sweet spirited canine. She played with Dixie, Pearl and just about any dog that was game.

Macey, is a one year old, about twenty pound, black & white colored, Border Collie. Now at first, Macey was not sure why she was here lol... But, once she began to figure things out in the Medium Roll, she started having lots of fun. This dog wasted no time getting in on the action, once she was situated. Macey enjoyed herself, playing with Marley and Sammy, among others.

Both Ginger and Macey were a pleasure to take care of today. We highly anticipate their return!

Take care,

-Grant

Who likes cleaning anyway?

Hahaha, not Pearl and Gherie, that's for darn sure!

These two cute, little, stinkers went for Nancy's micro fiber mop the other day. They proceeded to treat it like a "varmit flushed from a hay bale", too funny!



This certainly gave us a chuckle, we had to share. Apparently it's playtime ONLY for that Little Roll lol!

Enjoy that big, warm, beautiful orb in the sky today.

;)

-Grant

Snow?

Whoa! Woke up this morning to the sound of crunchy ice under car tires... I thought to myself, "No way!". But sure enough, it snowed last night lol, just in case you didn't notice. Luckily the light dusting we received didn't put a damper onto any Fort Fido plan, twas smooth sailing today. Very nice!

Pops (David) went on a trip to get some new dogs toys. The majority of our toys come from a "cash and carry" type of place that specializes and only carries pet supplies. Ahhh Toy Day. It's a bit of fun and work rolled into one. You have to budget, pick out what you think will sell, what you think people will like, price each item and then organize the whole lot into our small retail space. It takes a couple of hours and we usually take turns. I'll post up a picture with some of the new merch soon.

In the very near future, we will be carrying an absolutely outstanding line of locally made collars and leads. They are made, by hand, by none other than Jinx's dad, Mike. He specializes in custom work and I assure you, these are the coolest dog leads and collars ever! Not only do they look awesome, they are extremely functional, comfortable and super-heavy-duty yet light. All of us at The Fort are quite excited about getting them in and we think y'all will enjoy them too . Gibson is going to get a custom one made for sure! :)

I'll leave ya with a few clips.

From the Big Roll... Love was in the air, Golden Retriever Love that is! Benny and Mollie were a hot item haha.



The Medium Roll was more fun than a barrel of monkeys!



In the Little Roll, Dwayne hooked up with Little Pearl and busted out even more! Every dog upstairs seemed to be having a blast today.



Cheers,

-Grant

Kool Kona Pic and Clips

(Our badge pic of Kona doesn't do her justice lol, she was very excited that day, hence the blur.)


Kona's owner brought me in a marvelous picture of the ever so sweet Kona posing with the Christmas toy Fort Fido gave her. Thanks for the photo guys! We are glad you enjoyed it Miss Kona.



Here are a couple of clips from this morning.

Our Little Roll was having an awesome time today, that's fairly normal of course. I thought this clip was funny, every pup cheesin' for Nancy. Pearl even throws her own ball hahaha.



From the Medium Roll, we see that new friend of The Fort, Gus, is fitting in with the pack seamlessly. I should have recorded minutes later, Gus was taking on everyone, doing it well and having a great time.



Last but certainly not least, the Big Roll. McGee and Marco Polo are birds of a feather. There was a lot of action in there today amongst the big dogs but this clip seemed the best.




Take care,

-Grant

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!

FOUR CLIPS

Short and sweet, twas a busy day.


Two from the Medium Roll with the ever so rowdy Buddah and Tikvah.





Two clips from the Little Roll, never a dull moment up there. Chloe and Pearl are always getting spunky no matter what day it is.






I should have had Mom (Nancy) film my dad (David) and I fixing the big utility sink downstairs this morning lol. Last night, Gary noticed that it was leaking heavily onto the floor! We had to shut the water off so there wasn't any bathroom/cleaning facilities downstairs for awhile. There was also a lot of mopping to do, doh! It was a bummer but luckily we got a new faucet on the thing and it's dry as a bone now. We actually got it fixed rather quickly without any foul language or bickering hahaha! We also got off cheap this time around. The last Fort Fido plumbing fiasco cost 50 times as much and let's just say we needed professional help.

;)

Cheers,

-Grant

Photos, Link and Clips!

Our newest employee, Kelsey (She's still behind the scenes at this point but is doing a fantastic job), took a couple of great photos the other day. I thought I'd share them because they turned out real swell. Click on the photos to enlarge them, the one of Koji is my particular favorite, so artsy lol.

Beija

Koji

Seamus

Cooper

Early this morning I found this link from MSN. It talks a bit about Hybrid Dog Breeds and their current popularity. I would certainly agree, the majority of Fort Fido dogs are mixed, "Designer Breeds", as we like to call them. They can be super-dogs for a variety of reasons. Some are even hypoallergenic! The Designer Breeds all seem to have Hybrid Vigor that combats the fussy physical problems many purebred breeds experience. Not all folks agree with that theory but this guy does. ;)


Here are three grand clips from The Rolls.

Up first, Maximus and Fort long-timer Murphy had a blast together today in the Big Roll.



New pup Kona has been loving it in the Medium Roll, there is ALWAYS someone to play with in that group!



From the Little Roll we have a strong trio battling it out, Chloe, Koji and Pearl. Not surprised by that one lol.




Have a great weekend!

-Grant
P.S. If you are looking for some family-fun this weekend, checkout the Enumclaw Christmas Parade this Saturday evening. My Pipe Band, among others, will be there. It should prove to be a real fun time for all, albeit, cold!

clips and liks

Hi there, hope your Monday is going good. Here are a few links and clips from today for ya.

The Medium Roll had the trio of friends Gracie , Sadie & Sofee mixing it up all day today.



From the Little Roll we find Mr. Pee-Wee acquiring a "girly friend" in Pearl. Good luck Pee-Wee, Pearl's a whole lot of woman hahaha.




The Links:

Elderly woman owes her life to her dog and Mailman

Dog makes life easier for boy with cerebral palsy

Pick your dog breed wisely

What can be done about family's aggressive little dog?

Train your dog for holiday gatherings

Cheers,

-Grant
P.S. Please remember, we will be closed this Thursday & Friday (Nov. 24th & 25th). We will be open and ready for action this Saturday (Nov. 26th).

_ - = 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

Tikvah (and others) doing great!

Got some neat clips today... Tikvah, in particular, has really been blossoming here at The Fort. She is now a member of our Medium Roll. Tikvah has grown a bit and plays hard, those are the factors the facilitated the move. :) Since being with the medium group, she has been doing exceptionally well. Check it out!





Watch this next clip, Ginger, is one of the most agile dogs we have here. She almost does a full back flip, attempting to snatch the ball mid-air, in the beginning of this one.



The last clip is some ball from the Little Roll and play from the best friend-"Rebel Rousers" Chloe & Pearl. You can hear our newest employee, Kelsey, just making sure the pups aren't getting too wild. ;)



Leaving y'all with a few news articles found this afternoon:

Training a dog to stop jumping up (Always a tricky one, we get asked about it often.)

When it's time to sue over poop (Heaven forbid!)

Halloween tips for you and your dog (Posted one like this last week, there is always some good stuff in articles like this.)

Take it easy,

-Grant

Check out these kicks!

Thanks to Pearl's ma, Phylis, for the pic of these puppies... I think Hope and or Nancy should get a pair hahaha!

Our Dog Trainer, Garrett Stevens, is going to be launching a new website soon... Looks like our man Gary will end up being the webmaster, too cool, way to go!

Garrett has sent me some fantastic photos of him and his boxers, I've updated the Training Page on our site with them. We hope to have some new training class and seminar dates up soon. I'm guessing the dates will be after the holidays.

Take it easy today,

-Grant
P.S. O yeah, we scored a nice clip of the Little Rollers doing there thing today. It was a fun group!

Fido & Clips

(Apparently, this is a Photo of a Hubley Cast Iron Piggy-Bank from the early 1900's, cool!)

Why did "Fido" become the generic family dog name?

I didn't know either lol, maybe you did... I just learned that Fido comes from the Latin fidus, meaning faithful / I trust, a very fitting term for "Man's best friend". Neat, ya learn something new everyday. ;)


Now here are some outstanding clips from today's rolls.

First up, Abby, Grady, Stella and Ziva have been romping hard all day together in the Big Roll.



It has also been a Chocolate Lab fest in the Large Roll today, here, Osbourne, Kodiak and Grady have a triple threat match. They must know their the same breed lol.



Things were fast and furious in the Medium Roll today as always. Miss Phoebe loves stirring up a pot of chase games... Buddha, Diego and Zeus pursue.



Check Pearl out in the Little Roll, she found a big orange ball that she really digs... A clip was taken later in the day and she was still after that ball, too funny.



Last but certainly not least, new pup Mooshu and Pearl had a late afternoon wrestling match that we were able to capture. What a blast!



Take care,

-Grant

Meet Merry Mooshu!

Meet Mooshu! He is a four month old, three pound, spunky little Yorkshire Terrier (Yorkie). Boy, if he doesn't win you over with his photogenicness (yup, that isn't a word lol) then his sweet personality will get ya for sure. Mooshu did well in our Little Roll upstairs. He speaks decent "dog" for a young lad and even played a bit. He's met Pearl at the dog park before but fell in love with... You guessed it, Ginger (1,2) hahaha! This is the third young pup to fall for her, those darn redheads. We look forward to seeing Mooshu again, he's a nice addition to the Little Pack.

Take it easy,

-Grant
P.S. I couldn't stop thinking about Moo shu pork when I heard this guys name, too funny. Also, Mushoo is a friend of Fort Fido long-time-big-rollers Lucas and Harriet. Their owners run a great business near us, Fircrest Children's Dentistry... Our main man Gary operates their website. What a small world with seemingly endless connections. :)

some news and a cute Pearl pic

Pearl's owner Phyllis sent me in a wonderfully cute photo of little Pearl posing sweetly. Thanks for the pic Phyllis!




Some news bits I found this afternoon...

Dog's storm phobia (Not sure how Gibby will react, luckily they don't happen often, I'm guilty of not liking storms.)

A great article on re-calls AKA "Fido come!" (Several customers chat with me about the frustration of their pet not coming when they call... I've known the feeling!)

The Zen of Dog Training (Neat stuff here, very true, stay calm... Not always easy to do.)

New Dog Game-Show (Sounds interesting, hopefully it's more than a one hour special.)

A dog at the funeral captured on video (Warning, this is a sad one.)

Happy Monday lol!

-Grant

Two Logan Pics & Clips

Logan's ma Becky was kind enough to send in some funny photos of the big guy. Here he is posing with his favorite beverage hahaha. Wow, I've heard of a little beer now and again for a dogs coat but I can't vouch for the Irish Whiskey.




Here is a clip from very early in the morning. Beautiful Irish Setter Miura is usually the first one in the Medium Roll. When she is the first dog in, her and Nancy love having one on one ball time together.



It's official! Chloe and Pearl have "Busted Out" (AKA began to act like pack members, really interacting and playing.) there is no stopping these two pups now, everyday will be fun filled for them in the Little Roll.



Medium Roll pooch Madi has also been branching out and doing well. Here she takes on Boxer Boy Zeus for some excitement.




Have a nice weekend,

-Grant
P.S. No, Logan doesn't really drink whiskey... Don't worry! Fort Fido, LLC does not condone giving your dog alcohol. Heck, our pets don't even get table scraps! ;)