Precious Piper



Our friend Riley just got a sidekick!! this is Piper, the tri-color Papillon also known as "the butterfly dog" or "Continental Toy Spaniel" and the breed hails from France. According to legend, Marie Antoinette carried a Papillon with her to the guillotine, the dog was spared and lived out the rest of it's life at a building in Paris that is still called Papillon House to this day. Great dogs, with great history! Piper is getting all of her stuff ready to come join us at The Fort and we couldn't be more excited to have her.

We have also received the newest issue of The Pet Connection's bi-monthly newsletter featuring yet another awesome article from our good friend that I'm sure some of you remember Garrett Stevens of Alpha and Omega Dog Training. So next time you're at The Fort, be sure to grab a copy of it on your way through the lobby!

 

Thanks for reading and have a fantastic weekend! Be sure to tune in Monday to check out this weekend's assessment.

 

 

-Ryan W. 

Can your pup take the heat?

With the recent local heat wave, I decided to give you a few quick tips to help keep your pooch nice and cool this summer,
If your pup is a mostly outside, or yard dog, be sure to provide lots of shade, cool water with ice cubes in it, and a retreat back inside during the hottest hours of the day (between 3 pm and 4:30 pm each afternoon)

Another cool trick is to use the "Kong" chewtoy that your dog already loves. stuff it with wet food or peanut butter, then freeze it. It's a great way to keep your dog both entertained and nice and cool. Fun ice cubes filled with healthy snacks like peas or carrots are another great way to beat the heat!

 Something else to keep in mind, is that a dog’s normal body temperature is 100-102 degrees. So when we're hot, they are too. Watch closely for signs of heatstroke like, panting hard, staggering gait, rapid heartbeat, dazed look, listlessness, restlessness, dark red or purple gums and/or tongue and vomiting. If you suspect a heat-induced illness in your dog, gradually lower his body temperature by moving him to the shade or air conditioning, apply cold packs to his head, neck or belly, or immerse in cool (not cold) water, and then take him to the vet immediately.

 

Speaking of cold packs, I've seen some pretty awesome stuff coming out on the market designed specifically for the furriest of our friends. Collars, vests, and beds, all made to either hold ice packs in them, or actually are ice packs themselves, made to be frozen and then worn on those hot days.

Summer can be a great time for both man and man's best friend. With just a couple of extra precautions, both you and Fido can enjoy your fun in the sun!

 

-Ryan

 

P.S. Don't forget to grab your copy of The Pet Connection from the Fort Fido lobby. This issue features another great article by local trainer and Fort Fido friend Garrett Stevens, this time the topic is dealing with fearfulness in dogs.

Every rose has its THORN...

Sorry, I couldn't resist, so many "thorny things" popped into my head, hahaha! What an outstanding name for a dog! Original and with the right amount of syllables lol, seriously.



Meet Thorn, he is a super-striking, four month old, sixteen pound, Miniature Australian Shepherd. Now, Thorn may have gotten off to a rough start in life (Puppy-Mill Rescue), but his new owners are doing their very best to help move him forward. Thorn was not properly socialized with humans. Everyone involved with him, including, awesome Dog Trainer Garrett Stevens, is trying to help him gain more confidence. Especially confidence in us humans. So, with that said, he is not sure what to make of most strangers. David worked with him some this morning, encouraging him to relax and enjoy some "comfort touch" before the other dogs arrived at The Fort.



With canines, Thorn is much different. He seemed to be at home in the Medium Roll and interacted with a few other canines occasionally. We believe, with time and proper consistency, Dog Daycare will help Thorn transition his socialization skills towards improvement.

Take care,

-Grant

Super Sammy

The other day I mentioned that I would tell ya about the new pup, Sammy, that we assessed. Here is the scoop!

Sammy is a three and a half month old, twenty-six+ pound, Yellow Colored Labradoodle. He is currently enrolled in our Group Training Class (one more week left, good job students!) with Garrett Stevens and new puppy Bear. So, with that said, Sammy has already played a bit with other dogs at The Fort before we even met him lol! This convivial canine is a typical, happy-go-lucky pup. He did a fine job with the others in the Medium Roll pack and romped for a long duration with that little Bear fella, among others. Sammy, like Bear, may or may not graduate to the Big Roll in time. For now, he is doing just fine in the Medium Roll and was a pleasure to have here at Fort Fido. We hope to see Sammy in here again soon, nice job bud!

Enjoy your weekend! I am definitely looking forward to it and it starts tonight for me with the Masters of Scottish Arts Concert at Benaroya Hall. Speaking of Bagpipes.... My band's 49th Annual Tartan Ball is coming up soon. Saturday March 24th, 8:00PM at The Puyallup Fairgrounds Pavilion. Please do attend if interested and say hello. I'll buy ya whatever beverage you fancy.

;)

-Grant
P.S. Almost forgot! Here are two clips I saved from Wednesday that have some Sammy in them... Mostly Bogie though lol. They don't really do him justice but at least you get a peak, by the time these were captured, he was getting tired.

Revered Ruby

Hi there, feast your eyes on Ruby! She is a four month old, thirty pound, Goldendoodle that had her assessment this morning. Ruby is a very sweet dog with quite a ravishing look about her. She is attending Fort Fido for socialization because she tends to be a bit timid around other canines. In our Medium Roll, Ruby did just fine, despite not interacting too much with the other pack members. The good thing is that Ruby did not act fearful or uncomfortable around the other dogs, she just didn't engage them. There is much hope left for her. We believe Ruby may come around to playing with the pups after some daycare-consistency.

Ruby is currently enrolled in, and doing well in, our Basic Obedience and Leadership class. Dog trainer extraordinaire Garrett Stevens, runs the class, it fills up quickly and it's popular!

Swell job today Ruby, we shall see you again soon.

Have a nice weekend, enjoy the weather,

-Grant

Getting ready for class

Howdy, I hope your weekend went well. Sure glad that this weather is approaching "normal" lol, what a headache it has been. We had a great group of dogs today even if they were a bit wound-up, you know, cabin fever and all. ;)

My folks and I (David & Nancy) spent part of Sunday getting ready for our group training class starting January 31st. There are three more spots available in the class, it is not too late to sign up. Just give us a call (253-460-0299)! Mom spent her time doing a lot of touch-up painting while dad and I hung up our old outdoor banner/sign near the Big Roll. It turned out pretty cool. Dad also did some fence repair. On Saturday, Manager Hope sealed the seams of our rubber flooring. That is a difficult job, lucky for us she's good at it.


This morning I caught a great action clip of the Medium Roll, have a look.



Take care,

-Grant

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Today I just wanted to say, we are very lucky here at Fort Fido. We have outstanding customers, wonderful dogs, a nice facility, a tremendous, well-seasoned staff, fun training classes, a food we can sleep at night selling and a great reputation! Wow, there is a lot of "horn to toot" hahaha, the list goes on and on...

As I reflect on 2011, I realize that it was a pivotal year for The Fort. It was our fifth year in business (some folk say you've "made it" when you hit that number) which was hallmarked by winning Best Doggy Daycare in the South Puget Sound by South Sound Magazine. Time has gone by so fast. It feels like only yesterday Dad (David) was saying, "Man your Battle Stations!", in all seriousness, while anticipating an eight dog day. Hahaha! My how we have grown, learned and improved over these last five. We shall continue to do so! I can't say what the future will bring. However, I can promise that Fort Fido will continue to provide a superior Dog Daycare service to all in the coming years.

As always, we here in "dog land" lol thank you all for your business and support, past years, this year and years to come! We (our whole staff included) take pride in what we do and hope that it shows through in our efforts.

With that said, have a safe and happy New Year's Celebration. Best wishes to you and yours for 2012. The wife and I will probably be checking out First Night. There was good fireworks one year down by Ruston Way, might do that too. The Fort is open tomorrow with it's regular Saturday hours (9am - 6pm). It's a perfect day to get some energy out of your pups before the festivities begin. Drop on in!

Cheers!

-Grant
P.S. We have received a couple of grand new reviews on Yelp and Google. You can check them out here and here. Feel free to help us bring in the New Year by letting the world know how awesome Fort Fido is! ;)

My wife has been using Yelp quite a bit, she enjoys reviewing restaurants and other businesses with it on her iPhone. Believe it or not, I can hardly work one of those darn things. Gary programs apps for them! Maybe we need to get some type of Fort Fido App going someday, not sure how many use them? A reminder/alarm to pick up your pet? Schedule and pay over the phone? Hmmm...

Also, if you have worked with everyone's favorite Dog Trainer, Garrett Stevens, please leave him a supportive review as well. Garrett has launched his new website recently. His business is continuing to thrive and he is gaining much popularity in the South Sound. Way to go Garrett!

A & O Dog Training Site Launches and Documentaries

Our in-house dog trainer, Garrett Stevens, of Alpha & Omega Dog Training, has been working with us for a couple of years now. Garrett offers some outstanding dog training classes and seminars here at The Fort. We are excited to announce the launch of Garrett's new website, check it out here. Congratulations Alpha & Omega Dog Training! Another interesting fact is that our main man, Gary, is the Webmaster/Designer of Garrett's new website, too cool, nice job.


I am a big fan of Documentaries and Non-Fiction... I've watched several of the neat films over at snagfilms. There are many wonderful, canine related, documentaries on the site. I thought I would list some of them here for y'all to enjoy. Please note, not all of these are total "feel goods", specifically the top two, but they are all very informative none the less.

Rez Dogs

Dog Bless You

Those Wonderful Dogs

Man & Dog, An Evolving Partnership

A Pug's Life

Canine Confidential

Demon The Biker Chihuahua


Hope your week has started off well!

-Grant

New Training Class & Seminar Dates

We finally have some new Dog Training Class and Seminar dates up on our website. They will be after the holidays, it's a lot easier for everyone in class that way.

Our Calm & Balanced Seminar will be:

February 26th

11:00 am - 12:30 pm $50 All dogs welcome.

Dog Whispering VS. Dog Training!

Will Cover (or examine)

- How Dog's Think

- Pack Life

- Communicating With Canines

- The Alpha

- Corrections

Don't be shy, bring your crazy, hyper or wild dog and Garrett will do live demos!

Our Basic Obedience & Leadership Classes will be:

January 31st - February 16th

Tuesdays & Thursdays 7:15 pm - 8:15 pm (six one hour classes) $140 All dogs welcome.

Basic Obedience & Leadership includes six custom classes that will cover:

- Pack dynamics & socialization

- The importance of body language & energy

- Housebreaking

- "Sit, down, stay" commands

- Loose leash walking & "heel" command

- "Leave it" command

- "Go to your place/crate/bed" command

- "Come" or Recall command

So anywho... Go ahead and get signed up now! Just stop by or give us a call. ;)

Late Friday evening I found a wonderful Galley of photos on King5's website. It is the Dogs of War Gallery. Check it out here.

I hope your work week goes well,

-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!

Happy Anniversary...

To us lol! I hope y'all had a nice Labor Day Weekend and took it easy. Sunday the fourth marked Fort Fido's Fifth Anniversary. Wow, five years in the business happened so fast, it has been nothing short of amazing. We look forward to the next five years, we will be doing our very best to continue being the premier Dog Daycare facility of the South Sound. Special thanks to our wonderful customers, there is no way we could have made it this far without you! Over 500 dogs have passed through our doors to date, incredible! Thanks to the many of you that have been with us since the beginning. It has been a treat watching your pups grow into healthy dogs over the years. One more thanks to my business partners and parents (David and Nancy), my, what we have accomplished together, I'm quite proud of you both. Ok I lied, one more thanks... Thank you to the Fort Fido Staff! In particular, Hope, Gary, Austin & Matt. Keep up the good work, you guys rock!

In other Fido news... Basic Obedience and Leadership class with Garrett Stevens starts tonight, we'll see you at 7:15 PM, don't be late ;).

I spent the weekend with The Band playing in the Ellensburg Rodeo Parade as well as the Roslyn Parade. It was a blast, for some reason we are treated like rockstars out there lol... It's standing room only everywhere you turn, especially in the pubs. Here are just two of the 190 photos that were on my camera.

Cheesin w/ new stache styling

This cute pooch's vest said "Adopt me". There were a handful of rescue-dog-organizations involved with the two parades.

For our five year anniversary present, we bought ourselves a Viper... That's a new floor scrubber by the way, not to be confused with the sports car hahaha.


Have a great day, stay cool this week!

-Grant

Come to our open house this Sunday!

(Click to enlarge)

You can win this awesome basket in our free drawing if you show up! You must be present to enter the drawing but not present to win.



The Fort Fido Open House is this Sunday March 6th from 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM. Please stop by and say hi, there will be guests and refreshments. Of course our dog friends are welcome to come too!

Just another note, there is still room in our Balanced and Calm Seminar Sunday morning March 6th from 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM (before the Open House). The seminar has been a hit for us, it is very informative. Get signed up! The cost is $50. Bring your pooch and questions. Trainer Garrett Stevens will be doing live demos.

Cheers,

-Grant

upcoming classes & weather cancellations

Our next Basic Obedience and Leadership Group Training Class starts on Monday the 28th. It is not too late to sign up, there is space available.

On Sunday March 6th we will be having another Calm and Balanced Seminar. These seminars have been a hit, they are very informative. Trainer Garrett Stevens does live demos so bring your dog!


A word about the snow...

Apparently we are going to get nailed with the white stuff tonight, looks like it's already begun. Something to note, Fort Fido is always open, regardless of weather conditions (I live very close to The Fort).

If you need to cancel your dogs reservation for any reason, make sure to call us. You have until 7:00 PM that day to let us know you aren't coming. Our cancellation policy is very liberal (some places make you call 24 hours in advance!), you can even leave a message. If you don't call us you will lose the day.

Please drive safe tonight and tomorrow morning. No need to call us if you are picking up earlier than your usual time (unless of course it's between 11 am & 3 pm).

Take care,

-Grant

Just a heads up...

Our Basic Obedience and Leadership class featuring trainer Garrett Stevens starts tonight. The class is full!

Starting February 28th we will be having another three week Basic Obedience and Leadership class.

On Sunday March 6th, Fort Fido and Garret Stevens will be putting on a Calm and Balanced Seminar... It is very entertaining and informative. Garrett covers many things, especially how to communicate properly with your dog. He also does live demonstrations so bring your pet!

Many great doggie news articles were found today, take a look.

Winter jacket saves dog from owl

Dog scares away would-be robber

Mr. Peabody has a voice cast in the new Dreamworks film

Dog survives Brazil floods & stays by owner's grave for days

Mouth-to-snout resuscitation saves dog

New AKC National Champ is a Australian Shepherd

Take it easy,

-Grant

Mirthful Milly

Milly was in bright and early for her assessment this morning. She is a seven year old, eighty-eight pound Golden Retriever that ventured into the Big Roll. Milly is here to learn how to be around other dogs. On Friday, her sister Lilly will be coming in to get a grasp on the same idea. Their owner's goal is to have them be more social with other dogs because all they have ever known is each other. Milly did ok but didn't know what to think of it all. Fortunately, she didn't mind the other dogs trying to get to know her. Nice job Milly.

Lilly and Milly's owner has been working with outstanding trainer, Garrett Stevens of Alpha & Omega Dog Training (253-653-4890). Garrett tells us that they are making good progress. Their owner is also working with Lorian Collins of Pampered Pets Plus (253-278-4168), a local pet sitter that specializes in conscious services for pets and their people. We have gotten a lot of positive feedback on Garrett and Lorian from several Fort Fido customers. If you are interested in any of their services I recommend giving them a call.

Take it easy,

-Grant
P.S. Just a reminder, this Tuesday's Basic Obedience and Leadership Class, with Garrett Stevens, is almost full. If you are interested call The Fort (253-460-0299) to get signed up!

Obedience Class Update & Links

(Hahaha, this looks a lot like a Dog I know...)

Mark your calendars... We have a new Basic Obedience and Leadership class starting up, after the Holidays, on January 18th 2011. If you are interested, checkout the Training Page of our site for more information.

Here are a couple of doggie links I found today: Now Your iPhone Could Save Your Dog's Life and What Are The 5 Best Dogs For Your Family?

Cheers,

-Grant

Clip of Garrett in action!

We got a clip of our trainer Garrett Stevens in action. It was taken during our last group training class. Garrett is awesome, very lively, result oriented and hands on. The class was working on "heeling" at the time.



Click here to checkout upcoming classes and seminars at the fort with Garrett.

Cheers,

-Grant

Ryker & a few shots from class

This morning's assessment was Ryker. He is an eight month old, 80 pound, Yellow Labrador Retriever. Talk about energy and excitement! When he came through the door I think he knew what was going on, "Yes, It's time to play Doggie!". Ryker played (or at least tried to play) with almost everyone in the Big Roll. He made quite a few buddies and really ripped it up, in short, he was into it! We plan on seeing more of Ryker, Doggie Daycare is really good for this one.

Take it easy this weekend,

-Grant
P.S. Another Basic Obedience and Leadership class (with trainer Garrett Stevens) graduated last night, here are a couple of photos. Also added a clip of Ryker and Finn!

Training Class

The Basic Obedience and Leadership training class kicked off last night at the fort. We had a nice mix of 10 dogs, their owners and guests. Dad (Dave) snagged a few shots while our trainer Garrett Stevens did his thing. Everyone was soaking up the information like sponges lol. Way to go! I hope to get some graduation shots going after class is over in a couple of weeks.

Take care,

-Grant

Class tonight & the pits in despair

Fort Fido is excited to start its new group training class tonight! We are featuring basic obedience & leadership with Garrett Stevens. Our plan is to offer a variety of group training classes and workshops designed to strengthen the communication between owner and pet. A few rascals from the fort will be in attendance tonight. :)


In other dog news, unfortunately not good or exciting, I ask myself "What are these fools thinking?".

Have fun in class tonight pups, give 'em hell! Hehehe! Take care everybody,

-Grant