Clips

This first clip is from upstairs where daycare veteran Oliver introduced newcomer Cooper to the game of fetch. Cooper assessed with us last week and had his first full day of daycare today where he had a great time meeting and playing with new friends.






This next video features Thorn, the Miniature Australian Shepherd and Pancake, an energetic Border Collie over in our medium roll.






Have a great week,
-Matt

 

Louis tearing it up with his buds!

We got a couple of good clips of our buddy Louis-- first up is him in action with the herding ball during his boarding stay. I didn't know until just now that these are the same sort of balls that lions, tigers, and bears (oh my!) play with at the zoo.

I meant to get this clip up yesterday, of all our Saturday dogs tearing it up! Featured prominently in the clip are Louis and Samwise, and they are joined by Louis and Baer as well.

As you can see, we've been having a fun-filled time as usual! I hope that you took advantage of the sunshine this weekend and did the same :-)

-Hope

- Majestic Mimi -

Fort Fido was graced with the presence of another wonderful little dog today... Meet Mimi! She is a mature, six year old, seventeen pound, Shih Tzu/Yorkshire Terrier Mix. Mimi ventured upstairs to the Little Roll for her assessment. She was calm, confident, and very well balanced. Although Mimi didn't play a whole heck of a lot, she was very content, constantly wagging her tail and looking pleased. This happy little dog, will be a first-rate addition to the Little Roll's Pack, and, we plan on seeing her again next week. Way to go Mimi, we sure hope you'll bust out some feisty play soon!

:)

Have a great - and hopefully sunny- weekend,

-Grant
P.S. Here's an early Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there! I love ya David, and good luck/congrats to our soon-to-be-a-daddy-man, Ryan. Woo hoo!

= Copacetic Cooper =

Get a load of Cooper, what a cutie, talk about striking a pose! He is a four month old, eleven pound, Pomeranian/ Miniature Australian Shepherd Mix, that had his assessment this morning.

Cooper hung out with us and The Pack in our Little Roll, where he did an absolutely outstanding job. He wasted no time getting in on the action. Cooper went straight to meeting and greeting, then went right into play with any canine that was game. He even got in on Nancy's Skinneeez Fox Huntin game lol! This little puppy boy was a lot of fun to have at The Fort today. We are thrilled that he had such a blast here. Cooper, you are welcome back anytime my man. Well done!

Cheers,

-Grant

The Oatmeal

The Oatmeal strikes again with doggy-hilariousness!

I loved it, hopefully some of you will too. Click the big green letters lol...

How I see my Dog

VS

How I see my FriendBeast

Hahaha!!!

Take care,

-Grant
P.S. O by the way, just in case you didn't see it... Checkout the last super-funny The Oatmeal comic that I posted last time = My Dog: The Paradox  :)

What a dog!

One of our awesome past customers, sent me some entertaining information on Military K9s (one in particular) awhile ago... I have been meaning to post it on our blog, today, I've finally gotten around to it lol. Enjoy! Click on the photos to enlarge them.

          

The Dog That Cornered Osama Bin Laden... Not your standard K9. When the President went to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, for a highly publicized, but very private meeting with the commando team that killed Osama bin Laden, only one of the 81 members of the super-secret SEAL DevGru unit was identified by name: Cairo, the war dog. Cairo, like most canine members of the elite U.S. Navy SEALs, is a Belgian Malinois. The Malinois breed is similar to German shepherds but smaller and more compact, with an adult male weighing in the 30-kilo range.

German shepherds are still used as war dogs by the American military
but the lighter, stubbier Malinois is considered better for the tandem
parachute jumping and rappelling operations often undertaken by
SEAL teams.  Labrador retrievers are also favoured by various military
organizations around the world.

Like their human counterparts, the dog SEALs are highly trained, highly
skilled, highly motivated special ops experts, able to perform
extraordinary military missions by Sea, Air and Land (thus the acronym SEAL).
The dogs carry out a wide range of specialized duties for the military
teams to which they are attached: With a sense of smell 40 times greater
than a human's, the dogs are trained to detect and identify both explosive
material and hostile or hiding humans.
The dogs are twice as fast as a fit human, so anyone trying to escape is
not likely to outrun Cairo or his buddies.

The dogs, equipped with video cameras, also enter certain danger zones
first, allowing their handlers to see what's ahead before humans follow.
As I mentioned before, SEAL dogs are even trained parachutists,
jumping either in tandem with their handlers or solo, if the jump is into
water.  Last year canine parachute instructor Mike Forsythe and his dog
Cara set the world record for highest man-dog parachute deployment,
jumping from more than 30,100 feet up - the altitude transoceanic
passenger jets fly at.  Both Forsythe and Cara were wearing oxygen
masks and skin protectors for the jump.
Here's a photo from that jump, taken by Andy Anderson for K9 Storm Inc.
(more about those folks shortly).

As well, the dogs are faithful, fearless and ferocious “incredibly
frightening" and efficient attackers.
When the SEAL DevGru team (usually known by its old designation,
Team 6) hit bin Laden's Pakistan compound on May 2, Cairo 's feet would
have been four of the first on the ground.
And like the human SEALs, Cairo was wearing super-strong, flexible body
Armour and outfitted with high-tech equipment that included "doggles" -
specially designed and fitted dog goggles with night-vision and infrared
capability that would even allow Cairo to see human heat forms through
concrete walls.

Now where on earth would anyone get that kind of incredibly niche hi-tech doggie gear? From Winnipeg, of all places. Jim and Gloria Slater's Manitoba hi-tech mom-and-pop business, K9 Storm Inc., has a deserved worldwide reputation for designing and manufacturing probably the best body Armour available for police and military dogs.  Working dogs in 15 countries around the world are currently protected by their K9 Storm body Armour.

Simply amazing, what phenomenal canines!

Be well,

-Grant

Photos

Here are a couple of great photos that we've taken here at FortFido over the last few days.

 

 Sierra & Dakota

Polo & Grady

Zipper

Diego

Jackson

 

 

Have a great week,

-Matt