Busy Busy Tuesday

Hi All !

We had so much going on today (Tuesday)

Let me first back up to Monday and welcome Otis

(Boxer- see 1st pic picture above) to our Canines Unleashed family. After meeting only 1 dog Otis decided he wanted to go straight into the large pack, which he did within about 30 seconds of entering Canines Unleashed, and he never looked back. Rarely do we see a dog with such never ending exuberance for life even when faced with a pack of over 100 dogs. He wasn't intimidated in the least. He just saw it as an opportunity to make

100 new friends. We expect Otis to be a very entertaining part of our family.

Back to Tuesday. Today (Tuesday) we had a special guest for the day. Peter Chen, a photographer from the Post Standard, was with us for the entire day. (See Pic #2) He was one

of the few guests that has been through pretty much every aspect of what we do in a day (Although he didn't stay after closing to help clean--what's up with that Peter ?) Peter was also one of the only people brave enough to do it entirely in the pack with the dogs. Sometimes when

we have a guest it upsets the balance of the pack and we have to work harder to keep everything under control but Peter was as relaxed in the pack as if he did this every day and the dogs were so well behaved and I think they were happy to have someone new to look at for a change. Hahahah! Seriously though, we had a great time with you Peter. We hope you enjoyed it too. Stay tuned for info on when to see us in the Post Standard.

While Peter was snapping pictures, three of our "Young Ones Pack" (Satchel, Mario, and Bently)

didn't even seem to notice he was there. When these guys are together they are always in their own little world and fun is the name of the game. See pictures #3 & #4.

And finally, we are happy to announce that Minnie the great Dane (pic #4 above) has made a breakthrough and has joined our big pack today. Minnie came to us as a very shy dog afraid of other dogs. She has spent the last few weeks in small packs of dogs just learning that Canines Unleashed is a fun place and other dogs are not necessarily something to be feared. It was a hard road for Minnie. The first day she was in a pack of only 5 dogs and she was scared, nervous, and uncomfortable the whole time. We slowly moved a few more carefully selected dogs into her pack each time she came and today she moved through the big pack with the knowledge that we had her back, nothing bad was going to happen to her here, and Canines Unleashed was a fun place. Nothing is more rewarding than to know we have made a difference in a dogs life. That is what we are here for. Whether it's to help a dog gain confidence and get over some of their fears, to help find a dog a forever home, or just to watch them have fun and happily be a dog. That is what Canines Unleashed is all about .

Monday we had bad news about some of our daycare dogs it seemed almost all day long. From gravely ill, to someone moving , to even a death. We had heavy hearts and there was a gloom over the daycare. It made me, and I'm sure some of my staff, wonder if we could really do this job and over and over again go through the end of the inevitable short lives of these "friends" that we love so much. But then today, in my mind partly because she knew we needed a boost, Minnie makes an unexpected breakthrough and we again feel like we made a difference in her life and what we do here really does matter. And as the other dogs, who also feel our pain, gather round each of us for much needed kisses we have a really great day and they once again give us the strength to start to get over yet another loss and show "US" for a change

what Canines Unleashed is all about.

That's it for now

Ann and Zoe