Today we took advantage of having "only 67" dogs and took out our tunnels for some indoor fun. Some had a great time inside the tunnels and others spent their time on the outside of the tunnels rolling them around on the floor.  And then there was Molly Fassler and Molly Anna Pictured below

Molly Fassler says "Let the young ones use the tunnel. I'm catching up on my nap time."

.

Molly Anna says "Naps are good but these pillows they gave us are kinda hard!"

Tunnel Day @ Canines Unleashed

Hannah

Duncan

Bailey

"I'm gonna try and run past Hannah"

"Hey ! Who turned out the lights?"

Duncan trying to get the ball through the tunnel.

Bailey claiming tunnel space

Morrie

Riley L  says "Why go through the tunnel when you can go around!"

Bailey still in the tunnel

Riley says "Okay, I'm in the tunnel. Now get out of my way!

 "(In the background Samantha looks on.)

Pirate

Pirate and Bailey

Zoe and I would like to thank everyone for making it another great year at Canines Unleashed.  Happy New Year to all.

It's A Girl!

Zoe, Ziggy, Dallas, and Doppio would like to announce the arrival of their new baby sister, Diva! 

A Blue Harlequin Great Dane, Diva was just eight weeks old and very petite when she arrived last week and came all the way from Michigan.  Diva got her name for her early penchant for her mom's purse (and anything else shaped like a purse) and she's already living up to her name with a fancy coat befitting only the most hardcore (and stunningly gorgeous) Rodeo Drive shopper.  She's quick to answer back the most common question people have when seeing her, "Yes, daaahlings, I am real."

If you want to catch a glimpse of her the next time you're in, just look for the flashing bulbs of the paparrazzi (or just ask).

Speaking of births, we're busy celebrating a bunch of birthdays in December.  Happy Birthday to Naya, Tootsie, Snowflake, Chauncy, Meatloaf, Niki, Preston, Willow, Sasha F, Toby H, Hannah, Buddy W, Maurice, Mazie, Casey R, Angel, Khloe & Lexie, Folger, Marlynn, Harley T, Madden, Jax, Toby S, and Tyson.  We'd sing to you, but you'd all howl and drown us out.

We've added a few new dogs to the Canines Unleashed family, too!  Please join us in welcoming Riley P, Talulah, Teddy C, Choco, Bella B, Pirate, and Tucker F. 

Our winter preparations are continuing.  In our last post, we showed you what the dogs are doing to get ready for the snow.  We've got some changes inside as well.  Our little dog room has been closed down for the winter and our "Littles" have been moved to a prime location in a section of one of the larger playrooms.  All their furniture and toys have made the trip too, so it's a home away from home, so to speak.  For now, you can see the Littles on Camera 3 (aka Large Breed 2) if you're watching online, but we're in the process of getting a camera in place for a better view.  Please bear with us while we make this change.

We're now ready inside and out!  Ok snow, bring it.

Practice Makes Perfect

We're still enjoying unseasonably warm weather for December and the dogs are asking us when it's going to snow.  We're trying to distract them from those kinds of thoughts, so today, we practiced some skills we know we'll use once 30 feet of snow is on the ground.


Gretta and Bellona showed us that the top of the dog house is just as high as a pile of snow.  Step one: Climb on top.  Step two: Survey the yard.  Step three: Brag to the other dogs that there's only room for two.  

Riley says, "I'm shorter, so I'll practice getting on shorter snowbanks."  Bellona was not impressed.  Riley pointed out that she has a lot more fur than Bellona does and thinks she's going to have the last laugh when it's a real snowbank we're talking about.

When it comes time for fun (sliding down the snowbanks), Bentley will be ready.  He got lots of practice in today.

Ready....set....

.......Go!

Meanwhile, over in the Littles yard, Teddy was practicing some sliding skills, too.

Jeter coached Giselle through her snowbank sliding practice.

Back over in the big yard, Roy and Murphy hatched a plan to include windows and doors when building their snow fort.  Now, if they just had thumbs....

Gus practiced herding snowballs.  You can't let those snowballs run loose, you know.

Freckles played keep-away from Romey and Bentley with her Goughnut Stick (aka Cigar).  She thinks all this snow talk is just silly nonsense.

Abby says, "I don't need to practice...these legs are like doggy four wheel drive!"



One thing's for sure...when it does snow, we're ready! 





Seasons Change

There's a chill in the air and it seems though we've enjoyed a fairly warm fall season, snowflakes are in our near future.  With the change in seasons come some changes here at Canines Unleashed.

Since our last post, we've added some new members to our daycare family and welcomed: Lexie K, Piper, Rooney, Jackson, Caesar, Tia, Pippalina, Vincenzo, Lily V, Mick, Brody, Chloe, Willie, Rocco, Hudson, Bella T, Daisy H, Barney, Dewey, Molly B, Dunkin L, Bailey C, Riley L, Zoe K, Miley, and Rosco.  And the list keeps growing!

Though weekday enrollment is up, our Saturday daycare enrollments have been down for some time, so we made the decision to no longer offer daycare services on Saturdays.  We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.  However, our retail store remains open on Saturdays from 8:00-4:00 for all your shopping needs.  What a great time to come in and shop for the holidays without a certain furry someone sneaking a peek at what "Santa" will be bringing!

Speaking of Santa...holiday preparations are underway in our retail store and our Christmas Corner will soon be fully stocked!  Festive holiday ties, collars, and sweaters will be back as in previous years, along with holiday toys and treats.  What Christmas stocking would be complete without one of the very popular antlers for chewing?  We have a huge selection of elk, deer, and moose antlers - all naturally shed, so no creatures were harmed in the making of this super-tough chew toy.  While we're on the subject of tough chew toys...if you've got a toy-destroyer at home, make sure you check out the Goughnut.  Probably "the" toughest chew toy available, the Goughnut comes in the original ring shape, a stick shape, and now a ball, all in several sizes for any dog.  These toys are so tough that the manufacturer backs them with a free replacement guarantee if your pup chews through to the red inner core.  Wow!  We've also got a new spin on some returning favorites this year and we're calling them our "ginormous" toys.  By the way, did you know "ginormous" is now listed in the dictionary?  Some old favorites are now available in a super-huge size: the Hide-A-Squirrel plush toy (we also carry the Hide-A-Bird and Hide-A-Bee in the smaller size), animal squeaker mats (so many squeakers, it's like bubble wrap for your dog), and the Invincibles line (they keep squeaking even when punctured).  We're pretty sure we've got something for every size dog or type of chewer that's out there, so be sure to do some of your Christmas shopping with us.  Also, watch the Clipper Magazine for our upcoming ad!

Besides stocking our lobby with Christmas goodies galore, we are very busy working on our annual holiday pictures, too.  As you can imagine with the large family we have, it's a huge undertaking and we started this process a couple of months ago.  Though we will be able to continue the tradition of these holiday photos, we regret that we will not be offering printed Christmas cards this year.

The change in seasons also brings with it some sad news for us to share and this month we had to say goodbye to someone we loved very much.  One of our very first customers, Darche, passed away.  A Basenji (known as the "barkless dog"), Darche had been with us since 2003 and had a unique and fun-loving personality, despite his serious expression.  With a nose like a bloodhound, Darche could tell us with absolute certainty when there was a missed cookie or microscopic crumb of kibble that had fallen out of reach.  He was never, ever wrong.  He could be mischievous too, once working in cahoots with his best friend, Fender, to knock over all the faux trees in the "Park".  We're sure they were both pointing at each other when their deed was discovered..."he did it!"  A staff favorite, though, was when he'd run at full speed around the playroom.  Everything in his body showed he was having a blast, yet the serious expression was a sharp contrast with the fun we all knew he was having.  Every staff member had a smile while watching.


Though we are all heartbroken at the loss of Darche, we are also thankful that we were able to spend so many years getting to know and love this sweet, serious-faced, but fun-loving and smart little boy.

As always, we thank you, our loyal customers for giving us the privilege of caring for your family member and allowing them to be part of our family.  Thanks for reading, and we'll see you for the next post!

August 2011

Hi folks! Sorry that this blog has gotten away from us this past year. We will try to do better at keeping you updated on pics, plans and happenings throughout the year. For those of you that don't know, Sharon Kraushaar, was promoted to Manager of Canines Unleashed at the end of 2010. Sharon originally came on board as office manager after working for over 15 years in the office and as a buyer at Andy's Produce. Canines Unleashed had grown so big so fast that my focus had to be on the dogs and unfortunately the office suffered. Sharon came on board and whipped the office into shape with her amazing organizational skills. She also revamped and automated the way we do things up at the front desk and behind the scenes in the office and brought the company into the 21st century. Along the way, it occurred to me that those organizational skills could be put to use organizing the "people" of Canines Unleashed as well. It was at that point that Sharon was promoted to Manager of the company and the re- organization of the entire company began. It was a massive undertaking that would have left a lesser person running for the door but happily we are just now emerging on the other side and even in this economy Canines Unleashed is better and stronger than ever before due in very large part to Sharon. Sadly for us, leaving sometime between now and January will be current management staffer and my daughter, Amy Liberati Rivard. Amy graduated last year from her studies to become a paralegal and has been working for us full time while free lancing part time for various lawyers. She has decided to try to pursue her paralegal work full time. On a happy note : Amy and her husband will also be welcoming their first child in January. Amy has done everything you could possibly do at Canines Unleashed over the years from running the company in my absence, retail supervising, offsite event co-ordinator, website and blog, supervising the back, and of course being the beloved "face of Canines Unleashed", not to mention filling in for any position I needed her for including cleaning positions. There is nothing this girl has been unwilling to do and I will miss her dearly not only as her boss but also as a proud mother. Wherever she lands next, they will not regret it . Please join me in wishing her well with both her new emloyment venture and the new addition to her family. With Amy leaving, I pulled out all the stops to fill a hole in our management team and finally persuaded Jen Edgerton, whom many of our long time customers will no doubt remember, to come back and complete our management team. Jen was one of the people who was instrumental in growing Canines Unleashed from the small company of the old days to the premier dog daycare that you see today. Jen's position will be Supervisor to the pack leaders in the back. She will also be helping us out with front desk duties in the early AM and late PM. Welcome back Jen ! Also, I would like to give a grateful shout out to Alexis and Jenda KwaitkowskI for helping us out this year. Although Jenda left us a year ago to persue a career as a vet tech at Liverpool Village Animal Hospital, she has graciously filled in whenever I call with an emergency temporary vacancy to get us through. Before leaving us for college and LVAH , Jenda had been employed by Canines Unleashed since she was 16 years old. She is also an accomplished artist who has painted our walls with our famous bus and every time I adopt another Dane, she comes back to paint them on the bus. Along the way we luckily acquired Jenda's sister Alexis who left last year to enter college. Alexis came home for the summer and didn't miss a beat in picking up where she left off at Canines Unleashed. I have never met such a natural at this job. She will be leaving for her 2nd year of college this week. These girls are 2 of the hardest working employees we have ever had. A big Thank you to you both for helping us out in our time of need. And a big thank-you to their parents for raising 2 of the greatest ,hardest working, but most of all genuinely nicest kids I have ever met..