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Play All Day has been so fortunate to work with Ann Goyen of Alliance Pet Behavior over the past few years. Ann held training classes at our facility and has proven to be an excellent resource for our staff and our clients. Her expertise in dog behavior has been invaluable. This summer, Ann decided to retire. We will miss her.
All things change and you must be ready to roll with them or get run over. Fortunately for us, one of our daycare clients has a great interest in dog behavior and training and has been mentoring with Ann for the past year, and has been working at Play All Day on a part time basis. Brandi Stark, owned by Sage the German Shepard, is going to fill our training position at Play All Day and we are thrilled that she is doing so. Brandi is new to this world and while very capable and an excellent trainer, she is just dipping her toes into the world of teaching classes. For that reason, we are going to start slowly with classes and build up our offerings over time. Ann and I both plan to serve as mentors.
Brandi and I met recently to discuss the curriculum and structure of her first class. Setting expectations up front is so important. People often tend to think that one session of classes over 6 weeks will solve all of their problems. It just doesn’t work that way. We discussed how best to set the expectations and what do people want and need the most from a beginner level training class. And the one topic we kept circling back to the most and the one topic that resonated with us the most was “relationships”.
When you look at dogs that you admire…dogs that really seem well trained, step back and consider the relationship between that dog and its person. Chances are, you will see a very strong relationship, a relationship built over time and a relationship built on trust. I am seeing this first hand as I am in the process of building a relationship with my new puppy Cygnus. Every day, as our relationship strengthens, he is more in tune with what I want from him. And I am more in tune as to what he needs from me.
I love to learn from different trainers. Recently, I’ve been following Susan Garrett. Susan is a world class competitor in Dog Agility. I’m really not that interested in Agility but I do know that to be as good as she is, her dogs really need to stay focused on her. For me, focus is very important, as I do many things off-leash with my dogs. I need to know that they have an eye on me and will come when called. I recently discovered that she teaches her dogs through a series of games. For all of the desired behaviors, she has developed a game that teaches and rewards the behavior. I’ve been using her games for Cygnus, and I must admit that it is the quickest any of my dogs have learned and he is the most enthusiastic learner. He is brilliant, but I’m thinking it’s more related to the methods than his superior intellect (sorry buddy). These “games” make me very interesting. With other methods I’ve used, my dog tends to get bored after they learn a behavior. With this type of training, it’s always a game so Cygnus always wants to play. It’s kind of like covering your kid’s vegetables in cheese…the cheese tastes so good, they don’t know they are eating broccoli.
And talk about building a relationship. Through our game playing, daily care of, feeding, potty breaks, and cuddles, my bond with Cygnus is already very strong. It made me stop and think about what really does build a strong relationship with a dog. I think it really comes down to a few things.
I really do feel that a strong relationship with your dog is the cornerstone of having a well-trained and responsive dog. For this reason, building relationships will be a focus in our training classes. Yes, we want your dog to know how to sit, down, and come, but we want more than that. We want your dog to love learning and for you to enjoy teaching. No class can teach you what you need in 6 weeks, but it can be the foundation of a lifelong relationship that continues to grow.
Why bother putting the time and effort in building a great relationship with your dog? These pictures are the answer. You, too, can have a great time with your dog, whether it be off-leash hiking, canoeing, swimming, boating…it all starts with a relationship.
Without the dedicated staff members at Play All Day, we could not offer the quality of services that we do. I am so grateful that we have each and every staff member on our team. As with all teams, every member brings something to the table to make us better. I hope that you will enjoy getting to know them better. I have listed them in order of seniority.
Dee
Dee has had numerous dogs throughout the years, starting with a Boston Terrier, whom she had for 13 years. Her 3 most recent dogs were all “hand-me-downs” from friends and acquaintances who could no longer keep them – a Bichon, then a Beagle, and currently she has Oliver, an 11-yr. old blonde Cocker Spaniel.
Dee first became acquainted with the concept of dog daycare when she had an over-active, extremely social Beagle, who was driving her to exhaustion, trying to keep her busy and out of trouble. Daycare was truly a God-send for her (and Dee). This beagle girl is also responsible for enabling Dee to combine her favorite pastime of bike riding with dogs. Dee and her beagle became “biking buddies”. This is a pastime she now enjoys with her current boy Oliver. Dee’s other hobby is gardening, accompanied by Oliver who “helps” her by soaking up the sunshine while he works alongside her. Dee feels that everything is more enjoyable if you have a canine buddy to share it with! Dee’s husband Bob also keeps her busy with his hobby of flipping homes.
Dee came to Play All Day soon after it opened, after a 35-year career as a Medical Lab Technician, and feels so very privileged and blessed to have her “Dream Job” of spending time with so many wonderful dogs. Dee states that every day is different and exciting, as she gets to meet each day’s dogs as they arrive for daycare. She also enjoys giving baths and doing nails. Wednesday afternoons are special to Dee, as she loves interacting with all the Tiny Town pups as their Play Group Attendant.
Kate
Kate’s first and only dog is Mya who will be 5 years old. Mya is a chocolate lab and loves to play, fetch, and most importantly cuddle. Kate claims she is her best friend.
Kate grew up in Peoria with her parents and siblings. She is the youngest of five. Kate played every sport that she could in school. Volleyball and running hurdles were her favorite. Her mother worked as a Veterinary Assistant when Kate was a child and she remembers thinking that her Mom had the coolest job around. When asked the typical question ”what do you want to be when you get older”, Kate’s answer always involved animals in some way. She pet-sat for neighbor’s pets during her middle school days. During social events, Kate could be found hanging out with the host’s pets.
Her first job was at Party City, a retail store in Peoria. She worked there for a few years and finally came to a point where she knew she wanted to do something that she really enjoyed. An internet search brought her to Play All Day. As one of our earliest employees, Kate learned along with us as we built the business. She states that she learns something new every day and that she cannot imagine doing anything else. Working with dogs never quite seems like a job.
Kate enjoys spending time with her family and any outdoor activities. She has been with her high school sweetheart Josh for 8 years. They are best friends and both share a love for dogs. Kate enjoys shopping for both people and Mya. Kate excels at making people happy and comfortable. Kate credits dogs and her work at Play All Day with helping her to overcome her shyness.
Kate has been with Play All Day since 2012. She is our Manager and oversees daily operations, staffing, and customer service. She also is a Play Group Attendant and is becoming an expert in daycare operations.
Kiana
Kiana is a Senior at East Peoria Community High School and plans to attend William Woods University this fall. She is planning a double major in Psychology and Equestrian Science. She would like to work at a Veterans Hospital and do Equine Assisted Therapy for Veterans with PTSD.
She lives with Mom and Dad who both work at Caterpillar. She has a cat named Jethro and 2 horses, Silver and Chyno. Her hobbies include horseback riding, dancing, playing guitar, and working. Her favorite things to do at work are giving baths, Desk, and cuddling with the dogs.
Kiana started working for Play All Day 3 years ago when she was 15. She states that it helped to make up for her dog-deprived childhood. Kiana is a Jack of All Trades at Play All Day, working the desk, weekends, cleaning, bather, and Play Group Attendant.
Sarah
Sarah had many dogs growing up but the first she called her own was Mama Mia, a Blue Merle Great Dane. She was a true companion for Sarah for 7 years and she still misses her every day. Sarah and Mama Mia did everything together, which helped keep Sarah out of trouble through most of her 20’s. She was Sarah’s heart dog. Her current dogs are Ebon and Jocelyn.
Sarah shares her life with her fiancé, Rob. Rob enjoys music and UFC, and Sarah states that he is an amazing father. She has a Step son, Colton, who is going to be turning 13 this year and loves magic, chess and watching anime. Sarah gave birth to her little monkey Alexandra Rose (Alex) who is 6 months old now. She has almost mastered the crawl and has started grabbing things to try and stand up. She likes to make raspberries, grunts and has started making a hissing type sound. The Play All Day family of staff and clients alike enjoyed sharing Sarah’s journey through pregnancy and now motherhood. Sarah states that she loves being a mother, even though she feels she lost half her brain in the process, and she cherishes her family and friends and is happy being healthy and alive.
Sarah enjoys art (origami, tile work, painting), gardening, hiking with Ebon, reading sci-fi (love Neil Gaiman and Orson Scott Card), and figuring out puzzles of all types.
Sarah has been with us for 2 years and is a Play Group Attendant. She recently took on the role of supervising our cleaning routine and the facility upkeep. Sarah prides herself on knowing each dog’s first and last name which is an accomplishment for her, considering she has a hard time remembering people’s names. She states that she can do this because the dogs that come to the daycare make such an impression on her. They don’t care if you’re in a bad mood, they just want to be happy and love on you, which is an amazing feeling.
Roxann
Roxann lives in Peoria Heights with her husband Roger, and dog Macy. She got her first dog, a cocker spaniel named Pepper, at age 4. After becoming obsessed with her imaginary dog “Syrup”, Roxann’s parents thought it was time to get a real one.
After decades of working in banks and other accounting related positions, she decided to “semi-retire” and look for something she could do with dogs. Play All Day had a position open up on the same day she gave her notice on her previous job. It was a sign!
Roxann’s hobbies include nature walks, singing, performing in local theater musicals and consignment shopping.
Roxann has been with Play All Day for a year. Her primary duties are taking care of our hotel guests in the morning and doing dog introductions during Check-In.
Melissa
Melissa’s love for dogs started back from the very beginning of her life, as soon as she could crawl her way over to the neighbor’s German Shepherd, Sheba. Sheba was her best friend in those beginning years. Sheba made such an impression on Melissa that she dressed as a German Shepherd for Halloween in Kindergarten.
Schnitzel joined Melissa’s family when she was in 2nd grade and started Melissa’s passion for Schnauzers. Schnitzel went to school with her one day, stole the teacher’s chair and christened the classroom floor with a poop. Melissa shared her life with Schnitzel until her freshman year of college when she sadly passed due to cancer.
Melissa started working at a veterinary clinic and soon an opportunity to adopt two male three year old Schnauzers arose. She took them in and they became her first adult dogs. Their names are Mickey and Rocky. Two years after adopting the boys, Melissa adopted a 7 month old Schnauzer and named her Spritzel Schnitzel in memory of Schnitzel. When Melissa was married to her husband Andrew, the kids were part of the wedding, complete with a Schnauzer figure cake and Schnauzer Bride and Groom cake toppers.
Melissa loves spending time with her dogs. She also loves old things, going antique hunting, and to garage sales. Melissa loves to travel and explore new places. She loves the Ocean and visits the Atlantic Ocean at least once a year.
Melissa was born in Binghamton, New York and has two brothers and four sisters. She moved to Peoria when she was five years old and went to High School in Elmwood. She attended College at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri and transferred to Bradley University, where she finished a degree in Graphic Design.
While Melissa enjoys design and art, she finds herself pulled more towards working with dogs. She loves working at Play All Day because it allows her to enjoy all breeds and she enjoys learning the different personalities of the dogs that attend daycare.
Melissa has been with us for one year and is a Play Group Attendant.
Christina
Chris’ love affair with dogs began when she was 10 months old. Her family brought a German Shepherd puppy home. Hombre and Chris were inseparable, and she has many fond childhood memories with him. Chris’ childhood was spent living on a lake in a wooded area with birds, fish, squirrels, rabbits, ducks and other wildlife. Chris’ ability to make dogs comfortable showed itself at an early age.
Hombre died when Chris was 13 years old. Fortunately, Gypsy, a 3/4 Husky, 1/4 German had made her way into her life by this time. She was the first dog Chris obedience trained and raised herself. Chris credits Gypsy with teaching her about patience, love, and care, and started her great love for the German Shepherd breed.
Chris was 22 years old when Diego came into her life. He was her heart dog. He was Chris’ first competition dog, therapy dog, canine good citizen dog, and the team earned many titles and blue ribbons together. Chris began her path of positive training methods, dog behavior, and nutrition with Diego. These are topics that are still important to her today.
Chris married Joe and brought him into her world of dogs. They currently have five German Shepherds all of which are highly valued members of the family. Joe has trained his girls who have gone on to compete in agility, flyball, and rally, and who have earned their canine good citizen and therapy dog certifications. Chris and Joe recently celebrated their 10 year wedding anniversary and took all their dogs with them on our vacation.
Chris joined the Play All Day team one year ago and is Play Group Attendant. Chris also helps with training new staff members.
Brandi
Brandi has been with Play All Day for quite a while as a daycare client, bringing her German Shepherd, Sage. Sage was the impetus for Brandi to really study dogs and learn everything she could about dog behavior. His behavioral issues challenged Brandi and she discovered her joy in training and watching him grow.
Brandi has a full time job in computers, aside from Play All Day. Her experiences with Sage motivated her to mentor with Ann Goyen, our favorite Canine Behavior Consultant. Brandi helps Ann with her classes and because of her work with Sage, has decided to become a trainer. After witnessing the incredible bond that positive training created between she and Sage, she looks forward to helping others. We look forward to watching Brandi grow in this endeavor.
Brandi loves all things dog, reading, comics and other geeky things, hiking, photography, and sports.
Sage was Brandi’s first dog. She fondly refers to him as her Big Goober. Sage is almost 6 years old and loves daycare, water, balls, hiking, snow, frisbee, training, nosework games, and biking. Sage is also a master at the German Shepherd head tilt.
Because of her full time job, Brandi works weekends only, as a Play Group Attendant. She joined us about 6 months ago.
Kim
Kim lives in East Peoria with her husband, two daughters, two dogs, four cats, three fish, and a hermit crab. Sara is a 10 year old Border collie/Australian Shepherd and Maxx is a 2 year old mutt rescued from Kentucky.
Kim’s family vacations in the Smoky Mountains and on the beach in Fort Morgan, Alabama, and the dogs are lucky enough to join the family on their vacations.
Sara has been a registered therapy dog for 6 years, volunteering at various places with the Peoria Humane Society Special Pals and Paws to Read Pet Therapy Programs. Maxx is an athletic running partner and shares his love of running with Kim. He can easily run 7 miles and he is always so content after a good run.
Kim worked in healthcare as an Occupational Therapy Assistant in adult rehab for over 7 years, and then stayed home to raise her daughters. When the time came to return to work, Kim focused on an entirely different career path and fulfilled her passion of working with dogs. She started working for a new pet service called Dog Jog in 2014. Dog Jog takes your dog for a run, while you are at work or at home. This provides the dog with exercise. It is especially helpful for high energy breeds, pet parents that have really busy lifestyles, or physical limitations and cannot exercise with their dogs. It combines two of Kim’s passions…Dogs and running.
Kim states that having dogs has changed her life in many ways… working with Sara as a pet therapy volunteer has been truly enriching. Running with Maxx has helped her to become healthier and has opened the door for her to run with other dogs.
Working at Play All Day gives her the opportunity to share her love for learning about dog behavior, training, and play with so many wonderful dogs. Kim is excited to be working with so many wonderful dogs and such a friendly and knowledgeable staff. Her goal is to eventually become a dog trainer and help dogs and their families live in harmony. She would love to specialize in assisting families that have adopted from rescues and shelters transition their dogs to their new homes.
Kim started working with us in February of this year and is our newest team member. She recently finished orientation and is a Play Group Attendant. She states that she is looking forward to enriching your dogs’ lives through play, training, and lots of love!
I get asked about the benefits of a raw diet and whether or not it is worth the added cost. In my opinion, yes it is. But not everyone can afford or chooses to afford the extra cost. I have always advocated doing what you can to improve your dog’s diet. If you can’t afford to feed raw or even premium kibble every day, do it three times a week or once a week. The following article (re-posted with permission from American Distribution and Manufacturing Company) addresses this topic quite well.
Feeding Raw on a Kibble Budget: How to Make the Most of Your Dog-Food Dollar
by Justin Magnuson of Raw Bistro
With the growing interest in—and body of evidence supporting—feeding our pets fresh, whole foods, many consumers are exploring a species-appropriate, high-quality raw diet. That’s exciting, because every dog will benefit from an optimal diet, often dramatically. According to Dr. Karen Becker, a leading integrative and wellness veterinarian, “Many of the chronic and acute diseases suffered by humans and animals are directly related to diet.”1
While feeding raw is admittedly more expensive than even the highest-quality kibbles, there are ways for pet owners to incorporate the advantages of raw on a budget. Let’s start with some of the simplest.
Many people find that feeding one raw meal a day is enough to provide significant benefits at essentially half the cost. It doesn’t matter which meal is the raw meal, but most of our customers find it easier to feed raw at dinnertime when they aren’t rushing to get ready for work—but if morning is more convenient, then make that the raw meal. Some like to mix raw and kibble together and serve that twice a day, as it makes the kibble more appetizing (one caveat: mixing can sometimes result in gassiness). We usually suggest that people experiment to find the best fit for their dog(s) and household.
Substituting raw for conventional treats is a great way for customers to sample the benefits of raw and familiarize both themselves and their dog with the product. Because it is so tasty, raw food is a high-value treat and a great way to incorporate fresh foods into the diet. You can portion out bite-size amounts or give a larger dog a whole 2-oz. patty. Compare a 3-lb. entrée bag at $18.00 to a 5-oz. bag of treats for $13.00 – that’s quite a value! For those who don’t want to treat with ground meat, they could try raw recreation bones and dehydrated treats, which are a convenient, high-value, take-anywhere option.
The benefits of species-appropriate, raw food are so important that even a once-a-week meal is well worth doing, according to top canine nutritionist, author and consultant Steve Brown. “Just one day per week provides your dog with additional high-quality protein, improves the balance of fats, and adds hundreds, perhaps thousands, of nutrients that were part of the canine ancestral diet and that are not usually available in commercial dry foods.”2 (Steve authored the highly recommendedUnlocking the Canine Ancestral Diet, which discusses one-day-a-week feeding of a properly balanced, raw food.)
It isn’t always the easiest sell, but it really is the best sell: feeding a properly balanced raw species-appropriate diet translates to less money spent at the vet’s office. According to the authors of Paleo Dog, “No matter what medicines, supplements, or treatments you give your dog, none of them is as important to overall health as diet. An animal cannot heal its body if its nutritional needs remain unfilled.”3 This book also provides an excellent description of the benefits of a balanced raw diet, including decreases in many chronic diseases, and savings on medications, prescription foods, flea baths and more as well as vet bills.
In other words, pay now or pay later. And paying now, in the form of feeding your dog an optimal diet, means your dog gets to enjoy a healthier, happier life, and you get to enjoy that too!
What does a healthier, happier life—and lower vet bills—look like? Here’s a sampling4:
The bottom line is, the better we eat, the better we feel—and that’s as true for our dogs as it is for us. While there is a cost to eating well, it’s important to remember there’s also a cost to not eating well. We all have more control over the health of our pets, and our budgets, than we realize.
CITATIONS
1 Taylor, Beth, and Karen Becker. Dr. Becker’s Real Food for Healthy Dogs & Cats. Third ed. Natural Pet Productions, 2011: 1. Print.
2 Brown, Steve. Unlocking the Canine Ancestral Diet. Dogwise, 2010: 36. Print.
3,4 Hofve, Jean, and Celeste Yarnall. Paleo Dog: Give Your Best Friend a Long Life, Healthy Weight, and Freedom from Illness by Nurturing His Inner Wolf. Rodale, 2014:
Our sweet Sting has cancer. Actually he has two different types of cancer…my little over achiever. Most of our Play All Day family knows Sting. He has helped evaluate most every dog that has joined our Play All Day family. His sweet and playful disposition perfectly suited him for his position of Chief Fun Officer.
I have always longed to have my dogs live to a ripe old age of 14 or 15, but that has not been our luck. Our first Golden Rane, died at age 10 of a rare and aggressive Leukemia. Our second Golden Stepper, died at age 9 of Multiple Myeloma (a very rare cancer for dogs). Our Aussie Gus, gave it the old college try, making it to what we think was age 13. We had high hopes for Sting, a vital, healthy boy, who showed no signs of slowing down on his 10th birthday. Hiking with his younger brother Dave, he would have energy to spare when Dave was ready to quit. So, in January, when a suspicious mass in his mouth showed to be Fibrosarcoma, we were surprised. And then during the staging process for his mouth cancer, we found a separate and more daunting type of cancer called Hemangiosarcoma. Needless to say, we were shocked and I can honestly say that I was angry. I was angry that we were not going to get to enjoy his senior years, but I was angrier that he would have to deal with what was to come. We were given a prognosis of 6-9 months.
What is different this time around is that Sting has a longer prognosis than our other dogs who had cancer. They both died within a few short months of their diagnosis. With our previous boys, we barely had time to come to grips with their diagnosis and then they were gone. That is a crazy kind of pain in itself. You can’t help but feel cheated. But on the other hand, you don’t have to deal with a long drawn out illness, watching the inevitable suffering that accompanies terminal illness.
All of one’s life experiences can make a contemplative person such as I stop and consider life’s little mysteries. So what is better for those of us left behind…an abrupt departure or a chance to let go slowly? As an oncology nurse for 20+ years, I faced this all the time and helped families to deal with it. In the human world, I not only saw the pain of dealing with cancer, but also the many gifts that it brought to people’s lives. That is an odd statement; I know…but believe me when I say that I saw it happen many times. A chronic, terminal illness makes people stop and consider their lives and often helps to put things in perspective. There is no one right perspective, only our own individual experiences. Regardless, chronic terminal illness often helps people to achieve this perspective for both the afflicted and the family members.
Sting was diagnosed in January and we have been fighting this since that time with two surgeries and two rounds of chemotherapy. But now we see that the end of his sweet life is coming sooner than later. There are no other treatment options. He doesn’t know that and I’m glad for it. Every day is still a new adventure to him. But for those of us that love him, it is both a gift and torture to watch what is happening. The optimist in me recognizes the gift…the melancholy side of me looks at the disfiguration of his face and his lessened energy and sees only the worst.
Sting has a very special spot in my heart, more so than any other dog with whom I’ve shared my life. Dog people refer to this as your “Heart Dog”, that one special dog in a lifetime. For my husband Will, Stepper was his Heart Dog. He still grieves for him deeply, 11 years after his death. So, what would I choose for both me and for Sting? Would I choose a quick departure or letting go slowly? Now that I have experienced both, I can honestly say that letting go slowly is better for me.
These months of letting go slowly have given me a gift. With the knowledge that my time with Sting was shortened, I was able to plan time with him doing the things we both love. We went to Lake Michigan in the springtime with one of his favorite people and his buddy Blaze. We hiked with people who love him dearly. We stop at the Dairy Queen more often. We cuddle and give massages frequently. We bought a kiddie pool for the back yard. We sleep in (Sting is not a morning dog). We have gone fishing every chance we had. We planned a trip to Minnesota for fishing and swimming. I wrote this post sitting on the shores of a lake in the beautiful North woods of Minnesota, with Sting exhausted at my feet each day, after fishing, swimming, eating junk food, cuddling in the cool mornings, and feeling all of the love he can from two parents not distracted by the everyday world. He doesn’t know he’s sick, let alone dying. He just feels loved. And this wonderful opportunity to let him go from our lives slowly, gave us this gift. My anger over loss has dissipated and I have gained gratitude for a time to celebrate the life of this amazing dog who has given so much to me and everyone whose life he has touched. I choose letting go slowly.
Note: We are home from Minnesota and in the past week, Sting is experiencing a robust respite from the symptoms of his cancer. Just yesterday, he went on a two mile hike, with energy to spare at the end. Obviously, he’s not ready to leave quite yet.
Do you ever feel like there is just too much information in the world? And when marketing sticks its ugly little hand into the mix, its enough to make your head spin. So when it comes to getting good information regarding your best friend, where can you turn? Well, of course, you can turn to Play All Day. I may not have all the answers, but I definitely have many resources. In this post, I will point you in the direction of one of my favorites.
When it comes to fact based, scientific information, you can’t go wrong with The Science Dog blog. This is a blog dedicated to factual information on things such as contagious yawning in dogs, why do dogs eat grass, does music affect dog behavior, and many other interesting topics related to dogs. Linda Case uses her extensive background in animal sciences and her love for science to bring you research based information regarding dogs. This, combined with her deep love for dogs, makes for great reading and reliable information.
And her most recent book, Dog Food Logic, is a fabulous resource on how to navigate the very confusing world on choosing the right dog food for your dog. Put this one on your reading list.
Happy Reading!
Kennel cough is a very broad term used to describe the cough that accompanies an upper respiratory infection in dogs. It is usually a very contagious condition and is more likely to occur when dogs come together for daycare, boarding, dog parks, social events, etc. It’s one of those unavoidable risks when you promote a social lifestyle for your dog. Despite the best efforts of daycare and boarding facilities, germs get passed from one dog to another. I like to believe that Play All Day’s diligent efforts to keep our facility clean, to manage the humidity levels within the facility, and to promote good air exchange within the building, all help to prevent breakouts of this pesky condition. But the fact is that breakouts of contagious illness will occur.
So what should you do when your dog exhibits the hallmark cough? Ultimately, as your dog’s caregiver, that decision is up to you. But I will share what I do with my own dogs
If I do take my dog to the vet, I go armed with the knowledge that I need to treat symptoms and not the underlying disease.
Kennel cough, for the most part, will pass on its own and does not require antibiotics. But your vet may be able to prescribe a steroid or cough medication if your dog is miserable. But please understand that these treatments do not make the kennel cough go away any quicker…just treats the symptoms. And the treatments for the symptoms often have side effects of their own.
Here is a link to more information from Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. http://bakerinstitute.vet.cornell.edu/animalhealth/page.php?id=1091
I love my veterinarian team and am so grateful for the expertise and knowledge they provide for my dogs. I am in no way promoting that you should avoid veterinary care. When my dogs need a vet, I drop everything and get them in. I’m just planting a seed of reason so that you don’t feel like a bad parent if you just wait it out and see if things get better on their own. We, as humans, don’t run to the doctor every time we get a cold and your dog is really no different. Just like a cold with us, kennel cough will most likely resolve on its own over a period of 1 week or so.
Yes, kennel cough is a pain in the rear. If you have experienced it with your own dog, you may wonder if socializing your pooch is worth the potential headache if your dog does contract a contagious illness. It’s all about risk vs. benefit in my opinion. I would say that the benefits of daycare do outweigh the possibility of kennel cough. After all, who wants to live their life in a bubble?
Its early May and my thoughts (a lot of my thoughts) turn to hunting Morel Mushrooms. It’s a bit of an obsession and many people understand it as they also obsess about hunting Morels. They’re an ugly little fungi but the hunt for them is as sweet as the taste of them sautéed in butter. My husband Will doesn’t even like to eat them, but loves the hunt. There’s nothing quite like that very first sighting of Mr. Morel each spring. You walk for miles, looking for a “mushroomy” spot; your eyes scan the forest floor, searching….searching. I always think that I’m missing them and then you spot him. Without fail, I conjure up my best Barbra Streisand as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl and say, “Hello Gorgeous”.
So what do Morels have to do with dogs you ask? Not a whole lot actually, but they make me think of my Grandma Mariam, and my Grandma has a lot to do with my love for dogs. I get asked all the time about where my deep and abiding love for dogs originates. It comes partly from my mother, but probably more so from my Grandma. To me, my love and respect for nature and all things living is deeply tied to my love for dogs. And my love and respect for nature and all things living is tied to my Grandma. My fondest memories of my Grandma are of her working with plants and flowers, her with her dogs, and of time spent with her shelling in Florida. She owned a greenhouse for many years and her retirement job was working on a fishing/shelling boat in Sanibel, Florida. I remember being awestruck by her knowledge of the living shells and their habitat. And she had a really cool pet Pelican named Yankee who visited the boat and would let her pick him up and hold him. Now that’s a cool Grandma.
As a young adult, I invited my Grandma to come and visit Will and me in our home. I had just discovered Morel hunting and wanted to show her what I knew. Of course, she already knew about hunting Morels and schooled me. There are several species of forest plants that show up about the same time the Morels pop. I had my favorites and knew them by sight. I pointed them out to her, but didn’t know their names. Grandma did know their names and I discovered May Apples, Jack in the Pulpit, and Trillium. Now whenever I see those plants, I smile and think of that week together. We found some huge Morels too which was a bonus.
My Grandma passed away a few years ago. She lived a full and productive life and was surrounded by a family who loved her. My Grandma had a temper and when she was grouchy, you just gave her space. I think I inherited that from her too. We can’t all be perfect (wink). But grouchiness aside, I loved to spend time with her and hear her stories. And as an adult, I really do appreciate all I learned from her. And I treasure the impact she had on me by sharing her love of nature and all things living. There are many more things I loved about her but this is the greatest and I feel it is the best part of me.
Note: My Grandma also loved to read and write. I got that from her too and plan to put the writing part to better use in the future and stay current with my blog. Who knows, maybe I’ll even write something about dogs.
Trillium
May Apples
Jack in the Pulpit
April, Mom, and Grandma (1980??)
Grandma with one of her Shelling students.
He’s an iconic TV celebrity. Do you recognize him?
