Boof went to dog daycare!

We were talking about taking Boof to dog daycare once every week or two so she could socialize with other dogs and get some energy out while we are at work instead of sleeping on the couch for 8 hours (we webcam her, so we know that’s what she does normally).  We didn’t want her to get stranger-danger with other dogs, since she’s mostly just used to being around Mason, Nash, and my parent’s and grandma’s dogs.  And she could definitely use extra exercise.

There’s a dog daycare that we pass on the way to work everyday called Top Dog Daycare and it happens to stay open later than other ones (8 p.m.), so we figured it would be the perfect place to take her on Thursdays so we could go to yoga after work and not worry about her (or happy hour downtown on a Friday).  We went for her temperament test on Tuesday and she did great.  The owner and employees were really nice and the owner was especially awesome with the dogs.  There was a dog who isn’t particularly friendly and the owner was watching her with Boof and she slipped the leash around the dog’s neck just before the dog went to lunge at Boof – she saw it coming in an interaction that looked perfectly normal to us.  The dog immediately calmed down and she took the lease off her as quick as she’d put it on and sent the dog back outside.  That made me feel pretty good, though I’m sure Boof could hold her own.  They have a schedule with group play time, bathroom breaks, mind games, nap time, one on one interaction, etc.  The also usually have a webcam, but the server is broken or something right now, so that’s not available, unfortunately.

We signed her up for Thursday and I think she was nervous for her first day (joking) because Tuesday and Wednesday nights she woke up at 2:0X a.m. and was pawing at the side of our bed.  She didn’t need to go outside and we couldn’t figure out what she wanted.  The first night he got up to try to take her out and she went back in her crate and laid down.  The second night she sat by her crate but then ran to my side and pawed at me.  I sat up to look at her and she jumped up in the bed!  She never tries to sleep with us on her own accord, so this was odd.  I laid back down and she nuzzled right in up against my neck and fell asleep.  I let her lay there for several minutes and realized that if I let her sleep there, she was going to try to do this every night.  I really wanted to let her stay there, but also her ear was right by my nose and it smelled weird (and her feet smell like corn chips, by the way).  So I got up and made her get down.  Lo ended up taking her out anyway because she was wandering around all weird.  This is a dog who has NEVER got up in the middle of the night and usually has to be woken up in the morning and lured out of bed with a treat!

We did the obligatory first day pictures like people do for their kids.  Obviously, she had no idea why Lo stuck this paper in front of her in the morning and she was not impressed. But once we put the harness on her, she knew she was going somewhere and was much more excited!  Yes, this face means excited!

I emailed during the day to see how she was doing and they said she was doing great, and sent these pictures.  I don’t know what was going on with her teeth that day, sticking out in every picture.  It cracks me up because her bottom teeth are all janky.….doing her special little howl.  She loved dog daycare and was so tired when we got home.  Lo felt bad that she was the last to be picked up (we went to yoga and then test drove a Fusion), but I say as long as it’s before pickup time is over, it’s fine.  Plus, she was getting treats as we got there, so she wasn’t mad.  She fell asleep on the way home (3 miles away), many times on the couch over the next few hours, and mostly slept through the night.  Lo heard her get up and shake out her ears, but she didn’t come over to the bed.  It’s totally worth the cost for her to be happy when we have long weeks and late evenings.