Meet Jasper - Our First Foster Dog!

Before Trisha and opened Pampered Pooch Playground, one of our missions was to help out dog rescue groups. One group that we found and really believe in is Pet Haven. We have always wated to foster a dog for them, but wanted to wait until we had been open for a few months and have all of our systems and staff in place. Late last week, I received an email about Jasper, who Pet Haven needed to find a home for. I read all about Jasper and we decided that we have the space to keep Jasper until they can find him a home!

On Saturday morning, Marilou from Pet Haven and Heather from Start Seeing Black Dogs came out to drop Jasper off. Jasper ran right up to me and gave me a Kiss, and I knew he was a great dog!! Jasper ran around and played with all of the dogs right away! You can read more about Jasper by clicking here! I know that Jasper will find a home really soon and it will be hard to see him go!!

Keith

Mojo

I love the morning shift at Pampered Pooch Playground. The dogs are always so excited to see you bright and early in the morning, and they are always so active! Every now and then Trisha and I switch schedules and I work later in the day. Today was one of those days, and it was the perfect day to sleep in! I got to the daycare around 10am and was greeted by a huge pack of dogs, one of which was Mojo (in the picture). Mojo is one of our newer dogs who loves to dig in the water bowl. He puts both of his front paws in the bowl and spills the water everywhere. It is pretty funny to watch. We have placed a water bowl outside for him to dig in! Mojo also loves to run and chase the ball.

Oh, I forgot to thank Margot's mom for the Sweet Martha's cookies she brought us from the Minnesota State Fair yesterday! They were a huge hit with the staff.

Have a good night, and hope everyone is ready for a 3 day weekend!

Keith

Do I hear wedding bells?

For about the last week we thought it would be a great idea to have a doggy wedding with 2 of or daycare regulars, Duke and Bindi. These 2 dogs act so much like a married couple it is funny! Duke is the boss of the relationship and Bindi is the princess. Duke always lays on the large red play ramp and bindi always lays on the Purple and red ramps. Then they run around and play with eachother and take a nap when they are done! Today we were able to catch the happy couple cuddling. I have been working hard to put together the details for the perfect doggie wedding for these 2! Oh, and there is cake involved!

Have a good night!

Keith

Cooper

One of the first dogs in the door today was Cooper, who is a new golden retriever that has started to attend daycare. Cooper loves to run and play with all the dogs, but really loves personal attention. Cooper will come up to all of the staff and ask for petting and belly rubs!! We always give in and Cooper gets a rub down!

Trisha and I were able to leave a little early today and we headed out to the Minnesota State Fair. It was a great time, but we were only there for about 3 hours until we were stuffed with food and could not walk anymore!

Keith

A Day At The PPP

Everyone always asks what the dogs do all day when they are at Daycare. Just watch the video we shot to find out! The video features, Bindi, Bear, Duke, Otis, Luca, Boss, Marley, Brody, Dylan, Cypress, Lucy (king charles), Cosi, Jackson, Riley, Sophie, Max Powers, Jack, bella, Bruno, Roscoe, Coupon, Molly Ringwald, Simba, Pickle and a few others!

Fletcher

Today Trisha and I stopped in at the Daycare for a few hours to get a few little projects done. One dog that was doing his evaluation was Fletcher, who is a Wheaton Terrier. We first met Fletcher at the "Beer With Your Buddy" event last Thursday and he is a great addition to our group. Today he played non-stop with Riley the Boxer puppy. We got a few little projects done, then we went to Sebastian Joe's Ice Cream Cafe to relax.

Have a good night.

Silly Finnegan

Today Finnegan was playing in one of the large playrooms and having a great time as always. then 2 minutes later, i looked over and saw Finnegan carrying the bucket of water around in his mouth. He had dumped over the water bucket, and decided it was fun to prance around the room with the bucket. Then he turned it into a game when I tried to chase after him! It was pretty funny! Then after I finally got the bucket back he decided it was time to lay down! Silly Finnegan!

Oh, we just added a 20 day daycare package which saves you 20% off the regular rate. You can buy these online or at the daycare.

We hope everyone has a great weekend!

Keith

Today we received a shipment of some new play equipment. Now both of the play areas have the same plastic ramps and stairs. All the dogs love to run up and down them. Sadie, loves to lay on them!

Tonight Trisha and I are headed off to Beer With Your Buddy, it should be a great event and we will be giving Pooch IQ tests! Hopefully many of the dogs are smart :)

Ouch!

Today was another busy day at the daycare, but I had a few minutes to work on little projects that I had been putting off because I have been busy playing with the dogs. One project I have been trying to get to is fixing a small part of our playroom floor. There is one small area where the seams did not line up perfect. So I decided today was a day to get this done. I had to use a razor blade to rip up the seam and re-do it. I was almost done cutting the seam and ended up cutting some of my finger and was bleeding! So i yelled really loud (and used some choice words) and a few of the dogs came over to make sure I was ok! Marley, Boogie, and Bindi all were worried and it was really cute! Now the floor has been fixed and I have a band-aid on my finger! I felt like a dope! Oh, did I mention that the flooring is all recycled rubber tires! Pretty cool!

After Marley checked me out to make sure I was ok, he headed off to the pool!

--> REMINDERS <--
- Thursday - Beer with your buddy!
- If you want free daycare, scroll down a few messages for details!

This is why we hired a groomer!

2 of our regular daycare (Otis the Great Dane Puppy, and Cypress a boxer) dogs have been spending the night for the past few days and their owner called and asked if we could wash them before they came to pick them up. We said that we would, but did not know how much of a chore it would be. Since all of our grooming products have been ordered and are on a truck somewhere between Ohio and Minneapolis we had to do the bath the old fashioned way. We got the hose out and brought the dogs outside. We got Cypress all nice and lathered up and she did pretty good with the bath. Next was Otis who is scared of water. Otis did not want to get wet and was running around the entire outside area to avoid the hose. So Otis got a 1/2 bath :) We tried, but he was not having it!! This is why we have hired a professional groomer with professional equipment. This did provide some great entertainment for everyone at the daycare!

If you are wondering, our grooming spa will be open by the end of September :)

Keith

Win Free Daycare!

We went to my hometown in Wisconsin this weekend for a wedding. While we were home we took a picture of one of my mom's dogs. Post a comment to this blog with your guess of what type of mix breed it is. The first person to guess correctly gets a free day of daycare! Good luck!

P.S. Make sure to post your name! Thanks!

Trycia :)

8/31/08 UPDATE-->
We have not had a correct guess, but will pick one lucky person for a free day! The correct response would have been a Daschund Poodle mix. Thanks to everyone for playing and we will have another chance for you to win something soon!

Online Survey

It is so hard to believe that we have only been open 3 months and things have been amazing! Trisha and I are so happy with how everything has gone and the friendships with everyone that we have made. Today we sent out a survey to our email list because we just wanted to see how we are doing and any suggestions you might have.

Yesterday was another busy day at the daycare. Jackson, the Collie comes a few days a week and we just found out that he is related to Lassie! Pretty cool!

Have a great weekend, we are out of town this weekend at a wedding in Wisconsin, but our great staff will be holding things down until we get back!

It's Golden Day

Today, there must have been something in the air because we had a bunch of golden dogs today including 2 golden doodles (Goldy and Maribel, who is pictured on the left) who had their first day.

Today we started to take pictures of our staff so you can get to know them better! They are really a great group of people and we are so glad to have each one of them!

We have some cool events the next few weeks, you can always see the list of events by clicking here.

Have a good night and enjoy some cooler weather. We are going to take Roxy for a long walk tonight!

Mondays seem to be a slower day at Pampered Pooch Playground but not today. We had a great bunch of "regular" dogs and even a few new ones today! One of the "regular" dogs that people always see on the webcam is Boogie. Many customers refer to him as "that big white dog". Boogie comes to daycare daily and just likes to lay around and play every now and then! He really is a great dog and loves to cuddle with the staff. Boogie loves to lay outside and catch some sun! The reason I bring Boogie up is because I just uploaded some new pictures and Boogie is in one of them. To view the pictures, just click here.

It seems like I am always doing the blogging, maybe some night I can get Trisha to do it! ;)

Keith

Paris and Paisley

Today I stopped into the daycare to get a few odd projects done before we opened. You will notice that our new "Virtual Window" is in the lobby. We decided to put in the "Virtual Window" so you can see all the play areas from the lobby. We this this will work much better than putting a real window in and you will be able to see so much more.

I went back to the small dog play area and the fist dog to come up to me was Paris, who is a a Yorkie puppy. She is the cutest little thing and this is her 2nd stay with us. Her and her sister Paisley who is a Beagle puppy. Paisley has gotten so much bigger since her last visit! These girls play non stop!! Their mom works for KARE 11, and rumor has it that they love to watch the webcams at work! Don't worry, we won't tell on you!

Hope everyone had a great weekend, and we are ready for a big week!

Happy Saturday!

Today Trisha and I had an event at the Three Rivers Park District, Bryant Lake Dog Park. The dog park was just remodeled and looks great! We even saw some of our regular daycare dogs there!!

Then we went and grabbed lunch at Yum which is located about 4 minutes east on Highway 7 from the Daycare. If you have never eaten there it is GREAT food! They have a bunch of goodies you can take home. One morning before I get to the daycare, I will have to stop there for a cup of coffee!

We rounded out our afternoon with a trip to the Minnehaha Dog Park! Our dog Roxy, loves to run in the river and play with all the dogs! We were walking around and bumped into one of our regular dogs from daycare, Princess Leia! Princess and Roxy had fun playing and Princess showed off her logging skills (she can swim out into the river and bring back a log of wood!).

This afternoon Roxy got a bath outside at our house and she is now pooped!

Have a great weekend!!

Yet another puppy!

Last Thursday, we had Otis, a Great Dane puppy do his evaluation for daycare. At first all he wanted to do is watch all the dogs play and anytime a staff member tried to pet him, he would move away. Otis is now a daycare regualr and has made great progress! He comes when we say his name and he plays with all the dogs! Otis just graduated from his puppy training class! Way to go Otis!

New Pictures Online

I just put some new pictures from the Doggy Daycare and Hotel from August on the website. To view the pictures, just click here. We add new pictures every few days, so make sure you check back often!

Iggy cools off in the pool

I came into the daycare today at 10am and it was a packed house with a great group of dogs! Soon after I got there, we broke out the baby pool and Iggy (Newfoundland, in the picture on the left) was the first one in! Iggy and Dylan (Wheaton) played in the pool for hours today. Iggy was busy trying to get the plastic fish that are painted on the bottom of the pool and Dylan was trying to drink the water from the hose! It was a great day and even better that it is not as muggy outside today!

Meet Roxy and Dreyfus

People always ask Trisha and myself if we have a dog and if we bring her to daycare. Yes, we have a 2 3/4 year old Bernese Mountain Dog, named Roxy and we bring her to the Doggy Daycare every few days. Since she is a winter dog, when it is worm out she gets pretty lazy and just likes to lay around, but once it turns cool out, she is 85 pounds of energy. In the winter we can't keep her from playing in the snow. Roxy is a people person and feels the need to say "hello" to everyone in the room. She also loves to sit on peoples feet!

This week we are dog sitting Dreyfus who is also a Bernese, and about 4 years old. He also loves to come to the daycare. I am sure you will see him around the daycare this week. Oh, and Dreyfus is featured on our breeders website, just click here. (Dreyfus is on the left, and Roxy is on the right in the picture).