Chester

Today I spent some time in the small dog playroom with Chester and he loves attention. Chester loves to play with all the dogs, and he really is a ball of energy!

We love to support our customers, and one of our customers just came out with a new line of dog care products so we jumped at the chance to sell and use his products in our spa. Topline Canine is a great all natural product and we use it when we bathe our own dog Roxy and she smells great when we are done. We also have some samples if you would like to try it out before you buy a bottle, just ask.

Have a good night.

Keith

Bella, Bella, Bella and Bella

Today we had 3 dogs named Bella at daycare.
Bella #1 - Rottweiler
Bella #2 - Chocolate Lab Puppy
Bella #3 - Yellow Lab
Bella #4 - Great Dane (not at daycare but in the picture)

The cool thing is each of the Bella's has their own personality, but they all play in the same group with the larger dogs (because they are all bigger). I decided to do a quick Google search of the most popular dog and cat names, take a look at what I found.

Anyway, I was not in with the dogs as much as normal today because I was busy putting together some of the new cabinets and furniture that we ordered for our spa. I know I have mentioned how much I hate to try to put things together, but I did a great job with it today.

Have a good night.

Keith

Bella loves it!

The other day we had some new couches delivered for our new training room, but we have not shown them to the dogs yet! This morning I was busy cleaning the floor, and Bella (who has been spening the night for the past few nights) was helping me. The minute Bella saw the couch, she knew right where to go! Bella was right at home, so we know the rest of the dogs are going to love it! You might be thinking that bella looks fimilar, that is because she is also one of the dogs that is on the front page of our website. We change those pictures every few weeks, so keep looking for your pooch!

Tonight our hotel is almost full! I can't stress the importance of making a reservation (I know that the faithful blog readers always do it...hehe), because we do limit the total number of dogs that come so everyone can have enough attention.

Have a great weekend!

Keith

Tired Dogs?

Best friends Murphy and Sherman are super tired after a fun day of doggy daycare! I was snooping around our facebook fan page and Murphy's mom uploaded the picture!

Today, it finally kicked in that that we have almost been open for 1 year! Trisha and I are working on putting together a 1 year anniversary party and we want to make sure you save the date of Saturday, May 16th from about 11-2 (technically our first day open was April 20th, but we want to wait a little longer so the weather can warm up for outside fun!). We don't have all the details yet, but it should be fun, and we really want to be able to get all of the owners together and let everyone meet our wonderful staff! If you have any ideas, let me know, but it should be fun and we just want to thank everyone for being such great customers and supporting the PPP!

Have a good night and enjoy the cold rain and snow :)

Keith

Know Your Breeds.. Win Free Day Care

OK, this is the last week we are doing this fun game. First person to post a comment with the correct breed pictured below will win 1 free day of doggy daycare. Keep in mind that comments don't always post right away. Good luck and check back soon for another fun game!
---> Update, we have a winner. Way to go George and his dad for guessing a Swiss Mountain Dog!

Hanna

Today was another great day at the PPP! You will notice a new piece of play equipment in the large dog play room and the dogs love it! A big thanks to Bindi's parents for giving it to us (they moved and it was left at the hose that they moved into). We also got some new couches for the dog lounge that we are building, and it should be done pretty soon.

Hannah is one of the little white puff balls that loves to come to doggy daycare! She loves to stand on the play equipment, with her best friend Lucy and watch the dogs run, then she jumps off and joins all of the fun!

Remember, free daycare at noon tomorrow. This will be the last time we do it. Will it be easy?? Will it be hard?? hmmmmmm....

Have a good night.

Keith

Small, but mighty - Butters!

Butters is one of the smallest dogs that comes to Pampered Pooch Playground, but don't let is small yorkie size (about 4 pounds) fool you. Butters really thinks that he is a large dog that is trapped in a small dog body. In the winter Butters likes to show off his sweater collection, but now that it is warmer out, he is going "all natural".

Oh, today Trisha and I took a trip to go shopping for some new retail items for the lobby. We found a great toy called the "Kong Wubba", and our dog Roxy loves it and it still squeeks after 2 hours of heavy chewing! Keep in mind that Roxy can break a tennis ball in about 1 minute! If you have a larger dog that loves to chew squeekie things, make sure to check it out.

Finally, I am happy to report that Kyp and Osso who were our foster dogs through Pet Haven have both left the daycare and been placed in foster homes.

Have a good night!

Keith

We just hired a new staff member name Nathan and Penny is his puppy.  Penny is a Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy, and she LOVES to play with Georgie, who is a golden retriever puppy!  So next time you are around the daycare, welcome Nathan and Penny into the PPP family!  You will know who he is because he is the tallest staff member we have.

Have a good Saturday!

Keith

How does nap time work?

This is the most common question people always ask.  As you know, we don't do a structured nap time like many other daycares in the area do.  In a structured nap time, dogs go in cages for 2 or 3 hours and "nap" which really means that they bark because they want to get out and play with the other dogs.  We tried this when we first opened, and it just did not work.  The barking stressed out the other dogs and honestly none of the dogs napped.  So we tried a new approach... Limit the number of dogs that we bring in each day, so it is not wild and crazy, and let the dogs nap when the get tired.  Sometimes the whole group naps at once, sometimes it is just a few dogs napping. It really works wonderful and the dogs really do much better with this laid back approach.  This was "nap time" from today.

Hope everyone has a good weekend.

Keith

Shh... Chino and Cole are napping!

Today I spent "nap time" with the little dogs. Chino (Golden Retriever Mix Puppy) and Cole (Tibetan Terrier) were caught snuggled up next to each other on some of the play equipment. This was Chino's first full day at doggy daycare and he did GREAT!!!

If you go to our gallery page on our website, we made a few changes, now you can pick between all the videos we have produced and the pictures that we have taken. Hope that this makes things easier.

Have a good afternoon.

Keith

Boss goes for a drink!

Boss, is one of our Hotel guests that has been spending the night for the past few days. One of my old co-workers and good friend Staci wanted to come in and play with the dogs the other day and she brought her waterproof digital camera and look what happened when she put it in the water bowl.

Know Your Breeds.. Win Free Day Care

Here we go again! Trisha and I have so much fun looking for pictures of the different breeds that we feature on here and we try to make it hard!

---> We have a winner and it only took Roxy and Rowdy's dad about a minute to guess a Wirehaired Pointing Griffon. Way to go!!

All dogs are green today!

Happy St. Patrick's Day, when all the dogs that come to Pampered Pooch Playground are green! We had some fun getting everyone ready for the holiday and we almost had green doggy beer (but we thought of it too late and could not get it shipped in time.. SAD!) Take a look at the video below!



Have a good St Patty's Day!

Keith

The Dogs Love the Warm Weather!

Sadie is one of the smaller dogs that was at doggy daycare today and loved the warm weather! All the dogs loved playing outside and enjoying the sun! Seriously, it was so hard to get everyone to come in inside!

I think lots of our customers decided to leave early from work today because it was so nice and they wanted to spend a nice afternoon with their pooch outside. Don't worry, I won't tell your boss!

Have a good night.

Keith

new shirts and new pictures

Friday, we got some new staff clothing and everyone is very excited for them. Roxy decided to model some of the new clothing and we think she looks great it in! A big thanks to Chux Prints for the great service, the owners dog, Louise loves to come to doggy daycare!

I just added some new pictures to our photo album so make sure to take a look.

We hope that everyone enjoyed the warmer weather. We could not get the dogs to come inside today, they loved being outside.

Have a good night.

Keith

Sidewalk Dog needs your help.

Our friend Ali who runs Sidewalkdog.com needs our help. They have been a HUGE supporter of Pampered Pooch Playground since day 1! She is working to get 5000 signatures on a petition to increase the awareness of Sidewalk Dog. When you get a moment, click here to help them out.

Those of you that have never gone to sidewalkdog.com should check it out. They provide lots of information about dog events, and dog friendly places in the Twin Cities.

Thanks!

Keith

Meet Remy

Remy is one of the boxers that loves to come to Doggie Daycare. The minute he walks in the front door his tail is wagging. Remy loves to go with the bigger dogs and the smaller laid back group, he is a great dog anywhere he goes. Oh, he is also a Therapy Dog, which is pretty cool. You can catch Remy and lots of other dogs in our latest daycare video.

I did some small changes on the website, and also added a bunch of pictures in the March Photo Gallery.

If you are looking for something to do tonight, Trisha and I will be at the Dunn Brothers in Linden Hills to help kick off Stray Dog Arts latest project. More details are on her website. Jessie does AMAZING work and you can see it for yourself in our lobby! If you stop out at the Dunn, make sure you try my favorite drink, a Skim Mocha Ice Crema! YUM!

Have a good day!

Keith

Know Your Breeds.. Win Free Day Care

Watch out Jeopardy, this is hottest new game sweeping the nation... Know Your Breeds... The first person to comment with the correct breed will win 1 free day of doggy daycare. Make sure we know who you are (include your name or dog's name). Keep in mind that the comments do not always publish right away.

What breed is this?


---->> UPDATE: We have a winner. Way to go Lucy's mom, she guessed the Ibizan Hound and won a free day of daycare!

Yep, another fun Video

The past 3 days I have been shooting video of all the dogs playing in the Doggy Daycare. All the dogs and myself had so much fun shooting this.

Enjoy.

Keith

Jeepers!

Today I spent most of the morning and early afternoon playing with the little dogs because one of our staff members is sick! We had a bunch of new faces and all they dogs had a blast! One of the regular hotel guests is Jeepers (in the picture). He loves to nap on the beds that are in the play area.

So there is your weekend update!

Have a good weekend.

Keith

More new artwork

Today, one of our customers surprised me with some new artwork for the daycare! They are professional photographers and gave us the cool picture of their dogs Roxy and Rowdy. These boxers are regulars at doggy daycare and have so much fun playing with the pack. We first met these guys when their parents were doing holiday pictures for the boxer rescue group, and they asked if their dogs could be in the daycare while they were taking the pictures. We said sure, and they have been coming back ever since. At first I was a little nervous to allow one of the dogs into the pack because they are deaf. But after learning some of the hand signals we gave it a try, and he did GREAT!! Check out their website for more examples of their work! The picture is now hanging in our new training room if you want to check it out!

Have a great night.

Keith

Bear is Back

One of our regular hotel guests, Bear (in the picture) and his brother Murphy checked in for a few nights today. Both of these golden retrievers love personal attention and they get plenty of it!

The next Doga class is that Saturday at 2:30. For more information on Doga or to sign up visit the K9 Connections website. Did you see the great article that was written about Doga in the Southwest Journal? Just click here to read it.

Have a good night.

Keith

Win free daycare... Know your Breeds

So I was a day off yesterday! I thought it was Wednesday, and it was not! OOPS!! So here is another one. 

--->> Update, we have a winner and it only took 5 minutes from the time the blog was uploaded!  You guys are FAST.  Way to go Jade and her mom for guessing a Swedish Vallhund.

Fun with the small dogs!

Today I was spending lots of time with the smaller dogs today and they were so much fun. One of the smaller dogs is Lucy (in the picture) and she loves to lay on some of the play equipment. Oh you might notice that some of the webcams are moved a little bit. We try to keep moving them so that you can always find your dog right away, but it is so hard to capture the entire room. Let me know what you think of the new angle in the small dog room.

I just ordered some more of our biodegradable poop bags we use in the play area. This is just one of the many ways we are trying to be green!

Have a good night.

Keith

Know your breeds.. Win free daycare!

Same rules as every week. The first person to post a comment with the correct name of the breed pictured below will win 1 free day of Doggy Daycare!


---> Update... We have a winner! Way to go Roxy and Rowdy's dad! The correct response was a Beauceron.

A Fun Monday

Today the fun continued at the Doggy Daycare! We had our fencing contractor out to finish the work which means that we used our training room for the small dog play area. Once the contractor was done, we brought the small dogs back to their normal play room, and I think they noticed that it was a little bit bigger! We re-configured a little bit of it, and it ended up being just a tad bit bigger. The new fence that we installed makes it much easier for us to get the dogs out to the bathroom. A big thanks to the guys at Top Notch Fence fr doing a great job!

Today we snapped a picture of Duke and his sister Ruby taking a nap. Duke and Roby love to come to doggy daycare and always come a few days per week!

Have a good afternoon!

Keith