Squeaky clean canines

Thank you to everyone who brought their dogs out to Summer Street Animal Clinic for the dog wash Saturday. We scrubbed 20 dogs and raised over $200 for the Burlington Regional Dog Park. A big thank you goes out to Summer Street as well. They donated the use of their facility and the shampoo.

Come join us for our next event, Pet-Palooza and Dog Paddle Aug. 30 at Dankwardt Park. Look for more information coming soon!

Stubborn puppy

So we thought the citronella bark collar was working well. Maddie’s uncontrollable barking was transformed into a low growl and ‘woof,’ sounds that do not set off the spray.

All of a sudden, she decided she doesn’t care if she’s getting sprayed. If she really wants to bark at something, she’s going to bark. And will all of the stupid stray cats in our neighborhood, that happens quite often.

I do think overall, though, it has made a difference. She has not woken us up in the middle of the night, barking at some noise only she can hear, in weeks. She can now sit and look out the window and when people walk by, she can either just do her low growl and woof, or nothing at all.

Plugging along

We are continuing to work on the Burlington Regional Dog Park, and although we have a lot going on right now, it seems things are going slow with actually getting the park open.

We are waiting on the double-gated entry and concrete at the entrance, as well as some stubborn grass that refuses to grow.

But as we wait, we keep working.

Nick Bergin, Justin Bushong and I made the rounds of the local radio stations this week, getting the word out about the park and our fundraisers.

Saturday is our Bark N Bubbles Dog Wash at Summer Street Animal Clinic. We will scrub dogs from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Planning is well underway for Pet-Palooza and Dog Paddle. That event will be Aug. 30 from noon-4 p.m. at Dankwardt Park. Bring your dog out to swim in the city pool and browse the booths from area businesses. Canine and human concessions will also be available.

Our final planned fundraiser this year is our Top Dog Golf Outing. Play hooky from work and hit the links. The outing is Sept. 18 at Sheaffer Memorial Golf Course in Fort Madison.

An airline for your pet

A new airline for pets is being launched. It sounds like a great idea. I hope it ‘flies.’ I would definitely use this airline instead of stuffing Maddie in a cargo hold.

Here is the story from Yahoo.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090714/ap_on_bi_ge/us_airlines_pet_airways

Leaping golf clubs in a single bound

Almost there

The dog park is finally fenced in!

The gates are in place and posts are waiting for the double gate at the entry. Then the concrete at the entrance needs to be poured and we have a dog park!

I’m so excited. I’m going to take Maddie out there every day to exercise and have fun.

Jumping for joy

Maddie has springs for legs. She amazes us as she leaps over us to get on and off the couch.

So when Rob got out of a couple of golf clubs the other day, I thought I’d try to teach Maddie to jump over one.

It didn’t take too much work to get her to do it, just a demonstration by Rob and some treats and Maddie was vaulting over the club.

The funny thing is she will only jump over one way. If she jumps left to right, she crawls under to go back the other way. If she jumps right to left, she’ll do the same thing.

She’s learning!

We started using the citronella bark collar on Maddie this week, and we are already seeing progress.

The first time she barked and it sprayed her, she was standing at the foot of the bed on the floor, barking at something outside. I heard it spray, and she shot backwards into the bed. She left the room and refused to come back in until Rob came to bed.

Rob said another time she was sitting on the couch, looking out the window (one of her favorite places), when she barked and got sprayed. She shot across the couch to Rob, and sat with him, shaking like a leaf.

I think she is still confused about where the spray is coming from. But she is learning.

Yesterday, she was looking out the window when two of our neighbors walked by. Normally, Maddie would start barking like crazy. Instead, she did a couple of low ‘woofs’ then shut up. And she wasn’t even wearing the collar! Last night, she had the collar on when we went to bed and didn’t make a sound all night. I assumed the collar was turned on. This morning, though, she started barking at a cat outside. The collar had been off. Even when she was barking at the cat, though, it was more subdued than it used to be.