Scampers Weekly Recap – May 6, 2016

Scampers Weekly Recap - May 6, 2016

In This Issue

Did You Know?

Friday Funny

Heard 'round the water bowl

Scampers Boarding Facility

Pooch need a spruce up?

Your Pix

Dear --Valued Customer--

We've been having so much fun this week - lots of comfy outside time, featuring plenty of water play and expended energy.

We've been entertaining them with the usual water play, but we've added new entertainment too - our staff have been extra industrious recently making improvements to the yard, gardening, repairing cracked pavement to deploying a new style of shade tent, and they're enjoying all the changes. They seem to find the wranglers' activity interesting.

Oh, and don't forget, Sunday is Mother's Day - we wish all our Moms Happy Mother's Day!

Is that lunch really necessary?

We are able to accommodate a limited number of mid-day feedings for some of our youngest and oldest pooches, and those pooches who have a special medical requirement for dietary assistance.

For some reason, our list of lunchers has grown astronomically, and while we try to accommodate your requests, most of those pooches are uninterested in interrupting their fun.

Remember, most dogs over 6 months of age only need one or two meals a day, as they process their food more slowly than humans do. (Here's a link to a good article on this subject published on the Petfinder site.)

They'd really prefer to play all day and go home to a nice big dinner before a nice long snooze.

Pooch of the Month - May 2016 - Congratulations, Morty!

It's Pooch of the Month time again!

We were pleased to announce our May Pooch of the Month on Cinqo De Mayo.

Mister Morty, one of our famous English Bulldogs has bested the competition in a total rout!

Congratulations to Morty and his hoomans on this big win!

You can check out all the candidate photos on our Facebook page.

Fun With PupPod at Scampers!

We are pleased to announce that the development bugs have been worked out for PupPod, and the prototype model has been replaced with a fully functional first generation PupPod.

In May, Scampers will begin offering PupPod time as an add-on service for those Scampers pups who enjoy some solo brainwork time, perhaps as a break from the more active playtime.

The PupPod customers' portal is ready for you to create your account, set up profiles for your pooches, check up on PupPod usage, and watch and share videos of your pooches as they master the PupPod challenge. You can even purchase PupPod credits for your friends' pups (and your friends can purchase PupPod credits for your pooch too)!

When you create a new profile, your pooch is given three free PupPod credits, each good for one PupPod session. Within those first three sessions, you'll know if your dog is a fan of PupPod.

Set up a profile on PupPod for your dog!

It's fun, it's easy, and wouldn't it be fun to see how they play?
(Click to see video of Madi's Jax, hard at work with our PupPod.)

Did you know....

A recent study has shown that dogs who are trained exclusively with rewards learn more and learn faster than dogs who are trained with a “No”, “Sorry”, or other indication of a mistake.

Positive reward-based training has been increasing in the past ten years or so, but the training philosophy was based on ideas from psychologists such as B.F. Skinner. Dogs in the experiment were taught to put two legs into a hoop on the floor. The group trained with positive reward methods achieved level 4 of 6 in difficulty and were correct 60% of the time. Dogs who were informed of both correct and incorrect choices only achieved level 1 of 6 in difficulty and were correct only 27% of the time.

It seems that dogs who are told when they are doing a task incorrectly lose interest in the task, and are unlikely to explore other options to complete the task. The thesis and experimental design are available here http://academicworks.cuny.edu/hc_sas_etds/12/. For more information on positive training, check out Victoria Stillwell’s methods http://positively.com/. Happy training!

Thanks to Elise Poston for this submission. Look for more Did You Know tidbits from Elise in future editions of Scampers Weekly Recap.

Pooch need a spruce up?

Chris Sugarbaker of Cut-N-Run, mobile groomer extraordinaire will make his next bi-weekly visit to Scampers on Tuesday, May 10th. His schedule fills up quickly, though, so make sure to get your reservations in early. If our current schedule does fill up, we recommend setting up a reservation for Chris' next visit, then, on May 24th.

Feel free to give us a call to schedule an appointment for your pooch, or ...

If you've created your GingrApp identity, you can set up your reservations now on GingrApp. When you make your daycare reservation, you'll notice the option to select "Additional Services". Choose the service you'd like to add, then confirm by clicking the blue bar on the right, then choose the date (again), and choose from one of the times available.

Weekly Features

Have a Cuppa Joe in support of pet rescue

Hey all -- look for our coffee service each morning when you are dropping off. We're donating the coffee and trimmings to the cause. Any funds we take in for cups of coffee will be forwarded to Homeward Pet.

We hope you'll opt for a quick Cuppa Joe from right here at Scampers so we can all help support canine rescue efforts.

Weekly Report - We are delighted to report that this week we collected $29.31 for Homeward Pet through our coffee fund. Thank you very much. We hope you enjoyed your coffee!

You are all Homeward Heroes!!

...Thank you so much for helping make our animals' futures bright!

- Alora Knapp
Development Coordinator,
Homeward Pet

Friday Funny

Every once in a while we come across a dog-oriented joke.

This one's today's:

Watch for the updates of our framed Friday Funny in our reception area.

We'll also make sure they're posted on our Facebook page so you can share them with your friends.

Heard 'round the water bowl

We're a pretty close knit group of pooches - we form strong friendships, and we get to know each other very well. When new pooches join us, we love to introduce them around and get them started in their Scampering adventures - that's why they call us the "Welcome Waggin".

Monday was a super busy day for the Welcome Waggin. The Littles welcomed Rush, a young chihuahua with a zest for life. What an adorable puppy he is! He's finding plenty of other puppies to romp with, and is building a large circle of good friends. Meanwhile, Bulldog Hercules found a great new way to spend his days, partying with the Active Big Dogs. He's got a great attitude for daycare. The Active Big Dogs also welcomed young Catahoula mix Maggie B. She's having so much fun. All three of these newbies have been back every day for more Scampers fun!

Thursday, we introduced Big Remy, a chocolate Weimaraner-Lab mix, into the group. He was so excited, he danced and partied all day long. He's going to make a great camper - there's lots of fun to be found in those big dogs!

Today, we're welcoming Baby Longhaired German Shepherd Bear S - with the biggest feet! - and even though he's a baby, he's fitting in nicely with the Big Dogs. He'll get lots of puppy play with Dugan Golden and Lucy Samoyed. Meanwhile, Zoe R is being entertained in our Littles group. She has lots of years in her, but she's enjoying the party atmosphere in the "back forty".

Hey, Peeps, don't forget, if you're curious about how we spend our days and you're not quite sure what those report cards really mean, you can watch the adventures in the photos and videos our wranglers are posting on the Scampers Facebook page.

There's also a ScampersDogs channel on YouTube where you'll find all kinds of fun videos, and we update that selection periodically.

In Memorium

Farewell, Dear Frankie

We are heartbroken to announce that our dear friend Frankie has lost her battle with cancer, although she fought valiantly. It makes us proud to be able to add that, with her indomitable spirit, she was able to enjoy a much longer life than her doctors first predicted.

Many of you will remember Frankie as she sat atop a crate monitoring all the goings-on related to go-homes. Some will have been lucky enough to witness her miraculous ability to leap into her beloved humans' arms - every time - her unique go-home ritual.

We thank Frankie's humans for sharing her with us. They always made sure she lived a very happy and comfortable life. She was so well-loved, and will be dearly missed.

Send us your pix

Every once in a while we receive a photo from one of our customers showing us what their beloveds are doing after their day at Scampers. We're always looking for new material but we have some classics to share:

Scampers pooches and their new human babies

We've seen many of our Scampers families expand recently, and we're looking for pics of our campers tending to their new humans. We hope we'll see lots more baby and pooch pictures! Click here to send your pics in via email.

It looks like Pliny's baby brother is
learning to walk - fun times ahead!

Here's Aussie Ozzie O looking after his new baby, Tali. What a beautiful pair!

Luna Blue Pit is learning to enjoy her kid sister's attention. Emily is learning that Luna's a great big sister.

Gentle Golden Kenny is
taking very good care of
brand new baby Advay.

Tired Dog Series...

Buddy T stretches out
at his mom's feet at day's end.

Little Jemma seems to remember that her bed is for sleeping, but it looks like she missed her mark.

Odie just needs a place to put his snout
while he takes a little nap.

Apparently, young English Setter Leica is getting lots of exercise when she comes to Scampers. Here's what she looks like at home.

Here's London giving us her impression
of a tired poodle. She's too pooped to notice
her lovely rawhide chewy.

We loved this shot of Sadie - the look on her face says that she's not pleased that her belly rub got interrupted for the sake of a camera.

Like many pooches, Swiffer enjoys the world through an open car window, even if he so tired after his Scampers day that he sleeps through it!

Bliss is a place to rest my head, a hand to stroke my neck.

It's a dog's life

This category of owner-contributed pics features dogs enjoying their extracurricular fun.

This is where we'll post the pics we've received of your pooches enjoying summer vacations, beach roaming, ball games, and any other such general exploring.

Congratulations to McKinley, Blue Ribbon Pooch

Little Miss Chomchom is all dressed up and ready for her tromp around Whistler.

Murphy C surveys his domain!

The real reason

We have also received some great shots documenting "The Real Reason" you bring your furkids to Scampers.

Buddy T decided to do a little remodeling
as a surprise for his mom.

The famous Odie is at it again.
Mr. Champion Counter Surfer has his eye on the beautiful beignet!

Pretty Abby G is a very helpful pooch indeed. This lovely picture shows her effort at helping to unpack mysterious things at the office.

Canine Nosework Classes at Scampers

Dogs have an incredible sense of smell and an inborn desire to hunt. The sport of K9 Nose Work is designed to develop the natural scenting abilities of your dog by using their passion for hunting and their love of toys, food and exercise.

It's a great class for your dog to have fun, build confidence, and burn lots of mental and physical energy and you get to find out just how good your dog's nose is.

Vicki Francks, owner of Cascade Canines continues offering K9 Nose Work Classes using Scampers facility. If you'd like some information on the next round of classes, give Vicki a call at 206-849-7643. More information is also available as Scampers front desk.