What's New at Adventure Dog Ranch?
July 20th 2010:
Kerri has finally started automating some of our paperwork requirements. You can now
submit the dog and owner info forms, via a web-form. Since the service contract needs a real "John Hancock," it will need to be signed and faxed or carried into the facility. If you need to update your info, simply follow this link: http://www.jotform.com/adventuredogs/MultiDogForm
June 24th 2010:
Kerri has written a great article with tips for keeping your dog safe on July 4th.
http://adventuredogs.spaces.live.com/
April 29th 2010
With the help of you we raised $315 for Muscular Dystrophy!
Always happy to help the community, we continue to collect donations via the weblink for another 45 days! Donate Here
April 26th, 2010 Adventure Gives Back! Supporting the our community and local charities has always been a goal of ours and we hope to be able to do even more of it in the future. What we're doing now is collecting donations for Muscular Dystrophy... The MDA has a program called Lock Up 2010... in which I am participating... In other words, I am going to jail for good... (for charity,) So far I've collected a few cash donations, but I am still way below my "Bail" goal of $1800... Please visit my MDA page https://www.joinmda.org/MyLockup/MyHomepage/tabid/139751/Participant/Kerri/Default.aspx and donate a few bucks if you can spare it. It all goes to a good cause.
February 8th, 2010
Time Sure Flies.... It's Already February.... and Surprise, our Dog of the Month feature is finally back. After the car accident, I was too dinged-up to do much of anything... but finally my back has healed enough that I'm back to almost normal... I'm no longer terrified of getting knocked down by the dogs... (Hey it's happened, and more often that I'd like to admit :) and I can finally lift my left arm high enough to hold a camera for a couple of minutes. I've also taken some decent pictures and plan to post them to the blog soon. --KP
December 1st 2009
We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and that everyone has finally recovered from their turkey ingestion comatose states. I think Steve and I will be eating Turkey sandwiches well into the new year. I'm getting excited at the thought of Santa and his reindeer visiting the ranch and am hoping that he'll bring Steve and I airline tickets to someplace sunny and warm, but I'd be happy with a house full of dogs for the holiday season. We're cooking up a reprise of our board and train special in January and February, to help all of those people that receive 4 legged bundles of fun, under their Christmas tree's this year. We still have plenty of boarding space available for you last minute traveller's and will do our best to find boarding slots for everyone who needs them. So HO, HO, HO and Bah Humbug and we will see you all very soon, --KP
Sept. 28th 2009
Steve and I are running some October Specials for New Clients. $75 off our Basic Board and Train Package, a phenomenal deal at the reduced price of $525. Check out the details on our Board and Train package here. We're also offering new boarding clients 10% off boarding stays longer than 5 days for new clients and 10% off the first week of daycare, (1st 2 weeks if pre-paid,) for those interested in having their dog come home good and tired. We're calling it our Adventure Dog Ranch Stimulus package and we're hoping to add some new friends to our extended dog ranch family. Tell your friends and please, if you have the opportunity, feel free to review our ranch and the services we provide on Google maps, Yelp, InsiderPages or any online source that you depend upon to help you make decisions about local businesses. Steve and I would truly appreciate your help spreading the word about our ranch and how well you think we do our jobs. If you have nice things to say or even constructive critisicms, we'd love to hear it, We are constantly trying to improve our offerings and help the dog owners in our community make informed choices while offering an alternative to traditional kennel operations that your dog will truly love. __K
September 19th 2009.
Things are Slow at the ranch, we've only got a handful of dogs boarding now. I'm sure hoping that it's just the calm before the holiday storm.Our daycare dogs still keep us hopping and our daycare service continues to grow. But Summer boarding wasn't what it was the previous year due to the economic struggles that we're all facing and we're feeling the pinch. I'm asking a favor of our Advenutre Dog Ranch Regulars. Please Spread the word. Steve and I are here for the long-haul, (we hope,) but after a fairly slow summer, we're going to need a little help from our friends. Tell your friends and family members about us. There are more than enough dog owners in Snohomish County to keep us busy, but our Advertising budget is depleted for the year, so we need your help spreading the word. If you need flyers or business cards, please ask. I will deliver. __KP
August 20th 2009,
Congratulations to Artimus and his Human Companions, on passing his AKC Canine Good Citizenship exam.
Could there be a "Dog of the Month" Title in his future? Stay Tuned....
Yep that was a dig and it was directed at me... I'm so far behind on this that it's no longer acceptable... I finally posted June's DOTM winner today, I've known who it was going to be for quite some time, just getting around to it... I'm still pretty dinged up from the car accident in May, but I'm starting to feel a little more motivated, even if I'm still sore as heck. Steve's been very patient, he understands that I've got more to do than I could possibly get done; even if I wasn't injured, so he puts up with me. I hit the jackpot when I met him...
August 3rd 2009"
Is it Hot Enough for You?
It's been a challenge to keep our doggies cool in this hot weather, so I thought
it might be wise to tell you some of the things we do here at Adventure Dog Ranch when the mercury rises.
1st of all, we don't run them nearly as hard on days when it's over 85 degree's. The dogs' are pretty darned good at self-limiting on hot days, but there are always a few that will keep going when they shouldn't. We always keep a close eye on the young ones, the old ones,.dogs that have heavy coats and dogs that are dark in color on hot days. We will actually hose down any dogs that we are concerned about and may also bring them in the house where there is A/C.
We encourage dog's to drink a lot of water and we all tend to stay in the shade on hot days. We keep checking their ears and belly's to make certain they're not overheated. We keep refilling the kiddie pools with cool water and encourage dogs to take a dip. We actually brought in a bunch of block ice and jugs of extra water the last time around to help keep the water bowls and kiddie pools cool. Luckily the dog house stays pretty cool in the summer, so night time wasn't an issue.
We'll look out for signs of heat stress like exaggerated panting, or panting with a lot of saliva. Dog's that are salivating heavily while panting, may be losing a lot of fluids, so we'll cool them off by hosing them down or pooring cool water over them, helping to cool them by evaporation. We're always on the lookout for dry noses and mouths, excessively warm bellies, ears that feel too warm, or unusual behavior / signs of confusion. Any dog that isn't acting normally, will be hosed down, encouraged to drink and given a break in a cooler spot, be it the dog house or our house.
We also look at their mouths. We're on the lookout for any signs of heat stroke. Pale gums with a dark red tounge can be a sign that a dog is in trouble.(These are things to watch for at home too.) In extreme cases, a dog with heat problems may NOT be panting. If your dog has been running around in the heat and isn't panting, take Fido to the vet. In Severe heat stroke cases, their gums may be turning blue. We haven't had any issues, probably because we err on the side of caution. We'll always do our best to keep your best friends cool on hot sunny days.
July 17th, 2009:
Just in case you didn't see it in print, The Everett Herald interviewed Steve
earlier this year about walking your dog properly and some tools you can use to make the task easier. You can read the article here:
http://heraldnet.com/article/20090210/LIVING/702109992
July 2nd 2009:
Is it just me or is this year flying by? It's getting pretty busy around the ranch, but I finally managed to get one of the new video's up. It's of Yorgo, one of our newest daycare dogs, a Great Dane on his first day at daycare, playing with Artimus, a Golden Labradoodle. Clutch the chocolate Lab, also makes a brief appearance, (when he thinks they're having too much fun without him,) but I was able to call him off. (He's another one of our regulars.) It's up on MSN Soapbox but without the music.(I ran into a file size limitation.) http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?vid=427c0eba-8852-441e-a5a8-b1a4c2c1392d
NOTE: Msn Soapbox is no longer showing user created content. I'll try to get everything up on YouTube Soon. kp 9/19/09
It's also up on Youtube with music by your's truly... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9ITiY1cQNo
The audio features my work with "The Want" recorded when I was in my "I-wanna-be-a-Rock-Star" phase, during my life before Steve. The 1st track, "In Time," was written by me, the second one, "Take it or Leave it," was written by my brother Kelly Kristjanson. You can hear more of Kelly's music at www.cdbaby.com/cd/kristjanson
I'll post the link and add it to the blog page, once spaces becomes available again. Let me know what you think and have a happy and safe Independance Day.. -
Just in case you've forgotten, the adventure dog blog is at http://adventuredogs.spaces.live.com -KP
June 30th 2009:
We're finally going to start accepting Debit and Credit Cards!
We Signed the Agreement today and will hopefully be set-up and ready to go by next week!
Now all of our friends can start collecting their Airline miles so that they can take more vacations and leave their dogs with us!
It's a fund raiser for M-dog and Strawberry Fields for Rover, Marysville's 1st and only off-leash dog park. We'll be there handing out some goodies so come on by and say hello. There'll be all kinds of presentations, contests and vendors, so come on down, bring your dog, (on leash,) and check it out. Here's some details:
4th Annual Poochapalooza
10:00 AM- 3:00 PM
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Asbery Field, Totem Middle School,
4th Street and Alder Avenue, downtown Marysville, Washington
Admission: FREE, donations greatly appreciated to support
M-DOG and Strawberry Fields forRover Off-Leash Park
Welcome to Poochapalooza - It's like a county fair for dogs! We are thrilled that you and your dog can join us for the 4th Annual Poochapalooza outdoor dog event in Marysville from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. on Saturday, July 11, 2000 at Totem Middle School's Asbery Field. Poochapalooza showcases pooches at their best and brightest.
June 29th 2009:
Dad's Wedding was a pretty good time. My Niece, her hubby and their two adorable kids, Rayann and Christopher came up from Portland, it was great to see them again, those kids are growing like weeds. There were a lot of old friends and family in attendance. Good food, Music by my brother, preacher Theo, Matt and Myself, it was a little rough, but not horrible considering It's been a long time since I've played music with Theo, but he's a pro and can "wing it" with the best of us, which is pretty impressive when we're doing mostly original material.
Dad looked so handsome, his beard trimmed into a Goatee and a new suit. I don't think I've seen him that nervous since our wedding 18 years ago. (Wow it's hard to believe it was that long ago, seems like it was only a couple years ago...) I really appreciate the fact that Steve's cousin Dale was able and available to take care of the dogs for the day. It was nice to have a night out with my husband again. --KP
June 8th 2009: Adventure Dog Ranch will be closed to the public on Saturday June 27th. This means No Evaluations/Tours/Drop-off's or Pickups, and No Daycare Service.
Steve and I will be attending my dad's wedding in Lynnwood and we're simplifying operations for our Staff. This is so our staff can fully concentrate on the needs of the dogs and not have to deal with the distractions of people coming and going.
If you are planning a vacation that contains those days, there will be no changes in the level of service to your dogs, you will just need to drop off on Friday or Pick up on Sunday instead. Call Kerri at 360-652-2924 to make arrangements.
I've got a cool new video going up soon.. Pop by our blog page and Check it out!!!!
Update: Ran into some problems with the video and now I need to fix the music.. before I can re-encode it. I'm still WOrking on it. --KP
May 29th 2009:
Washington State Passes Anti-Puppy Mill Legislation.
Gov. Gregoire signed SB5651 into law this week, outlining humanitarian requirements for breeding operations as well as certain housing/kennel requirements designed to clean up puppy mills in our state. It doesn't go far enough IMHO, but at least its a start. You can read more on our blog at http://AdventureDogs.Spaces.Live.com
I've also posted some pictures of our dogs, Java, Starbuck and MaxShadow in a new photo album entitled "Meet Hi Octane Java." I plan to put up introductions to all 3 of our dogs with pictures and videos of them working and frollicking. Many of you have already met Starbuck, our CCO, (Chief Canine Officer,) as she spends a lot of time out with the pack. Hi-Octane Java doesn't get to spend as much time with the pack because her female hormones tend to drive the boy dogs crazy. (We're still debating whether or not we should breed her.) We limit her in pack play time to a very select clientelle that we trust not to fight over her. MaxShadow keeps Java company the majority of the time, but he too helps Steve with his training cases. He's very good at working with young puppies that haven't yet learned proper dog greeting ettiquite.
I recently posted April's Dog of the month. Congratulations to Roxy the Red Heeler. You made a big impression during your visit and we all know you had a blast. Meet Roxy here
Until next time, enjoy the weather, Spring has finally Sprung. --kp
April 28th 2009:
I didn't realize how far behind I'm getting on my Dog of the Month page!
I'm having a hard time believing that the 1st of May is right around the corner & I've only just put up the DOTM for March. (Congratulations to Libby, she's worked hard to earn it.)
We're starting to get ready for Poochapalooza, which is a benefit for M-Dog (the Marysville Dog Owners Group,) and "Strawberry Fields for Rover." Poochapalooza is a good cause. It's free and donations to support Marysville's Off Leash Dog Park are of course accepted. It's a great time. Imagine the Freemont Street Fair with Dogs. Good people, Dogs are allowed (on leash, of course.) There's Vendor booths, (we'll be there,) demonstrations and even an opportunity to have your dog evaluated for it's Canine Good Citizen test. I missed the very first one, but have been to every one of them since. It's good JuJu to bring your dog along, meet some like minded individuals and put some money in kitty for a good cause. We hope to see you all there. July 11th from 10-3. More info is available at http://poochapalooza.org
If anyone is still reading this, I've got a couple more serious things to yak about, so keep on reading.
I'd like to stress that anyone that feels that they may need our services sometime in the future, consider some of the things that are going on in the world, update their vaccinations and book an eval for your dog, long in advance of when you feel you may actually need our services. Stuff comes up. Life Happens, and it's simply impossible for Steve and I to accomodate everybody's emergencies unless we've already met your dog in advance. I feel horrible when I have to turn someone away, but it's pretty well stated on our website that evaluations are the standard and that we can't have unneutered dogs over the age of 8 months.
With the state of the world today, we don't know when the next big disaster is going to strike. Katrina/911/Earthquakes. At any given moment, we may have to travel to go to a shotgun wedding or bury a loved one. Heck even this Swine Flu thing, could end up affecting some of us, in some distant way, although I pray that it doesn't.
Get your dogs evaluated, even if you don't have an imminent need for our services. It's a lot easier to accomodate you in a hurry if we've already met your dog and they're current on their vaccinations. Eval's are free and take less than an hour... enough said on that for today.
Last point for today... Everyone wants to know why we want you to drop off your dogs before 2:00 in the afternoon. It's actually pretty darned simple. We need adequate time to wear them out before we put them to bed at night at around 6:00PM. Especially if it's a dog we don't know very well yet. Some dogs can be a little skittish around new people and don't want to come into the dog house at night, if we haven't been given adequate time to earn their trust.
Steve and I work long, hard hours. About 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. We love what we do, but things can get a little dicey with dogs that don't know us yet. I'm going to tell you a true story about the lengths Steve will go to, to earn the trust of a timid dog.
About a month ago, we had a new client that had to leave town suddenly, and we hadn't met their dog yet. Baby Girl was a sweet and gorgeous reddish brown and white border collie. Not an aggressive bone in her entire body, but she wasn't fond of strangers. The owners didn't drop her off until just before 5:00PM and she wanted nothing to do with us yet.
Steve and I took turns sitting and even laying down in the play yard after hours, trying to get her to come inside and have some dinner. We offered snacks etc... but she wouldn't come to us and each time we attempted to approach her, she turned and avoid us. It was late, it was rapidly getting dark, it was still pretty darned cold out and we couldn't/WOULDN'T leave her in the play yard unattended.
Steve set up his tent in the play yard and started hauling out sleeping bags. If she wouldn't come in, he was going to have to spend the night outside with her. Leaving her alone was NOT AN OPTION.
She became more and more interested in his activities. Setting up the tent and hauling out layers and layers of bedding. Steve sat in the tent and waited. I came out and joined him in the tent too and brought some turkey and gravy with me. She eventuallly poked her nose in out of curiosity, she was starting to thaw, but she still had to have everything on her terms. Steve didn't want to rush things.
He continued ignoring her, hanging out in the tent and acting like he was having a great time camping out on that cold, damp night. Finally around 11 at night, after she'd allowed him to share part of his dinner with her, she finally allowed him to place a leash around her neck and allowed him to lead her into the dog house, offer her some chow and put her in with the other dogs for the night.
After that first night, she obviously adored Steve, followed him non-stop and I'm certain that she'll be fine on her next visit.
So. now you know why we like to meet all of the dogs in advance, (so that they can get to know and trust us,) and why we need to have them dropped off early in the day so that we can build that trust and wear them out.
After almost 20 years together, Steve's compassion for animals and his overall humanity, still manage to amaze me. I'm very, very lucky and so are all the dogs that come and stay with us. He always goes the extra mile. __ Kerri (signing off for now...)
April 3rd 2009:
In all honesty, Steve and I are ready for Spring. We are ready to put away our large collection of long underwear and "bomber" hats and break out the spf #50 sunscreen and shades. The way it's been looking around here, it may very well be Summer, before we even begin to see signs of spring.
UPDATE: May 4th 2009, It looks as though our weekend off is going to have to wait as the only person that we trust to watch the dogs in our abscence is not going to be available for that weekend. Steve says his cousin Dale is as good with dogs as he is, and that's really saying something. Dale isn't going to be available, so we're staying home and celebrating our 18th anniversary with the pack.
Steve and I are also planning our first Mini-vacation since we started this adventure. We're doing our best to make sure that service levels for the dogs will not be affected in our abscence, however we may have to adapt some drop off and pick up times for our boarding clients.
It will only be a weekend, but believe it or not, running a facility like this is HARD WORK. It is physically demanding, but more than that, it is "Mentally" demanding. You are constantly on the look-out for the smallest of behavioral cues. Something as simple as a single look, can trigger an unwanted response. If one dog gets involved, the energy level of pack can shift. If you don't keep your wits about you, bad things can happen. We work very, very hard at keeping everyone on a even keel.
One of the main reasons that we haven't yet hired any full time help, is that the people attracted to working with dogs, tend to not be the people that would do best in a pack leadership role. Loving dogs is simply not enough. You must also understand the nuances of canine behavior and have a certain aire of confidence, in order to keep the pack safe. You must also be able to keep your own emotions and stressor's under control or you can inadvertantly cause problems.
I can honestly say that working with dogs has made me a much stronger person. If for no other reason than: The dogs will become agitated if I am upset. I really have to focus on living in the moment, and seeing and appreciating the things that are good right now. I think a lot of people could learn serious life lessons from dogs. I know that I have. __K
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January 20th 2009:
Seattle Dog Winterfest was productive, but it wasn't flawless. There were some PR problems, but our hosts were courteous and helpful and we genuinely had a good time. It was nice to be a part of something as grand as a benefit for Gingers Pet Rescue & the Cesar and Illusion Millan foundation. It was a multi-faceted operation, with dozens of vendors to coordinate, as well as an Auction and dinner with Cesar. It was a complicated event to pull off. All in all, I think it was a pretty good production, for their 1st attempt at Winterfest and if we can, we will probably do it again next year.
On Saturday there was a great turn-out, with a lot of people there to meet Cesar Millan.
Sunday was a little slow. I think the Bothell-Boy-Made-Good/American Idol runner-up, Blake Lewis, was likely disappointed with the turnout on Sunday. I think the Admission Price, (hey after all, it was a benefit,) probably kept the teens and tweens from bopping in. I have a hunch that Blake had a little talk with his agent about booking him and his dog into a place where the admission was more than the typical 12 year-old's allowance could afford. In my opinion Blake is a very talented vocalist although the style of music he performs isn't exactly my cup of Java.
Sunday was probably more fun for Steve and I than Saturday, as it wasn't as busy or rushed. We were finally able to take turns wandering around and chatting with other people in the dog care industry. I think we made some valuable contacts, and hopefully made some new friends. (We learned a bit in the process too which is always a bonus.)
Best of all, Gingers Pet Rescue was able to place a LOT of dogs. It's always great when someone supports the cause and another dog finds his permanent, forever, home.
I'll be putting up a couple of pictures of Steve with Cesar on our Blog page soon.
Adventure Dog Ranch Blogs and Social Networking Pages:
We've been busy... We've finally joined the 21st century and we now have a "MySpace page!" We've also created a Microsoft Spaces Live Page, where I will be hosting the "Adventure Dog Blog," as well as downloadable high resolution photo's, & video's etc... (I recently bought a new digital camera that takes reasonable pictures and video's, and I've even figured out how to set the date on it!)
So please pop by and check it out and feel free to make comments on what you see there. I take constructive criticism wisely and it is always appreciated. You may even be able to find a picture of YOUR DOG there!
I also encourage you to sign up for our mailing list so that we can inform you when cool things are happening and/or about special offers. We will never sell any of your information to a 3rd party, nor will we fill your mail box with spam. We respect your privacy and your information is only used to conduct our business with you and on rare occassions, to market our services. (That's way easier to understand than 3 pages of Legal-eze isn't it?)
For those of you who have missed my past ramblings: Link to past Announcements Here:
If you think of us as just a great place to board your dogs,
read about our other services:
Adventure Dog Ranch is proud to offer Dog training provided by our sister company, Sno-King Dog Training. Offering Individual, "One-on-One" Training Sessions. Evening and Weekend sessions are also available. Click here for Additional Details!
Call us (360) 652-2024 to find out more about our Cage-Free Boarding,
Doggie Daycare & TrainingServices.
Adventure Day Care!
If you're like 90% of the Dog Owners in the USA, you have a job, a family and a life. It's hard to find enough hours in the day (especially this time of year) to give your pets the amount of playtime and exercise that they truly deserve. That's where we come in, Adventure Dog Ranch offers Daycare Service!
In addition to our Day Care services, we hope to start a pickup and delivery service that will compliment our doggie daycare program. We'll pick them up at your door, take them to our facility, exercise them all day long, and drop them back off at your door!
All of this for less than the cost of boarding! As always, if you're booking multiple dogs and/or multiple visits, there will be a discounted price! We're still working out the details so please call or Email us for more information!)
As of now our target area's are: Marysville, Smokey Point, Lakewood / 7 Lakes, and possibly North Everett. If you are Interested in this Service, please contact Steve for more information:
Day Care without Pickup/Drop-off Service is also available, (by appointment only.) For those clients that prefer to drop them off and pick them up themselves.
More Training Options!
Join our Mailing List!
Want to be informed about upcoming events and specials at the ranch? Join our mailing list! Periodically, (no more than once every 6-8 weeks,) you will receive our newsletter describing the events and "goings on" at Adventure Dog Ranch.
Your Name and Information will NEVER! NEVER! EVER! be sold, as we despise junk mail of all kinds; electronic and postal.