Day care day......uhhhhhh

Barley has been a regular at day care lately; going every Tuesday and Thursday. She even went this past Saturday while we were competing in City Chase. Frankly I think it is really starting to get to her.

On today's report card it said "Barley spent the afternoon wrestling with her pals and resting next to many more." Yeah, she actually rested while at day care. So, even though she passes out when she gets home (as evidenced by the picture above, taken by tc), she apparently even needs a break during the day. So, while she rests, I get a break too. The master plan is working.

9 month birthday

Today is Barley's 9 month birthday (or so we are told). In honor of her birthday she got special treats. See, tc made dinner and during the process she had to trim up some flank steak. Well, all the trimmings went into Barley's food bowl. She wandered around for a minute, not sure why she was smelling meat but aware that something smelled good. Eventually she noticed the meat, and promptly devoured it. Chewing is not her strong point, she's more of a hoover when it comes to food.

Well, continuing that theme, tc fed her (to aid in bonding) and made her a birthday "meat cake". That's the picture, a meat cake, with oats and kibble for dinner.

Her 9 month stats are:

Length: 36"

Height: 24"

Weight:58lbs

New Friends

Barley survived another day of day care at DoGone Fun and seems to have even made some new friends. According to her daily report card (pics above), Charles says she made doggy friends with Molly, Ginger and Shayne, and it looks like she's even taken a liking to him, Doug and Jeremy, too.

Thanks to the report card and their handy Web cam, we know she played fetch, romped in the pool and basically ran around non-stop all day long.

And now, here she is at home napping with her old friend Mr. Monkey Pants after a full day of fun...

Daycare day 1

It's official, we are yuppy puppy parents. Today we sent Barley off to doggy daycare. I had the displeasure of putting her in the car at 7AM, and rolling on down to Dog Gone Fun. The part that was the worst had nothing to do with the drive, or getting up that early. It was the look she gave me when I handed her over to a staff member. She looked so confused, and a little terrified. I know she's only a dog, but I wondered if she was thinking that I was dropping her off at a shelter. I decided that was my own little mental issue, and that she was just intimidated by the new surroundings and dogs. I explained to the staff member that it was her first day, and he was kind enough to keep her separated from the other dogs for a while, until they all calmed down.

I checked in on her throughout the day via webcam, and saw that she was always running around with her tail held high (it curls into a really cute "C" when she's happy). She was a bit too bully-ish when she was in the small dog area, so they moved her over to the large dog side of the play lot; she did much better there. She was a little intimidated by the larger dogs, so she was less overbearing.

At the end of the day we picked her up, and we got a little daily report card, the highlight of which stated that she socialized well today.

The picture with this post is of her waiting for dinner, notice how focused she can be. Of course, she is currently asleep at my feet as I write this.