Skye's first day at Doggie Daycare

Skye always mourns when Frank's R&R is over and he has headed back overseas. Then, after about a week she perks up and bonds again with her Bubba (our son, Matthew.) In the past few weeks since Matthew moved to Arkansas though poor Skye has been absolutely despondent. While I'm at work she has only my cat, Lily, for company - and I'm sorry to say Queen Lily merely abides Skye as a pesky annoyance! That means Skye is left to just mope around, sleeping on the couch all day and storing a lot of pent up energy so she can drive Mom nuts when I get home in the evening.

So it became my mission to find a doggie day care that would offer playtime, exercise, and plenty of TLC from caring humans. Ironically, the day after I began The Grand Quest my friend, Debbie, came into the office with news about a great place called The ZooKeepers where her husband could take their dog a couple of days a week for play and exercise! He'd gone to check it out and found that the two lady owners were high school classmates, and he'd worked with the Mom of one of them for years. He brought home brochures, which Debbie passed on to some of us at work, and by the next day 3 of us were ready to take our pets to The ZooKeepers too! After a noon-hour visit I was SO impressed with the fun and compassionate pet-loving owners and workers, and the way The ZooKeeper is organized. With paperwork done, spay documentation and shot record provided, Skye was officially enrolled and The ZooKeepers were looking forward to meeting our furry red ball of energy! As for me, I was cautiously excited about this new doggy adventure - for Skye's well-being and sanity AND for mine!

Today was the first day and if they had handed out gold stars, our Skyer would have a whole sheet of them! The owners have already fallen in love with her - in particular, she has a new buddy in "Aunt Jackie." She said Skye wanted to go wherever she went, so (as a special privilege not given every dog) she let Skye make the rounds with her to all the indoor play areas and all the outdoor play areas, and all around the office - just to check things out and meet everyone. Skye got special treats and even has a new boyfriend - a handsome black lab named Buster! Miss Janet said they just played and played. At one point Skye was so happy that Jackie sent a text to Janet to come out back and look at her - Jackie was doubled over laughing as Skye appeared to be grinning at them from ear to ear! Just as the ladies predicted, our Skye was literally one tired puppy when it was time to come home. She headed to the water bowl, ate her dinner, went outside for a few minutes, piled up on her couch and she was out. What a difference a day makes! The plan was to take her on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday each week - but that may just become a Monday through Friday routine - she has such fun!! It is wonderful to see her happy and content again. I think I'm just as excited about finding a good daycare for Skye as I was about finding a good daycare for Matthew all those years ago - ha!

Here are some "before and after" pics - this morning she was looking at me expectantly as I explained where we were going (of course she understood!)



...and this evening, after a day of fun and frolicking, she was completely relaxed and all tuckered out. Nighty-night Skye-Raider!