Thank goodness for doggy daycare webcams

It's been over 3 years since we brought home our furry little bundle of puppy joy...she was 8lbs and 9 weeks old.

And since then, we've definitely had an adventure.  She's a trip - she's so smart and really has a great personality and is definitely crazy.  We have loved having her, as do her Grandparents and Cousin Pearly. 

For a while we were taking her to dog daycare about once every 2 weeks or so...and she'd sleep for a couple of days afterwards.  We really like Dogtopia, and it's great exercise, fun playtime, and good socialization for her.  But over the last 6-9 months, we just haven't been as diligent about taking her.  Husband's office moved, and there really isn't a convenient one for us. 

Cady's been getting a little growly lately with some of the neighborhood dogs, growling and getting fussy with them when we're out on walks.  We decided it was time to start taking her back to daycare regularly again, for so many reasons. 

Since she's been a little aggressive lately, we wanted to do a re-evaluation instead of just dropping her off and acting as if nothing was wrong.  And it's a good thing we did...

Cause she failed.  After about 20 minutes and time with 4-5 different dogs, they brought her back out to us.  The woman working with her said Cady was very scared, and was using the growling as defense against the dogs.  She was doing ok with one for a little while, but when the dog came up behind her, it really scared her. 

Luckily, they did say she's fixable!  Just not on a Saturday.  Since the place was packed with pups for the day and weekend, we looked at the calendar and picked another day that wouldn't be nearly as busy - so we went back on a Tuesday. 

I was a little nervous at first, being that overprotective mother.  But, everyone working there knew her story and were waiting for her when we dropped her off.  Also, having the webcams was definitely comforting - I was able to check in on her throughout the day to make sure she was still playing in the room.  They had her in the Lounge with all of the big dogs - this picture doesn't even show half of the number of dogs that were in there today!  So much for a slow Tuesday.

We picked up our exhausted puppy dog that evening, and she was asleep before we even got out of the shopping center.  She's not cured, but I definitely feel more comfortable walking her around the neighborhood after her day of playing.  And we have promised each other to keep working on this - we're going to take her regularly to daycare to both keep her socialized and let her have a fun day out of the house! 

Also, the girl who saw her on Saturday gave us the name of the trainer that they work closely with, suggesting we have some sessions with her so we are better equiped to help Cady get back to not being so scared.  I don't want to have the dog in the neighborhood that no one wants to say hi to, or have her be scared of other dogs all the time.  There are easily 5 or 6 dogs on our street alone, so she needs to be friendly with all of them. 

We've also decided that we need to invest in a new collar, so she stands out among all of the other black dogs at daycare!  I had a bit of a headache from staring at the webcam all day...what about this one?


Photo from Amazon

 

Too much?