KROMP to Resume Soon!
KROMP to Resume Soon!
KROMP is our premier off-leash, adventure service where we take a handful of pups on excursions to places outside the area to run, swim, hike and have a blast with their friends.
We had to put KROMP on-hold towards the end of last year due to Larry’s (Jessie’s husband) heart surgery, and subsequent, complications that had arose out of the surgery. Thanks to The Lord, however, he is fairing much better now enabling us to strongly consider the date in which we will post and resume this awesome service that so many of you are waiting for 😀
Participants must meet the following criteria in order to attend:
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- Great with other dogs (zero aggression)
- Current on all shots
- Stay under voice command AND line of sight at all times (no running off or dogs that are semi off-leash trained)
- Great with people
- Know basic commands such as “sit”, “stay” or “wait”, and “come” (“down” and “heel” would be great not necessary to know in order to attend)
- Cannot be sound sensitive
- Must ride well with others in vehicles
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Donner Lake
If you have any questions about this service, please see our KROMP page or feel free to contact us at (530) 867-5727.
Hoping to have your pup with us for fun in the sun (and SNOW!) <3
The Usefulness of Dog Backpacks
The use of a dog backpack is an awesome little tool for providing a harder workout in a much shorter amount of time. Plus, it gives your pup a job to do and they love that!
Using the Backpack for Workout Purposes
For high-energy dogs that come into our care for daycare or boarding, we increase their workouts by having them sport a backpack, if we’re taking them on a normal leash walk and provided they meet the health and physical requirements. The backpack is typically filled with either a) nothing, or b) items such as smaller water bottles. Just walking for 20 minutes with a backpack filled with two, small water bottles (one on each side), the dogs are very tired after the walk is over!
A Tired Bear
If you’re not sure how to get started for your pup, start by making sure that your pup is healthy enough to have increased workouts of this magnitude and doesn’t sport any injuries by seeking your veterinarian’s advice.
Assuming your pup is healthy and able to wear the backpack, start first by getting him/her accustomed to it. You can do this by just having him/her wear an empty backpack around the house J When your pup is comfortable with it on, go for a short walk with your pup (just keep the backpack empty for your first walk). Depending on how well he/she does, you can increase or decrease the time, leave the backpack empty or add weight to it (again, it’s always best to consult your veterinarian on the limitations or restrictions that you need to be aware of for your pup if you’re unsure)!
Giving Your Pup a J-O-B!
Dogs love to have purpose! In fact, in a dog pack, everyone has a role to play—a purpose—so giving them a job is really something they would appreciate.
A job can consist of your pup carrying items around for you and bringing them to you command or simply having them wait or stay next to you until a project you’re working on is complete. Below are a couple of simple examples.
A. Let’s say you are in need of fixing a garden hose that has sprung a leak outside. Place a roll of duct tape in a pocket on one side of your dog’s backpack and a water bottle on the other side (you never know, you may get really thirsty for some reason). Have your pup follow you outside (always practice leadership) to where the infamous hose is, place your pup in a down/stay until you have fixed the evil leak. Just simply giving your pup a job to do even though it isn’t physically exhausting will drain a lot of their mental energy because quite a few skills are being used just in this one simple exercise J
B. For this second example, let’s say that you have a lot of gardening to do (I guess I have gardening on the mind, which is funny because the “green thumb” gene bypassed me!) and too many items to carry. While you’re carrying the garden tools (this goes without saying but sharp items should NOT be placed in your dog’s backpack for safety reasons), your pup could be carrying items such as gloves, water, collapsible dog bowl (so that your pup can be hydrated, too), seed packets, bags and things of this nature. As you work at weeding the garden and walking in between the garden rows, your pup will be following you. Or you can simply put your pup in a down/stay in a particular spot, and call your pup to you to bring you something when you need it. After he/she has completed the task, give them the command to go back to their spot and lay down/stay until the next time you call them. Hopefully, their spot will be a shady spot because wearing backpacks makes one hot. If you don’t have a shady spot in your garden, or if you’re wanting your pup to follow you walking through the rows, then just make sure you’re only performing the activity for no more than 30 minutes (quite possibly even less than 30 minutes depending on the needs of your pup, weather, etc.). You can see the obvious skills that you will be using here in this exercise.
Both examples also strengthen you and your pup’s bond—a beautiful thing!
Another way the backpack can come in handy is if you’re busy working with your pup on breed exercises or other types of training such as SAR (Search and Rescue). If it’s raining outside and you need something constructive to do with your pup indoors to help deplete his/her energy, you can put some items in the backpack and have your pup bring them to you. This not only puts weight on him/her while moving but also gives a nice refresher on skills training using the commands such as “come”, “wait” or “stay”, “down” and whatever other commands you have taught or are teaching your pup. Again, it also enhances your bond with your pup.
Bear ready to go
Reminder Tips:
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- You need to make sure they don’t have any physical limitations
- You want to make sure to decrease the amount of time you normally walk them while they’re wearing a backpack (if you walk them typically 45 minutes per walk, start off walking them for 15 minutes with a backpack and increase slowly if necessary)
- Take a collapsible water bowl with you on your walks to make sure that your pup is stays sufficiently hydrated
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A Luxurious Ride with Tempur-Pedic
We’re constantly on the lookout for good deals that meet our needs and we found a GREAT deal in the use of Tempur-Pedic bath mats, which double as a bed and area liner in our “Pooch Mobile”.
Prior to coming across the idea of using a foam bath mat as a liner/dog bed for our truck, we were scouting for reasonably priced foam dog beds. The problems we found (just to name a few) were:
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- Too big and bulky
- Too expensive
- Wasn’t a good fit for muddy paws and wet dogs
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You may be wondering why we were insistent on a foam-based bed and the answer is that our dogs, as well as some regulars we board, are getting up there in years. We wanted where they laid down to be easy on their joints; the inside of the truck was no exception. The difference between the truck and the house is that the truck gets really, really dirty–fast. So, we needed not just a foam bed but a liner for the interior (floor) where the water, dirt and muck wouldn’t ruin the newly-replaced carpet (at least not right away). The foam bath mats was just the trick!
The foam bath mats have a rubber lining and a foam top pad! It was the perfect solution for us so we bought–a few 😉 We purchased six to cover the entire area but could’ve gotten away with just buying five at the cost of $20 each mat.
The real test of this idea came when it was time for the dogs to “load up” for an outdoor hiking adventure (when dogs stay with us, we’re hiking, swimming and performing some serious outdoor adventures). And, what a difference these pads made! What we noticed right away was as follows:
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- The dogs immediately wanted to lay down (even the younger ones that like to stand)
- The dirt and hair was surprisingly easy to remove (you can always dry shampoo the mats, too, at your local car wash)
- The pads kept everything from reaching the carpet (even wet paws)
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If you’re interested in purchasing some of these bath mats to try out for yourselves, you may be able to find a much better deal than we did. However, we went to Big Lots! to get ours because they are right down the road from us and generally have some pretty good deals most of the time.
We’ll probably end up getting more for the inside of the house, as well as, the deck. Our dogs always love to lay on our Yoga mats the moment we pull them out for a workout so we’re thinking that they really enjoy the Tempur-Pedic mats just laying around the house 🙂
If you have any ideas that have worked out great for you, feel free to share in the way of a comment!
Field Trips
Oftentimes, we work hard to give the dogs field trips. The field trips consist of taking them places where they can run off-leash and really drain their energy.
Molly and Misha
For those of us in the valley, it’s difficult to find a good place where you can take dogs to run off-leash and let them really burn a lot of energy in a short amount of time. Most of the time, we’re riding bikes or skating the high-energy dogs, which can exhaust us, too! Therefore every so often, we try and get the pack to a place where we can hike them for an hour to an hour and a half off-leash. It’s a fantastic treat for all involved (dogs and humans alike) 🙂
We are always on the look-out for places to go and always open to suggestions so if you have any, fire them to us, would you? Our most favorite place to go is Truckee where the Riggs family used to live and where KYPSAH began back in February of 2004. There are several places to go there (weather permitting) and the dogs have a blast and are STILL tired when we get back home to Woodland.
Waterside Fun
We will be hosting a page under our Services tab that will boast off-leash dog hike (field trip) opportunities probably starting around February of next year. These opportunities will be specifically for dogs who are under voice command and line of sight at all times. If you have a dog that falls short of making the grade of being under voice command and line of sight, we can give you some training tips on how to get him/her there by the time the field trips begin.
Total Discounts This Year So Far
Many discounts for many clients have been had this year so far to the tune of $2,344.00! That’s a lot of discounts considering we’re a small, family-run company 😉
We would like to extend our gratitude to each and every one of you for allowing us to care for your fur-kids! We would also like to invite those of you who have never used our service before to give us a try. We promise that we will give you–and your fur-kids–nothing but 110%. And, we’re pretty confident that you will be glad you gave us a call.
The Whirleez
Well, the toy of the season so far has been the Whirleez (it may have a different name depending on the supplier). It looks like a three-sided boomerang and dogs of all sizes, shapes, and breeds love it! It glides through the air with the greatest of ease and even squeaks! It isn’t a very durable toy by any stretch of the imagination but it’s definitely worth the purchase just to watch the dogs have so much fun with it 🙂
Roscoe's Favorite Toy
Pet Edge sells them and so does the Dollar Tree (from time-to-time) in Woodland, as far as, suppliers are concerned. They’re probably also sold in many other locations however.
We often change-up the toys for the dogs but this toy has been the winner across-the-board!
Morning Bliss
With the rain out of the way at least for a week, the dogs are taking advantage of climbing trees and playing fetch every chance they get. This morning’s video was no exception and you can see the happiness in the dogs. They love the California sunshine, that’s for sure!
In this video, Lanai (white girl in the tree) is seen in the tree. It’s her favorite thing to do when she’s outside is climb trees, or at least the trees that she can climb. And, she teaches this skill to all who have the capacity to learn. Molly, the German Shepherd who Lanai knows as her “baby” (because she raised her from a pup), never was able to grasp this tree-climbing skill. Therefore, all she does is wait for Lanai to come down and play with her. Consequently, Lanai will jump down out of the tree on purpose to startle Molly…they’re funny to watch.
In the background is Roscoe. Roscoe is in the video with his toys around him. He’s a toy-guy and loves to play fetch. Though he, too, can climb trees, it just isn’t his thing…LOL.
We thought we would post this video as a salute to the sunshine–and happy dogs as a direct result of it!