Dogz Day Care

01/04/2025

BREAKING NEWS :
Ruby & Corrie Agreed terms to join Scottish Football team .... both agreed to turn up and play consistently well. A first for Scottish Football.

19/03/2025

When No Means No:.... Stand Your Ground!

As you all know our Julie the Rough Collie passed away a few months ago.

A few weeks ago my lady wife asked if I was thinking of getting another dog ( please note we still have 3)

I said “to be honest No” I was finding one less dog in the house a bit easier, insurance has gone down, food bills have gone down etc and between Dogzdaycare and our own dogs my life has got slightly easier as Julie in the end was a lot of cleaning up after and negotiating around her requirements which you do not realise until they are no longer here, life was a bit easier, so my life is completely based around dogs ( just the way I like it).

Katie listened intently to my reply and my “No” answer, and replied along the lines of “yes I understand that, it must be less to do, but do you not think there is a big gap left now with Julie gone?”

I dont think i even drew breath “NO” and that was the end of the conversation. , so a “No” had been accepted in my little Male brain..... what I should have thought was, what she meant by “Big Gap?" I soon had my answer.

Everyone please meet Luna , the Great Dane Rescue... just a small dog to fill that “big gap” my lady wife noticed 😂hardly a Chihuahua.

Insuring her costs more than my car each month our food bills well they have doubled... and Shrek would be proud of the size of poops she produces, it leads to the question How do I pick that up? or do I dig a trench to bury?

Luna is around 20 months old so just a pup and still growing... OMG.
I didn’t know whether to get a harness or borrow a saddle from my daughter for her! Still early days and a saddle may actually be the answer as Great Danes don’t fully mature until 3 years old .

Luna arrived a few weeks ago, extremely underweight, due to her pretty unsure and fraught beginnings, rescued by Islay Dog Rescue (our second Rescue from Islay) in Cumnock. The next few months will be a settling in period for Luna and I am sure will be rewarding but will without doubt have its ups and downs her sheer size scares the living daylights out our other three dogs and it will be a very very slow process to introduce her to them and I am talking many months of scent , sight and familiarisation of them to her before let on a long lead of introduction.

But Luna, as it “says on the tin”... is a Gentle Giant, Very clever and Hungry.... very, very Hungry... My wife just loves her ( she loves the underdog , no pun intended) she was in a poor way and had to get to a Foster home as I thought.. think again TinTin before she was beyond help.
It will be like an daily episode from “ the adventures of TinTin” with Luna .

Luna is just the right size of dog for our ever increasing human family a 12 year old granddaughter , 2 x 3 year old grandsons, a 3 month old granddaughter and now identical Twin boys, so a Great Dane is ideal, one gulp and they would be marked absent! anyone would think I consider our dogs more important 🤔than the grandkids, let’s not take a survey on that question 😆.

I find it just incredible how a dog like Luna can be emaciated and so poorly treated , a litter of pups in her first year of life, spayed and brought up from London ( Islay Rescue and Foster people have done well to get some weight on) There is a special place in Hell for these folk that treated her so badly.

Luna is so so friendly , loving and mischievous but has no idea of her own size and power and is scared of her own shadow, so introductions to folk is at arms length with you hand full of hotdogs or chicken... I hope we can make things work for Luna here and she settles and eventually fits in with our odd bunch of eclectic dogs... pretty well sums up our complete human family... Completely dysfunctional.

Katie likes to keep my German ancestry and mentality of things done in order , organised lists and things done timely and throw them into complete chaos, she says it keeps me young.... I think she lies.
So when does “No mean No” to another dog ?
Katie was correct...we just got a small horse instead! .

Watch for the updates.

13/03/2025

Sun's out... almost some heat !!

28/02/2025

Cocoa's Journey begins....

This I can assure you, a couple of years ago would never have been possible ... her owner would be standing with a lead and empty collar .... and a road runner "beep beep " trail of dust.... 🤣

25/02/2025

MAGA .... Trump(ton) watch out, Cocoa's coming to America :-)

Well today was Cocoa's last day 😕 after 6 / 7 years here...
Cocoa's owners will be the first to say she arrived here with a bit of Canine anxiety and I soon learned that wearing boots was a good idea to escape her "nips" when taking her back to the car after her day ... a few years on and she now grudgingly jumps in with no bother.
She is flying to America at the end of this week with her owners, who begin their new "Adventure"
Cocoa's Collie friends will take some time to get over her not coming in as she makes up a train going round and round the arena ..... as collies do, herding the troops.
Good luck guys !

23/01/2025

FRIDAY 24TH JANUARY:
Due to the Red Weather warning for this area tomorrow I am closing daycare in the hope the fences stay up, the daycare barn does not become a open roof arena.
Stay safe :-)

18/01/2025

18/01/2025

Evening Folks:
I do not normally pay attention to Just Giving . But as this is a local dog that has been injured and the very high Vets Fees makes this very difficult for this dog to be treated.
I have donated through Dogzdaycare and I am sure any small amount will go along way if you feel you can.... 😀

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/robert-grant-1

21/12/2024

Thank You !

Well that's another year of Dogzdaycare .
Many many thanks for all the very kind Christmas gifts , I will need the fortnight off to recover from all the booze, food and sweets always gratefully recieved.
Katie and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas 🎅 🎄 and a Happy New Year.... see you all next year.

25/11/2024

Julie: Dementia Update:
A few months ago, I wrote a little piece about Julie our Rescue Rough Collie that has been with us since 2015, and we were told then, she was at least 6 years old, which makes her around 15 years old now, Julie had developed dementia and other conditions over the years and has gradually got much worse.
I felt that a slight inconvenience to me and my lady wife cleaning up after Julie a few times a day with “little and large” accidents and her “bizarre” behaviour, was no reason to have her put to sleep and I always felt the day would come when she would tell us “I am done”
Well that day was Sunday.
Katie and I were watching Julie stumbling out the back door, going up to the garden, like Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh, she stopped and turned round and looked at us both, not in her absent dementia look, but one of recognition and a look which was unmistakable. Katie said nothing until Julie had successfully made it to her destination in the garden, Katie turned and said to me with a tear in her eye .....“It’s time”..... which was exactly my own thoughts about what Julie had just done.
So ladies and gentlemen, it goes to show “men and women” can agree on something! But seriously, it also goes to show my theory that our dogs can tell us through looks / behaviour to us owners / carers that it is time to give them peace, but we have to be tuned in, aware and not let “our human” feelings of wanting more time, overrule a dogs , pain, misery or bewilderment.
Julie passed away peacefully in my arms this morning.
I again say folks , Never take your dog to the Vet to be put to sleep and walk away leaving the poor vet alone, to watch your dog take its last breath, be there for your family member, who has loved you as much if not more than you loved them, hard as it is, be there to reassure and comfort. (Also be there for your Vet it must be the worst part of the job)
Julie was not afraid, she was enjoying being cradled in my lap, being stroked and loved, she drifted off peacefully, just as it should be.
The photo is of Julie and Finn both now at peace.

20/11/2024

Snowing Here.

Currently snowing here , and looks to continue

03/11/2024

18/09/2024

APOLOGIES: Holiday Update:
Afraid new date for my weeks holiday in October.
New date 19th October to 25th October
Open Monday 28th :-)

10/09/2024

Here is the new thinking of the age of your dog in human years. :-)