Moosehead Trail Boarding Kennel

11/30/2023

Really glad its my Friday…really glad Briar was sub-contracted to help out today❤️…really glad the researchers in NH think they are on the path to figuring out what is going on with our four leggeds (see the pinned post at the top of this page) Be safe this weekend! See you Monday🙏🤞

11/30/2023

📸 Look at this post on Facebook https://www.unh.edu/unhtoday/2023/11/unh-researchers-provide-major-clue-mysterious-dog-illness-case?fbclid=IwAR0dfbd2f-TTiBE2ry8XZJ2cVYq65S--KobNuMeM-JAgyB4bp64slwJEoxI_aem_AQy1Pt048EamsRyntgNGcUYr6UnMsVsIxCh6m3v1j4JPLyYtTCBtEIUvgVAv4s8C-vk

Researchers at UNH’s New Hampshire Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (NHVDL) and Hubbard Center for Genome Studies (HCGS) may have made significant progress in better understanding a respiratory syndrome that has affected hundreds of dogs throughout the country and has thus far confounded veterinar...

11/29/2023

No issues today with any of the kiddos. Its awesome to have high flyin’ Theo back as well as Max and Mika! All have been symptom free for 2weeks❤️❤️❤️
As for the WABI Channel 5 news article posted on their FB page last night that several people have asked if I have seen…I have a few thoughts. (Feel free to skip right over this part and just enjoy the pictures as for sure its a rant.)
Again…I think it is awesome the news organizations are stepping up and getting the word out on this thing that I have been yapping about for many weeks. HOWEVER…the lead in says “The Mystery Virus has arrived in Maine” making it sound like it JUST arrived which in my opinion is not accurate. I believe this virus along with Canine influenza has been very active in our state for many months (if not longer. ) But everyone from dog owners to kennel and/or daycare operations, to veterinarians are channeled into calling every cough or sneeze in dogs Kennel Cough. Something that makes me crazy because it is the “if it looks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck then its a duck” mentality. A good percentage of the veterinary hospitals in Maine do not even carry the Canine Influenza vaccination siting “there are no cases on record in Maine” so it is an “unnecessary vaccination”. I know this because I require ALL respiratory vaccinations in order for a dog to be on my property and I routinely loose potential new customers because their vet doesn’t carry it. Interesting isn’t it that coast to coast, north to south every Veterinarian interviewed about the “mystery virus” (including the Emergency vet in Brewer quoted in the WABI release) stresses the importance of all dogs being vaccinated for ALL known respiratory viruses and those that are up to date on them are having an easier time with this new CIRDC.
Also… in that news report, the veterinarian interviewed said it is transmitted “nose to nose”….and that doesn’t sit right with me either. Sure, absolutely nose to nose….but what respiratory disease from the common cold to COVID to kennel cough to any of the known canine respiratory viruses do you know of are ONLY transmitted nose to nose. It always comes down to how long the virus or bacteria in question can live outside the host as to how contagious the thing is. So what…now this one that hasn’t even been identified yet is breaking the molds and it is nose to nose. Ergo its ok for your dog to go into a dog friendly business directly behind a dog that just sneezed (droplets on the floor) walk around for awhile (spreading the droplets for the next visiting dog) and then lick its feet in the back seat of your car on the ride home without risk of contracting the “mystery illness” because one well intentioned vet said it is transmitted “nose to nose”.
Yeah……no….thats not working for me either. But like I said at the beginning of this rant…I really am glad awareness is growing about this and that at least one vet in Maine is on record saying “its here”.

11/28/2023

It was a quiet day… and by that I mean, the dogs had off the chain energy all day, but no dogs were sent home, Milo had his first day back, I got a few more Christmas pictures done…it was a good and quiet day👍

11/27/2023

I sure hope you all had a great Holiday❤️What a gift today was! Awesome sun and warmth! Now for the good news/bad news…I sent a dog home for coughing today. And two others called in with mild symptoms. All three of these dogs were here last Monday/Tuesday but they also spent the holiday celebrating with other four legged companions. So this is a reminder…. The respiratory situation is still very much with us! And by “us” I mean Maine and the rest of the country. I spoke with one of the larger veterinary hospitals in Bangor today and confirmed it is very active up there still coming through their facility “in waves” which is what I observe here as well…I have no issues for days on end and then “boom”. The good news is Trigger returned today from his bout with it! Awesome to have the gregarious dude back in the group!

11/24/2023

For those of you that have learned over the years to check on “Black Friday” for my annual Christmas post…it is delayed this year due to a few missing pictures. I hope to have it up in the next few weeks. In the meantime enjoy this outtake and sneak peak at this years set up with Guinea Pigs Georgie and Clara!

11/23/2023

I am forever thankful for my two legged family, my four legged family and for my Daycare four leggeds who along with their people are our extended family. Thank you for trusting us to care for your kids every week! Ashley, Briar, Luke, Zigara, Mira, Al, Michael and I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving !❤️

11/21/2023

Great and very fun day over here! And I made an executive decision re tomorrow. I had planned to be open but it doesn’t look like it would be a great day to be outside and I think it is important to spend as much time outside as possible to minimize breathing each others air right now! So this is our Friday for this week. And our big news of the day around here is Briar, (who once again assisted with some indoor play (YAY!!) lost her first tooth smack in the middle of our work day! 🤪SCREECH….the world stopped for a moment or two but its all good now! ❤️We hope you all have a fantastic Holiday…but please be safe and keep an eye on the pans you leave on the counters while you sit down to feast ( you know, the ones that are full of things that will make your dog sick! 😉)
See you all Monday!!🙏

11/21/2023

Happy Monday everyone! It was a good day for four legged fun around here. Ren and Leia are doing indoor play only for awhile…I assigned their group to
Ashley and she subcontracted to Briar😂Just love Briar days as do the dogs💓I know by now most of you have heard about the “mystery virus” from one news platform or another as the stories are ramping up. I am very glad awareness is being raised about the virus I have been talking about since early September. I have had one new report of a coughing dog that started Friday. I remain concerned but also grateful that our numbers here remain low. Please keep a close eye (and ear) on the fur kids 🙏 I know you love them and so do I❤️

11/20/2023

Calling this one “zen interrupted”
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

11/17/2023

Its my Friday. The weather was amazing…the dogs were happy and I was happy too!! Why you might ask? Because FINALLY the national news has picked up on the dog virus topic. You can go on line to see Good Morning America’s piece that aired today. There are other local pieces that aired across the country in the last 72 hours as well. I was particularly interested in an interview in Oregon with the director of the Veterinary Research lab for that state. (Oregon apparently is getting smacked with this “mystery illness” - his words not mine) He clearly stated this is not one of the known pathogens we are accustomed to dealing with in dogs (how many times have I said this is NOT KENNEL COUGH) and that research is ongoing as veterinarians in state labs across the country are working to try to identify what this is so that hopefully a vaccine will be happening in the near future👍and with that I wish you all a great weekend and hopefully I will see you on Monday!🙏

11/16/2023

Great sunny, warm day. (The sun goes a long way in helping my outlook on things!) The kiddos had fun, and those whose turn it was for Christmas photos handled the experience well (😵‍💫😂) Beware the doppelgänger’s in chocolate labs, see you all tomorrow!🙏

11/14/2023

As always…Ashley was a huge help to me!! Oscar had to play indoors due to a foot issue so I assigned that to Ashley who got some great pics of the antics. Natty had one of her “feelin’ like a puppy” days as you will see ☺️and the Christmas picture project is rolling along nicely with several more taken today but the BEST part of the day was NO ISSUES WITH SYMPTOMATIC DOGS annnnnd everyone is on the mend that started up last week!🙏🤞🙏

11/13/2023

It was a good news/bad news kind of Monday. The good news is it was a beautiful day (Ashley’s Birthday ❤️too) and the fur kids had fun…I started my annual labor of love “the Christmas photos” and they are coming out great so far!
The bad news is we are apparently experiencing another wave of symptomatic fur kids. It started last week with a few and carried through to me sending a coughing dog home today. Please…watch your dogs closely! I am hyper aware of my personal dogs and your dogs too and I am becoming exhausted with the worry 😭❤️🙏

11/09/2023

Ok…to be clear…when I said I was looking forward to snow pictures I didnt mean TODAY😵‍💫fun times though including not so little baby Theo seeing snow for his first time❤️
Now for the downer…I have two dogs reporting virus symptoms that played here last week. They did not come here this week at all but it really is a bummer that for 2 weeks I thought we were on the other side of this thing and here we have more. Please please remain careful with the fur kids! Looking forward to seeing you next week🙏

11/08/2023

Well hellooooo old man winter! Some of the dogs were actually spooked by all the wind this morning while others allowed the weather to crank them up even more than normal for play time!😵‍💫 Looking forward to snow pictures soon!(😱)

11/07/2023

Its 5:30pm and I nodded off 3 times while editing pictures!!😱 something about chasing after the dogs all day in the damp cold and then coming inside to a blazing fire in the woodstove! I am eternally thankful for my daughters continued help AND for not sliding out of the chair and hitting the floor 😂

11/07/2023

Monday, MONday, MONDAY!! Holy COW the energy and happy, happy, HAPPY dogs! 😉👍

11/03/2023

Happy actual Friday everyone!
(I am far from “dogless” on my “days off”😉took this a few minutes ago in this gorgeous sun…)
Left > right
Georgie (the black sheep of the family) Clara, brother Al and cousin Michael (for those of you that do not know, the 3 Vizslas were born here when I bred a few litters several years ago)

11/02/2023

Its our Friday!🙃We had another symptom free week over here🙏the furry ones were all having a happy happy day and at the risk of repeating myself…..I’M COLD!!!! Apparently I am goinng to be a we**ie in my old age! Have a great weekend and as always looking forward to seeing everyone next week!!

11/01/2023

I am cold.
And my daughter was a huge help.
And the dogs all had a great time.
But did I mention I am COLD?!?!😭

10/31/2023

I must admit, I was not happy about the ice on everything this morning! (everyone be careful with your fur kids! You do not want them to blow out an elbow or knee hitting morning ice flying out the door to go p*e! My dogs know the word “ easy “ which means to slow down and walk careful!)  regardless of the morning ice challenge, it was a great day with sunshine and happy dogs with no reports of any illness in our crew!! I heard from a few area veterinarians that although the virus is still active, the new cases they are seeing seem to be plateauing. That is an excellent thing!

10/30/2023

Mondays always have their challenges…today it was SNOW😵‍💫😳😭the good news is there are no new cases of the CIRD here in our fur family so we are holding the battle line!! Yay team!! And welcome back to the little dude Theo who recovered without incident from his neutering!! 👍😉(sooooooo glad Mom got that done!👏👏👏👏)

10/27/2023

Yesterday as my daughter, Ashley, was discharging the day care dogs, I started (around 3:30) blowing leaves out of every nook and cranny along the extensive fencelines of the DC yards in preparation for the “annual fall yard stripping” to start today. I finally stopped around 11pm.
The crew (both young and old) arrived at 8:30 this morning and worked the entire day intil 5:30pm. The yard gets raked down to bare hard pack dirt. The old shavings/leaves get moved via over 200 wheelbarrow trips into the woods on the lower portion of our property. The new shavings (85 bags) then get spread.
It takes a village to get it done and I am so thankful for the family that has done this three times a year for me for over 10 years now. 🙏

10/26/2023

Its on days like today that I know I am blessed to have this business. The fur kids and their joyous oblivion is infectious and it allows me to forget about this unfathomable world we find ourselves in. So hug the furry ones tonight. Keep them close. There is much healing in their presence and the unconditional love they give so freely. Get lost in the pictures of their happy day…stay safe and God willing I will see you all Monday🙏❤️

10/26/2023

Sorry! Many interruptions trying to get this up! Wonderful day…Natty was acting like a puppy which is always fun for me (and for Benson too😍LOL) The “good news/bad news” portion of the day is first we had no dogs sent home and two more of the furry ones affected early on by the virus returned today (all good news❤️) the bad news is the virus is such an issue in Maine right now I was told today the Scarborough Specialty and Emergency Veterinary Services are seeing more and more referral cases of dogs needing the level of care they are equipped to provide. I cannot stress strongly enough that at the first sign of a symptom you need to be talking to your vet about starting antibiotics to keep the potential of bacterial pneumonia at bay. We have had no serious illness among our four leggeds thanks to owners being proactive and the local vets adopting that protocol🙏

10/24/2023

Another day of worry and nail biting around the CIRDC making the rounds in our state’s canine community. Another few mild cases in our DC family balanced with some more ready to return…and I remain open for another day🙏❤️putting the stress of all that aside…we had a great day in the sun with some supercharged fur kids and no symptomatic dogs sent home or in house!

10/23/2023

Interesting day! The normal Monday crazy amplified by two days of monsoon rain over the weekend!! 😳 its all good though as I was mentally if not necessarily physically prepared!😜And no sick kiddos here today BUT the dog I sent home last Thursday because of “gagging” did in fact start coughing Friday morning. And from having that kiddo in the building for less than a half hour before it was picked up there are three new symptomatic dogs that stayed home today. On the upside…the first kids to stay home with symptoms are 100% a-ok and are returning to DC this week❤️ 🙏

10/19/2023

Its “Friday”….and I sent one of the kiddos home because of a bit of “gagging” that I did not want to take a chance on. He went to the vet and appeared to be fine as in no fever or symptoms evident to the vet. However he was prescribed antibiotics and a cough suppressant incase he does develop significant indicators of the virus in the next few days. Hopefully this will amount to nothing but it serves as a reminder that we are far from over this virus in our area so we ALL need to remain vigilant to keep everyone safe:)
On a brighter note one of the kids affected with a very mild cough weeks ago returned to DC today happy , healthy and FULL of energy❤️
I hope its a great (albeit rainy) weekend for everyone! I hope I see you all Monday!🙏🤞😉

10/18/2023

Another awesome day…lots and lots of four legged energy…lots and lots of doppelgängers too! Miss Natty had her best day yet!❤️and no reports of any sickness with our kiddos here🙏👍

10/17/2023

Thankful for another healthy day with the fur kids! And I think its very interesting that the only tree with any color on my property is nicely positioned as a back drop for the front porch pictures!🍁😉

10/16/2023

It was an awesome albeit wet, dreary start to the week! Jax the Vizsla was back which was great❤️ but he will be off hunting again soon…And Ashley helped big time while I drove myself nuts listening for any tell tail signs of the CIRD in our area. SO FAR SO GOOD!!! No new cases to report (please remain vigilant and help us keep it that way!) and the ones affected are feeling good! ❤️🙏

10/12/2023

Really good day!! There are no new symptomatic dogs here and the few we had over the last week are already on the mend❤️As always Ashley’s help is a game changer for me and you can thank her for all the extra intense cleaning and bleaching she is doing every day to keep your kids safe! (Between that and me aka Mamma Bear checking everyone over before they cross my threshold each morning we are holding the battle line!)
This is our Friday and we have every intention of staying open next week (God please let us stay open next week!!) Have a great weekend and keep the kiddos safe!!❤️

10/11/2023

Okee dokee….first, ticks. The shavings I fill the yard with are the best tick prevention I have ever found. Until they get overwhelmed by fall leaves…which can have ticks on them. The yard will not be stripped out and refilled with shavings until the end of this month so my suggestion is to run a sticky tape lint roller alllllll over your fur kids when you get them home for the next few weeks.
Next…undate on the CIRD (canine infectious respiratory disease ) currently circulating through our state and beyond…I have two more DC kiddos staying home with symptoms. They have not been here since last week but both started coughing this morning. This is still a very small percentage of my DC kids so I will remain open to all non-symptomatic dogs who regularly attend here until further notice🙏
And finally despite the soggy weather the kiddos had a great day as always !

10/10/2023

It was a good day!! No additional coughing dogs so we are holding our ground here! The sun was out…the dogs had fun…Natty was on fire…Ashley was a huge help…yup! It was a good day!🙏

10/10/2023

Ok! The fun part of the day is the dogs all had a blast with Ashley and I. I think we are finally past the pool season though!🥶
The not fun part of the day is I recieved a courtesy call early in the day from the vet office next door letting me know that they are seeing dogs with the respiratory virus I have been so concerned about. We now have two of our DC dogs sick with it (they did NOT come here today, their symptoms started over the weekend) in addition to a lot of community dogs that do not come here but who have been seen next door.
After that call I spent a lot of time contacting veterinary offices in the area to see what they had to say and from Dover to Bangor to Oakland there are a LOT of dogs with this virus. A LOT. Unilaterally it is being treated right away with antibiotics due to the majority of cases moving into pneumonia quickly.
So you should contact your vet if any symptoms start and follow their protocols to avoid the potential for serious illness.
I also communicated with several area daycares and while Bangor is seeing the worse of it right now this thing is spreading everywhere.
That being said…me “closing my doors” like I did the last go around is not going to do a thing with this wide spread of a mess except inconvenience the families with dogs who remain unaffected and want/need to bring their dogs to DC. So at this time my intention is to stay open for the dogs that are not showing any sign of illness.
I will keep you informed as this decision could change, but as of now I am trusting all of you to keep symptomatic dogs OR dogs who have had direct exposure to a sick dog home.
TRUST ME WHEN I SAY THIS…I will NOT accept any dog through my door that is coughing (or sneezing profusely). Likewise if symptoms start after you drop off I will be contacting you to come get the fur kid.
Thank you all again for reading this lengthy post. Thank you for understanding how stressful this is for me as a dog lover, a senior dog owner and a dog related business owner🙏

10/05/2023

Ok! Wonderful fun day with the four leggeds as always….however my week did not end on a great note.
Despite my educational post early last week re the respiratory virus making its way through NH and Maine…and my strong plea NOT TO BRING A COUGHING DOG HERE I had one show up today for DC. Unfortunately I did not hear the first cough until the dog had been in the building for an hour. I immediately dropped everything and called the owner who verified the dog had coughed a few times before heading over here but since the dog “only comes here, is never around other dogs and is fully vaccinated they figured it must have been from chewing on something in the yard this morning”.
The owner came and got the dog per my insistence within 15 minutes of my call after which I did a total cleaning of the area the dog was in for that hour, washed all of my exposed skin and did a total clothing and shoe change.
So here are the take aways I want all of my DC people to understand because I must not have been clear earlier.
1. You are not to bring a coughing dog to my daycare. Some daycares accept them I do not!!
2. In my daycare family there are many dogs that are exposed to other dogs outside of DC. Despite my requests to lay low while this cycles through our state there is NO WAY for me to control this as it encompasses vet appointments, grooming appointments, visits with family and friends dogs. Therefore your dog who only comes here is NOT only being exposed to the individuals that attend DC but rather all of the dogs each dog has crossed paths with.
3. VACCINATIONS DO NOT make your dog bullet proof!
4. And finally…God willing this really was from the dog irritating its throat from chewing on something inappropriate and not an infectious thing but everyone that was here today needs to understand that your dog had exposure to something that COULD BE contagious. I need you all to keep an extra sharp eye on your dogs for the next several days and let me know if anything develops and at the risk of repeating myself DO NOT BRING A COUGHING DOG TO MY PROPERTY!
Thank you for taking the time to read this lengthy and repetitive post. As far as I am concerned I WILL BE OPEN on Monday and look forward to seeing you!
🙏❤️

10/04/2023

Another amazing day. Fun in the sun! The fur kids and I are so thankful for this end of season bonus!

10/03/2023

Well now. According to the dogs it was well above 80 today! I was so busy keeping up with them I never even looked at the thermometer! Lots and lots of pool time making for a muddy mess but we had a great time and another batch of kiddos put their stamp of approval on the new yard “toy” and as always…LOVING my daughters help with the play groups!!😉🤗