Happy Tails Ayr

10/07/2024

A helpful resource for all you reactive dog owners out there! It can be such an isolating experience. Just know that you are not alone.

Mental health and emotional support for dog people

18/06/2024

Is your pup full of energy? Are you short on time for focused training outside of your home? Let me take them on a learning quest for three hours of exercise, training, and socialization where they calmly observe their surroundings in locations that welcome dogs, such as parks, trails, and dog friendly retail stores.

What socialization IS: Learning to focus on the handler, passively observing and walking by adults, children, dogs, cats, wheelchairs, scooters, bicycles, squirrels, and other potential distractions and triggers.

What socialization IS NOT: Greeting every dog and person we see, chasing wildlife, or entering dog parks. Every step is taken to set your dog up to succeed from the start. Each dog will progress differently depending on age, breed, prior socialization, etc.

Depending on the dog, we may start in a park to decompress, before engaging in loose leash walking, pace changes and pattern games. We'll work on place training, rewarding calm behaviour while just observing the public. We can generalize their basic life skills in public, from sit/down/stay to heel, recall etc.

As the dog progresses, we might travel to a dog friendly retail locations for socialization, starting outside and getting used to the busy area while practicing their skills. The next week, working up to entering the store as a polite dog citizen. We may take a structured walk around a quiet neighbourhood, maintaining loose leash and focus around distractions. Or perhaps a nice tiring structured hike, with plenty of recall practice and decompression sniffing.

Then, we drop your pup off tired and happy, ready to nap and process what they learned on their Puppy Quest.

Availability:
Monday & Wednesday afternoons - 1pm to 4pm
Pickup: 12:45pm
Dropoff: ~4:30pm.

Requirements:
Must be 6 months+ of age. All candidates must provide proof of current vaccines, or titers. Dogs must be on flea and tick prevention. Must be available for a meet and greet prior to.

Pricing
Single 3 Hour Puppy Quest: $90 + HST

Bundle: $310 + HST
4 Day Package
(3 hours per day each week, for a total of 12 hours per month)

Let's get together to discuss if your dog is a good fit!

27/05/2024

Pupdate: HOME SAFE!

Ruby is still missing!! Please keep your eyes peeled, check barns, sheds etc.

💚HOME SAFE💚
Attn Ayr
🚨MISSING🚨
HILLTOP AND SWAN AREA
RUBY
SHE IS WEARING A COLLAR AND TAGS AND MICROCHIPPED
IF SPOTTED OR SECURED PLEASE CONTACT

519-277-3275

27/05/2024

Please keep an eye out for this lost girl, Ruby ❤️

30/01/2024

PACK WALKS ARE HERE! By popular demand, beginning February 15th, Happy Tails will be offering leashed pack hikes in the region every Thursday afternoon. 🐕🌲🌳

We’ll pick up your furkid and transport them, restrained in our vehicle, for a forested pack walk with friends! They’ll hike up hills, jump over logs, sniff every smell, and run with their friends. It’s a dog walk the way dogs intended. Your pup comes home happy, tired and relaxed. And maybe a little dirty, but we will towel them dry and clean as best we can before drop off. 😉

Location will vary weekly depending on weather, trail conditions, and temperament of that day’s pack. We might be at Piper’s Glen, we might be at the Dryden Tract, maybe also the Drynan Regional Forest.

Six dog maximum per week.

Not all dogs will be a good fit for pack walks. Candidates must be proven dog AND human social, and must be willing to be on a leash or long line. Candidates must be up to date on vaccines or present current titers.
Off leash privileges may be offered in situations where location permits, AND a dog’s recall has become extremely reliable and temperament proven stable. This will be rare.
We do also welcome muzzle trained dogs that can remain calm and steady in a pack setting.
Reactive dog? Pushy teenage pup? Let us train and passively socialize them in a smaller group from a distance. They will get a private ride. Must book well in advance.

Questions? Ready to book? DM us now! Or message us on Facebook

Text or call 519.865.6345 or email [email protected]

05/09/2023

Update: While pet care hours are flexible, and we do provide service on evenings, weekends, and even holidays, these are the hours of online and telephone service. It is within these time frames that messages (unrelated to a sit that day) will be responded to, and service requests will be processed. Thank you for your understanding ❤️

30/05/2023

Just a gentle reminder that as of Thursday June 1st, 2023, our rates increase slightly across the board, and HST charges come into effect!

Thank you so much for understanding 💛

15/05/2023

To our amazing clients and friends, let me preface this by saying thank you for your support of Happy Tails since our humble beginnings in 2019. We have made so many incredible memories with your dogs, cats, and other pets that we will treasure for a lifetime! It seems that while doing so, Happy Tails Ayr has officially reached a new milestone, and we must start charging HST on our services.

In addition to that, due to increases in fuel costs, software prices, and goods we rely on like treats and p**p bags, we must also slightly increase our prices. I have tried to keep our price increase as low as humanly possible in order to minimize the impact this will have on your wallet. I know it's not ideal that we have to pair charging HST with a rate increase, however, it is easier and less confusing for everyone if it is done all at once. We are truly sorry for any inconvenience!!

Again, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for every walk, every visit, every memory. We are so, so very thankful!

15/05/2023

🚨🐾 ATTENTION DOG/PET OWNERS: How can your pet’s portrait help the community? Read on:

Community Justice Initiatives in Kitchener is hosting another Super Sweet Stride Retreat! On Saturday May 27, join me and many other businesses at Catalyst Commons in Kitchener for a day of activities in support of Stride. There are lots of fantastic personal services to book, including a fun pet portrait session with us, Happy Tails Ayr (samples below). All proceeds go towards helping Stride provide community and reintegration support for people with incarceration experience, because “life always offers us a second chance- it’s called tomorrow.” 💕

The booking site is now live. Click & check it out, could be a great Mother’s Day gift! Maybe a haircut? Massage? Eyebrow threading? Dog portrait? 😁 Link below 👇

https://stride.simplybook.me/v2/ /

26/02/2023

Spotted at the corner of Kings Rs & Roseville Rd

25/02/2023

Reminder!

* Bringing this post out of the vault, because it’s so important * 👇🏻

I think it’s common to think that when our dog is unruly, there is something wrong with them. 

Especially when we look around us and see perfectly behaved pups strolling happily down the street with their owners. 

But the truth is…

Everything your dog does is NORMAL. 

Chewing…

Digging…

Barking…

Pulling on the lead…

Lunging at other dogs or joggers…

Growling…

It’s all NORMAL. 

This is  a normal response for a predator (because that’s what dogs once were) that got plucked out of their natural environment and dropped onto your sofa. 

What’s not normal? 

Walking on a leash at a mind numbingly slow pace as you stare at your phone…

NOT chewing things, or mouthing you…

Holding a sit stay or a down stay as you chat to a friend…

NOT losing their mind around another dog. 

Sure selective breeding has curbed some of the more natural responses our dogs have…

But the truth is…

Your dog’s behavior is a NORMAL response to them trying to adapt to an environment that truthfully is NOT normal for them. 

So tell me…

What does that shift for you? 

Because your dog isn’t “Bad”. There’s nothing wrong with them. Everything they are doing is completely normal.

18/02/2023

🐱 Listen up! Bella still needs a furever home, too.
Bella’s fun facts:
- dog friendly but prefers when they don’t get too close, she doesn’t react badly, she just runs away
- cat friendly but seems to come out more around less cats
- no known health problems
- a little shy but affectionate if you give her time, patience and space to warm up to you
- absolutely stunning (but that’s obvious)
- Located in Cambridge if you want to meet her!
- can deliver within reasonable driving distance
- no adoption fee
- message me to be connected with the current home
PLEASE SHARE

18/02/2023

🐈‍⬛❤️ Adopted ❤️🐈‍⬛

🐈‍⬛ Listen up! Lovely Luna still needs a furever home. Fun facts about Luna:

- dog friendly
- other cat friendly
- people friendly
- kid friendly
- very, very, VERY affectionate and sweet
- confident and not shy
- no known health issues, eats urinary kibble to prevent problems
- lives in Cambridge but we can deliver within reasonable driving distance
- no adoption fee
- message me to be connected with the current home

Located in Cambridge for anyone who wants to meet her. PLEASE SHARE!!! Black cats and dogs have low adoption rates, for no good reason. Let’s find this girl a home, she’s not bad luck at all 🍀

06/02/2023

✨ Meet Bella and Luna ✨

These two cuties are in a pickle and need a new furever home.

Bella (the strikingly beautiful tortoiseshell) and Luna (a sleek and stunning black beauty) are looking for homes! Bella is a shy girl, she prefers quieter environments and may take some time to warm up to you. But once she does, there is no greater feeling than that 💛 She has no known health problems.

Luna is incredibly social and friendly. She will act as though you are her long lost BFF, and ask for lots of pets and snuggles. Don’t let her colour fool you, there’s nothing unlucky about this perfect soul! Luna eats a urinary kibble. Other than eating a special diet, she has no known health problems.

Both girls are used to living with dogs, but prefer not to be chased, so any dogs they go live with should be able to coexist. Bella may come out more often in a home without a dog.

Interested? Contact Happy Tails via DM or text at 519.865.6345 and we will connect you with their current owners.

05/02/2023

🚨 calling all veterinary professionals 🚨
Our team member and MSc candidate, Shawna Morrow, is looking for veterinarians and veterinary technicians working in small animal clinical practices within Ontario, to fill out a survey about canine weight management services.

If you or any vet or vet tech you know is interested in helping out her research, check out the link below or scan the QR code in the image above!

https://uoguelph.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3mebN0hS356mnBk

04/01/2023

All too often, I have witnessed child-dog interactions that are downright dangerous! Just because a dog is tolerant, it doesn't mean that they won't one day decide they have had enough. Advocate for your dog's peace and your child's safety, never allow young kids to have unsupervised time with your dog, and always intervene and teach your kiddos about gentle touch.

This is an EXCELLENT graphic!
Pay attention to what a dog is telling you. And teach children to respect a dog's space! Too many dogs end up in shelters (or worse, put down) because the adults in charge were not monitoring the child/dog situation.
Many times when a dog bites a kid parents say, “There were no warnings. He just bit him for no reason.”
The unfortunate truth is that there are almost always warning signs, but the humans miss them. This photo shows a few warning signs that the dog is uncomfortable and may bite. SHARE IF YOU CARE

30/12/2022

Our 2022 recap is up on Instagram!! Thanks fur the memories 🥰

Happy Tails shared a post on Instagram: "Well, that’s an official wrap on 2022 for Happy Tails! What an amazing year 🤩 We met so many new faces, and had some pretty unique moments that made for unforgettable memories, such as the time Olly met a friendly young deer this summer 😮 I am SO grat...

26/11/2022