Happy Birthday, ballwalkpark!

One year ago today, I woke up not stressing about what to wear, not pressing "snooze" for an hour, and not dreading the 520 bridge. I woke up excited, optimistic and nervous (the good kind) - it was the first official day of ballwalkpark!

I had done weekly park trips for months before, and leash walks during my lunches or after work, and housesat on many occasions, but this was my first day of experiencing ballwalkpark as my full time job.

I put on my lime green Hunter rain boots (oh how I miss those - I wore them out in less than 6 months and they started leaking), put Bailey in the back of my dog-ready 4runner, read a sweet encouraging "Have a great first day at your new job" note from my boyfriend, Michael, and set off to pick up my first client, Chinook. I remember when I got to his house I was nervous about every little thing.... would he want to come with me? Would he jump in the car OK? Would he cry or whine? Would he run away from me at the park because he had never been with me before? Little did I know, that Chinook was the ultimate park dog and he actually showed me the drill.

Chinook, (the white guy with the cute floppy ears on the right, below) looking back now, was my first step to building this business. Chinook doesn't ever ever run off, he is by my side all the time, to the point where in the beginning I would often panic looking for him, only to realize he was so close to my side I didn't even look there! He has trained every new puppy that has come into my car how we ride in the car - if anyone gets out of line and tries to wrestle and play to much he will tell them to knock it off, just with a little growl, but never anything more. At the park, whenever dogs start playing a little too rough, at almost the exact time I start to redirect and calm them down, Chinook runs into the situation and gives them a little "talking to" - again, nothing to ever worry about, just keeping the situation under control (he does have herding dog in him). When I was at Marymoore one time, I threw the ball a little too far into the water and all the dogs decided they weren't going for it. I had already come to terms with the fact that I wasn't going to get that ball back, when Chinook just slowly but surely walked into the water and swam out to retrieve the ball. He's almost never the one to get the ball, but in a time of need, Chinook came through to save the day :)

I am lucky enough to have Chinook go the park with me every day, and he truly has helped build the energy and order in my pack. Not only is he cute and sweet and breathes his fishy breath on me, he has been such a great help. Oh, not to mention his owners are amazing too!

Chinook was a sign of a great beginning, and I have been lucky enough to have every client since be just as great in their own way. I love each and every one of my dogs and they all bring something special to the pack to give it the perfect balance. Not only are my dog clients great, but my human clients are amazing as well - each one has been such a pleasure to work with and people I feel lucky to have in my life.

In my first year, I have learned so much, some hard lessons, but mostly good. I have had amazing people to work with and learn from on a daily basis, I am so grateful for their support, encouragement and common interest of loving dogs. People have asked me from the very beginning how long I plan on doing this - I remember some of the first clients I met with asked if I planned to be doing this in a year (which of course I responded "yes"), but now that my first year has passed, I feel like this is only the beginning. I am so excited to take all that I have learned to better my business, better my dogs, and better my life.

Everyone told me that this wouldn't be easy, and that even though I'm playing with dogs it is still a job, and a job is work. They were right! This is some of the hardest work I've done in my life. There are days where I come home after 8 hours in the car, covered in mud and dog poop and I feel like I got beat up by 14 dogs and I can't remember the last time I had a conversation with someone of my own species.... BUT.... I LOVE IT! My response to those people who cautioned me before, has turned out to be 100% true, and that was that no matter how (rare) bad of a day I may have with the dogs, there was at least one point in the day where I was smiling and laughing watching them play or playing with them. On the other hand, there were days at a time were I wouldn't as much as crack a smile in the office, and that's why on my last day, I posted my ballwalkpark flier in my window of my office. I haven't spent a day since without a smile, thanks to all my wonderful dogs (and their wonderful owners!)

Here's to an amazing 2nd year! Thanks for all your support - ballwalkpark wouldn't be here without you! :)

All sorts of balls

To little mr Fletcher bigger definitely is better. He moved on from his typical tennis ball to the largest ball in the park! He could barely fit his paws around it- much less his mouth!!!

Today was bailey's lucky day- some generous park patron donated a whole box of tennis balls. There were tennis balls everywhere you looked- the dogs were running and the chuck-it was chucking! This caused somewhat of a predicament for Miss Bailey.... She can only fit two balls (maybe 3 on a good day) in her mouth at once but she just wasn't able to pass up all the spare tennis balls!

Cooper catching snowflakes!

ballwalkpark has a snow day at Magnuson park! Cooper had his first encounter with snow while on his park trip today. As you can see in the video below, he kept trying to catch the snowflakes! Treats falling from the sky?! What could be better!? Check out pictures from our adventure at the ballwalkpark facebook page

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mU0Txw0c-kk]

Magnuson Mud Bath

Dogs will be dogs. And some dogs just like to get dirty. My lab, Bailey, will find a tennis ball anywhere in a 1/2 mile radius. Chip will find a mud puddle anywhere in the park -and get as muddy as possible. He will actually try to immerse himself into the puddle further.... To get the most benefit of the mud bath treatment, I assume. If you saw the kiddie pool incident this summer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kr5UC8B2Tg), think kiddie pool in the mud. I truly do try to avoid these kind of activities, but when he high-tails is to the mud puddle and does this, I have to at least catch a picture before I drag him out of it and blast him with a hose.

Why I love my fellow Magnuson Dog Walkers

Today could have been a tragedy. Well, not really a tragedy, but a major inconvenience for several people ("Michael, can you please drop everything you're doing and bring me a spare key?"). As I was going to load up the dogs in the car after another muddy day at the dog park, I realized I had lost my car key. I remembered putting it in my coat pocket, as I always do, and as I had always feared, it fell out while I was grabbing treats, poop bags, whatever.... As soon as I realized the key was missing I started trying to re-trace my footsteps over the past hour and a half of swampy muddy mess which is the current state of the dog park.... I ran into two dog walkers, I let them know I was looking, they said they'd keep their eye out. Ran into another dog walker or two, asked for their help as well. Then the next three dog walkers I talked to said they already knew and were already looking. Within a matter of minutes the word had spread and everyone was helping me find my key. It seems like a small thing, but it meant so much to me to know that I had that much support from my fellow dog walkers on something as trivial as me being stupid enough to lose my car key.

After about half and hour of wandering around the park with my eyes peeled for a tiny silver key among the expansive mud fields, I was talking to another dog walker, explaining the situation, and as I was in the middle of saying "I'm pretty sure it's a lost cause", she bent over and picked up my key.... It was sitting right next to us, in a random part of the park, covered in gravel trying to hide from me. Needless to say, I was pretty excited.

I know often times we are so busy with our day and whatever we are focused on that we hardly take a second to actually look when someone asks us to keep our eyes out.... I am so thankful that Veda really looked! Or maybe I am just thankful for her good luck presence....

So yay, I found my key, but the moral of the story is that I am very thankful for the community of dog walkers I have come to know at Magnuson. I have been asked many times why I prefer Magnuson over Marymoore, and today is the perfect example - I just feel safer knowing there is a community of people who all look out for each other. As nice as it is to be out in an open field with nobody but your dogs, sometimes we all need an extra hand or another set of eyes and I'm happy to be a part of that.

And yes, I am going to buy a large neon pink buoy that you put a boat key on so this won't ever happen again....

Frenchie Frolic!

Yesterday was the monthly Seattle-Central French Bulldog Meetup at Magnuson Off-Leash Park. While most Seattle Dog Walkers try avoid the dog park on the weekends, this is the one weekend event of the month I can't possibly miss! If you have ever witnessed a French Bulldog in action, you can understand the joy of seeing 15 snorting tanks running, frolicking and sniffing butts.... Watching this particular breed of dog is definitely something that makes me smile! This was only Bambi's second Frenchie Frolic. The first time we went was this summer, she was about 6 months old, and the whole meetup scene was a little overwhelming for Bambi, Michael, and myself. Not to mention it was near 90 degrees outside, so we didn't last long. This second meetup, on Saturday, I was prepared to watch some Frenchie Frolic fun!

Bambi is a very very social little dog. When she enters the park with my pack she runs, chases and pounces on every single dog. She is convinced she can make any dog be her friend - and so far she is right. I was expecting nothing less when we entered the small dog area on Saturday for the meetup- there were several Frenchies there she had played with before. Surprisingly, Bam got really awkward.... seemed to display some of her mom's social awkwardness.... she wandered over to the water bowl, said hello to some humans, and kind of just stood around in the middle of the chaos.... Not quite what I had expected. I, on the other hand, was having a blast watching all the little flat faced munchkins running around and tumbling over each other like the little tanks that they are. I got some great pictures which you can see on my facebook page.

After a little bit of time Bambi warmed up to her Frenchie friends and participated in a game of fetch, let by a Boston Terrier, which kind of seemed like a unfair match in my opinion - you have one little super athletic dog versus 8 stubby little tanks. But, it was hilarious to watch and all the pups seemed to be enjoying themselves. I heard one of the owners calling their dog "Nugget" - unfortunately I wasn't able to match the owner to the dog, but if I had, I would have definitely complemented them on the name.

For me, the best part of the event was just listening to the chorus of grunts and snorts... That sound never gets old and always gets a smile out of me.... When it was time to go, Bambi was sad to leave all her buddies, but we will definitely be there for the next meetup!