Join us THIS WEEKEND on July 18th for our Furry Fiesta Days Luau!  We are so excited to announce a special guest,  Joel Silverman, host of Animal Planet’s “Good Dog U,” along with his dog Foster will be doing the limbo with us from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. Silverman also will be giving a one-hour seminar focusing on the philosophy behind his successful career as an animal trainer, answering questions and signing copies of his book, “What Color is Your Dog?”

His dog, Foster, an animal actor himself, also will assist him in a demonstration.  Admission to the seminar and book signing is FREE and everyone is invited to attend! He will be donating $1 of every book sold while at the Camp to the  Bow Wow Buddies Foundation, which is Camp Bow Wow’s non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives and health of dogs everywhere. Check out Joel’s Web site at  http://www.companionsforlife.net. RSVP for Joel’s seminar as spaces are limited,  815-385-7297.

We will also be having fun activities for the dogs until 3 p.m. including the always popular Bobbing for Hot Dogs, the Bow Wow Bathing Suit Contest (yes, for the pups, not for people!), Swimming Pool Pooch Pics for a $5 donation, and Dogs & Suds baths for a $15 donation to charity. All donations will go to the Bow Wow Buddies Foundation. Vendors will be on hand along with dog demonstrations, all accompanied by tropical island music. Join us for a Luau to shake your hula skirt!

The mom of Kat, one of my Campers (yes, a dog named Kat), told me last week, “Watch out!  She’s kind-of an aggressive kisser.” When I heard the phrase “aggressive kisser,” the first thing that popped into my head was an episode of “Sex and the City” in which Charlotte’s date, Brad, goes in for the goodnight kiss and starts licking her face.

As I was watching the episode recently, I’m thinking “OMG, can you imagine if a guy really did that for your first (and obviously LAST) goodnight kiss?” The episode guide describes the kiss as “more like a series of sloppy licks from a Great Dane.” How funny that they actually describe it that way!

Then I started thinking about all the aggressive kissers that we have…  Ralph the Daschund, Dudley the Beagle Mix, Marley the German Short-haired Pointer, Shelby the Shepherd Mix… there are so many! And then I started thinking about how I can’t get ENOUGH of those sloppy kisses! I could go around kissing all the dogs all day everyday!

So when your date moves in to lick your face, it’s “Ewww…,” but when the dogs come in to Camp I stick my face right up to theirs and CAN’T WAIT to get the hundred licks before they head back to the play yards. Because, really, what could be better than a series of sloppy licks from a Great Dane?

A little weird? Maybe, but I LOVE it!

Have a Dog Gone Great Day!
Kari

Cesar Millian, dog expert who has his own “Dog Whisperer” television show, says dogs live in the moment and have no concept of time like we do. Mostly I agree with him. How likely is it that a dog can know what time it is or what day it is? I actually know a few dogs who know what day it is.

How crazy is that?

We have a few dogs who come to Camp the same day every week. Now that they are in the routine of coming to Camp, they KNOW when it’s Camp day, without Mom & Dad even saying anything. I have one client who says that her dog Marley, a German Shorthaired Pointer, KNOWS when it’s Wednesday.

She says she does absolutely nothing different with her morning routine on that day. Marley’s normal routine is when Mom gets up, he will get off the bed and move to the couch and lay back down. On Wednesdays he gets up and goes to where the leashes hang and whines and spins with excitement until Mom is finally ready to go.

So, can a dog know what day it is? Marley knows when it’s Wednesday because he knows he’s going to Camp to play with all of his buddies!

Have a Dog Gone Great Day!
Kari

A couple of years ago before I opened my own Camp Bow Wow location in McHenry, I was at a zoning meeting providing support for a fellow franchisee. The franchisee was presenting to the city to try to convince them to grant a conditional use permit for a proposed Camp Bow Wow location on the south side of Chicago.

The location that they had chosen was in an industrial park but had a residential track of townhouses nearby. At least 50 residents showed up for this zoning hearing to protest the conditional use permit for Camp Bow Wow. Each resident took their turn to stand up and speak out against the idea of putting a doggy daycare and overnight boarding facility in this particular location.

I listened intently to what all the objections were so I would know what to expect at my own zoning hearing coming up for my Camp Bow Wow location in McHenry. I’ll never forget what one woman said about the capacity of the Camp.  She said, “Fifty dogs?  That’s a lotta poop!”

The whole meeting erupted in laughter and it was quite hilarious. Now, when talking about my own Camp, that’s one of my favorite lines. Whenever someone asks me how many dogs we can hold and I answer, “About 100 dogs at any given time.” The response is always, “Wow, 100 dogs!  That’s a lot of dogs!” To that, my response is, “Yes, that’s a lotta poop!”

This year for Spring Break we were so busy with 80 dogs a day. That was our busiest time ever since we opened just over a year ago. It was SO much fun to have that many dogs here. One of the things that we can use to gauge how busy we are is how often we change the poop cans. When we first opened we only changed the poop cans in the evening after we tucked the dogs in for the evening.

As we started to have more and more dogs every day, we started to realize that we needed to also change the poop can at noon so the bag did not get too heavy carrying it out to the dumpster. Over spring break we found we had to change the poop can right away in the morning after we first let the dogs out. They filled that thing right up in just 30 minutes! Now we were changing it THREE times a day to keep up with all the poop.

All I can say to that is “That’s a lotta poop!”

Have a Dog Gone Great Day!
Kari

Mohawk Mable is what we call her because of a cute little mohawk she has on the top of her head. She is a Golden Retriever who is 10 years old.  She is such a sweetheart and really loves to come to Camp Bow Wow.  She enjoys roaming around in the play yard but also loves to lay down right in the middle of the chaos, content just to watch all the activity from a center seat.

Mom says that Mable has never liked to ride in the car. When they ask if she wants to go for a ride, she runs and jumps on the couch and won’t get up. But if Mom says “Do you wanna go to Camp?” Mable RUNS to the car and jumps right in!

Mom even admits that she’s guilty of using Camp just to get Mable in the car, even when she’s not coming to Camp! We absolutely LOVE Mohawk Mable. She is one of our favorite dogs!

Have a Dog Gone Great Day!
Kari

You may have seen this email floating around, but I just had to put it out there again.  Just a little something to bring a tear to your eye.  Doesn’t it make you realize how much you love your dog?

Being a veterinarian, I had been called to examine a ten-year-old Irish Wolf hound named Belker. The dog’s owners, Ron, his wife Lisa, and their little boy Shane, were all very attached to Belker, and they were hoping for a miracle.

I examined Belker and found he was dying of cancer. I told the family we couldn’t do anything for Belker, and offered to perform the euthanasia procedure for the old dog in their home.

As we made arrangements, Ron and Lisa told me they thought it would be good for six-year-old Shane to observe the procedure. They felt as though Shane might learn something from the experience.

The next day, I felt the familiar catch in my throat as Belker’s family surrounded him. Shane seemed so calm, petting the old dog for the last time, that I wondered if he understood what was going on. Within a few minutes, Belker slipped peacefully away.

The little boy seemed to accept Belker’s transition without any difficulty or confusion. We sat together for a while after Belker’s death, wondering aloud about the sad fact that animal lives are shorter than human lives. Shane, who had been listening quietly, piped up, “I know why.”

Startled, we all turned to him. What came out of his mouth next stunned me. I’d never heard a more comforting explanation.

He said, “People are born so that they can learn how to live a good Life — like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right?” The six-year-old continued, “Well, dogs already know how to do that, so they don’t have to stay as long.”

Have a Dog Gone Great Day!
Kari

When we say something has “gone to the dogs,” we think it has gone badly, wrong or lost all the good things it had.  However, I often think if I have “gone to the dogs,” I have learned some valuable lessons that take many of us years to learn.  Maybe, if you’ve “gone to the dogs” things aren’t quite so bad. For example, you could:

Enjoy the simple pleasures of a walk.

Follow your instincts.

Never underestimate the value of a belly rub.

Be loyal and faithful.

Be quick to forgive.

Always drink plenty of water.

Sometimes it is best to just sit close and listen.

Avoid biting when a growl will do.

Keep digging until you find what you want.

Run and play daily.

When your loved ones come home, always run to greet them with enthusiasm and love.

Accept all of life’s treats with gratitude.

Life is short, pet often.

Love unconditionally.

Have a Dog Gone Great Day!
Kari

One of the things that we do at Camp Bow Wow McHenry to ensure the safety of the dogs is the Canine Camper Interview. Because the dogs are playing all the time for all of our overnight boarders and daycare Campers, we need to make sure that all the dogs get along well with other dogs. For a dog to come and stay and play at Camp Bow Wow, he must first pass the interview process.

To conduct the interview, we take the dog into our interview room and introduce him to a male dog and a female dog separately and see how it goes. Here we are looking for the traditional “circle butt sniff,” as I call it, and make sure there is no growling, lifting a lip or any type of aggressive behavior. If all goes well in the interview room, we invite our new Camper back to the play yards to slowly introduce him to the larger group of dogs his size. If all goes well with that introduction, he is welcome to stay and play all day that first day for FREE and then welcome to come back anytime for daycare or boarding after that.

So I got to thinking about the way dogs greet each other, sniffing each other’s butts. Wouldn’t it be funny if that’s how we greeted each other? If when you entered the board room for your next big meeting you bent over and sniffed your colleague’s  butt as if to say “Good Morning, Dan!  How are you doing today?”

Or if you were at the grocery store and ran into someone, did a little butt sniff, and then said, “Sally is that you? I haven’t seen you in SO long! How have you been?” Think of what it would be like at a big networking event like a Chamber Scramble or something like that? You would be bending over sniffing butts every time you turned around!

Think about it next time you enter a room and you’re nervous about meeting new people. Instead of picturing everyone naked, pretend like you have to sniff their butts when you greet them. It’s sure to put a huge smile on your face when you shake their hand instead, giving you a great first impression! Just make sure you say “Nice to meet you” instead of “Nice to sniff you!”

Have a Dog Gone Great Day!
Kari

Hello, my name is Kari and I am a dogaholic.  I am finally at Step One: Admitting that I have a problem.  And after many years of denial, I am ready to open up and seek treatment for my problem.  OK, but really, how can I help it?  I just can’t get enough of the dogs. All the kisses, hugs, butt scratches, and belly rubs?  I am just CRAZY about dogs!

I started out with just one dog, Hooch, my husband’s chocolate lab.  He is such a great dog.  So well behaved and so much fun.  Then, I wanted to get another dog.  But wondered what kind of dog to get?  I got hooked on so many breeds!  I bought books and researched what would be the best breed for a second dog for us.  The problem got worse when I just couldn’t decide and I wanted to get more than just one other dog.  I had three dogs that I wanted to get.  My husband told me that we couldn’t get three more dogs because the city did not allow us to have more than a total of three dogs.  What kind of a rule is that?!

I was visiting my girlfriend, who owns a grooming shop in San Diego, when I met and fell in love with a Miniature Schnauzer named Molly.  She was just the most precious thing.  Then it hit me.  I could get my “dog fix” if I owned my own place for dogs.  We were on our way home talking about the possibilities of opening an overnight boarding or doggy daycare facility when we came across an ad for the Camp Bow Wow franchise.  We visited Camp Bow Wow corporate headquarters in Boulder, Colo., and were very impressed with what they had to offer.  We signed the franchise agreement, I ditched my corporate IT job and one year later I opened my very own Camp Bow Wow in McHenry.

We have been open for just over one year and I now have over 900 dogs. And I know and LOVE every single one of them!  You can see all of their pictures in my online  http://www.cbwmchenry.com or see the Photo Gallery on my Web site at www.campbowwow.com/mchenry.  The joy and unconditional love that they provide is just priceless.  Some people tell me I have the coolest job in the world.  Guess what?  They’re right!

Stay tuned as I share some of the joys and the adventures of  the dogs who make a difference in our lives here at Camp Bow Wow McHenry.  Who says I can only have three dogs?  Limit, schmimit!

Have a Dog Gone Great Day!
Kari