A Dog’s Day at Thousand Hills Pet Resort
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Hi Mom and Dad!
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Thank you so much for letting me stay at the Pet Resort!
I’m having a great time with my new friends, humans and canine alike! Here’s what my days look like:​
Morning:
Early in the morning, we hear footsteps and that means it’s breakfast time. The nice people (I’ve heard them called “Boarding Staff”) come in to my room and give me the delicious food you brought from home for me!
After we are fed, the nice people come back and take us, one by one, into the play yards. It’s really neat – they talk on those black boxes attached to their waist, and I hear things like, “I have Charlie going into the Puppy Yard 9, the spreadsheet was just updated!”, and a voice says, “Yes, that is correct”. There are a lot of voices inside that small black box!
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It’s awesome how many different play yards there are. Some yards are for little dogs, some for the dogs who just want to nap (they call them “seniors”) and some for the puppies like me! The play yards are large (bigger than our backyard!) and all have fun structures to run up and down. There are always shady spots and lots of drinking water! Once all of us dogs are in the yards, we start our games – we play well by ourselves. The staff members are nearby and can hear our playing! I also have some friends that go to other yards and we just talk through the fence.
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We can see the staff of Thousand Hills busy at work, moving beds, pillows, blankets, and toys all from the rooms we slept in. They get all the empty food bowls as well as the water bowls and take them away to someplace far and when they return, the bowls are clean!
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All occupied rooms are washed, every single one of them! It’s a lot of cleaning these nice people do.
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The poop patrol comes in to clean the yards for “Yard Check", they actually do it several times a day. The nice people pet us and talk to us whenever they are on poop patrol! The water buckets and bowls in all yards are also cleaned and refilled with fresh water a couple of times a day.
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Mid-Day:
The staff member they call “Manager” comes in (I think she is like the Top dog around here – she is pretty cool!) and checks every single room for cleanliness and to make sure all tasks are getting done. Meanwhile, the other staff members do what they call a “Watch Check”. This is usually when I’m taking a nap in the shade, so it’s fun to see the nice people come in again!
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Watch Check is my favorite part because it means we are getting one-on-one with a human, and you know I love cuddles. The staff members go into every play yard and they check and touch us everywhere to make sure we have not hurt ourselves and they pet and love on us. They also check to make sure we have our collars with our name and all the information needed. They know all of us by name and they know what we like or not. Did you know some dogs do not like their belly touched? Not me!
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One of the staff members is responsible for the food and medication report, and records who did not eat their food or needs to be checked a little more often. Can you imagine…not eating their food? I offered to eat for them, but the staff said, “Sorry Charlie, you can only eat what your parents asked us to feed you…no extras.” They seem to write down a lot of information, if I throw up, for example, they write on this book and they will notify you, Mom and Dad. It’s amazing!
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Afternoon:
The nice staff members switch when the afternoon people come into work. They communicate with the morning people for a while, they get updated on the play yards, and if any of us are sick or need extra attention. When we are homesick, they sense that too. They rock!
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The afternoon staff does another “Yard Check”…more petting – I love it! They also make notes about our playing and the friends we’ve made. If someone is playing too hard, it’s updated for all the boarding staff to see. Sometimes they move us around midday if they know we’ll make better friends in a different group!
They clean more poop and refill the water again. I can see from the yard that the staff puts our beds, blankets, and toys back in our rooms.
The Top dog, I mean, the manager, comes by and does some play time with us. She loves hugging all my buddies and me. We get a lot of attention from the humans here.
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Evening:
After a day full of fun, the dogs are then taken into their individual rooms – it must be dinner time! We say bye to one another; one last sniff and it’s time to go for the night.
The nice boarding staff brings more food (yum!) and medications for the dogs that need it.
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The lights are turned on around 6PM and the front gates are locked. After eating, I usually take nap and chew on the toy you brought for me—I’m so glad you brought my favorite stuffed bear! On cold and rainy days, the heaters are turned on so we stay cozy. The nice boarding staff has extra blankets for everyone, too!
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I’ve also heard the staff members talk about our daily report cards, and I can’t read but it sounds like they sent an email to my Mom and Dad with some pictures. That sounds pretty cute!
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Late at night, (I think they said 9 PM) the Night Check crew comes in and they go to every room and check on us. Even more petting – they can’t get enough of us! They also write a report if there is anything that needs to be looked at in the morning.
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All rooms are locked for the night and lights are off. They call the manager and tell him that Night Check is done. And now it’s bed time for everyone. We start all over next morning and we know new friends will come in!
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