What's New at Adventure Dog Ranch?
July 16th, 2008:
We've been busy... We've finally joined the 21st century and we now have a "MySpace page!" We've also created a Microsoft Spaces Live Page, where I will be hosting the "Adventure Dog Blog," as well as downloadable high resolution photo's, & video's etc... (I recently bought a new digital camera that takes reasonable pictures and video's, and I've even figured out how to set the date on it!) I'm not yet satisfied with our "new & hip" social networking presence yet, keep in mind that I'm not twenty-something anymore. Although I am technically savvy and quite comfortable in a networked environment, I'm not even certain what the entire MySpace phenomena is all about . So if things don't work quite right yet, be patient, I am also one of the most stubborn women on the planet, and I will prevail!!!
So please pop by and check it out, you may even be able to find a picture of YOUR DOG there!
I also encourage you to sign up for our mailing list so that we can inform you when cool things are happening and/or about special offers. I'm working on writing our privacy policy now, but I can assure you without any legal mumbo jumbo that we will never sell any of your information to a 3rd party, nor will we fill your mail box with spam. We respect your privacy and your information is only used to conduct our business with you and on rare occassions, to market our services. (That's way easier to understand than 3 pages of Legal-eze isn't it?)
Join our Mailing List!
This announcements page will still be updated but all of my insipid ramblings that you so enjoy will be relegated to the blog. __KP
July 6th, 2008:
We Made it through another holiday unscathed.
The 4th of July can be a lot of fun for us humans, but all those pop's and bangs and the presence of smoke in the air, well it can be pure torture for our 4-legged best friends. Dogs Hate Smoke and they're not too fond of fire either. For most of them, the problem comes from trying to identify if those unusual noises are friend or foe, most of the time, I think they'd bet the bank on foe. There seems to be no pattern, no rhythm, no predictibility.
I don't know about your dog, but our 3, rely on their ears to tell them all kinds of important information. "Is that dads truck coming up the street? Yay! He'll be home soon!" or "Was that the sound of a potato chip hitting the carpet?" and "Did mom just activate the handle on the magnificent cookie cabinet?" The fact is that their ears are much more sensitive than ours and the range of frequencies they can hear is much wider. They can simply hear things that we can only imagine.
So how did we handle the 4th at the ranch? We started with a technique I call "The Jolly Routine." For several days before the holiday, everytime Steve heard the report of fireworks, he'd act all jolly and happy. He was yelling "Whoo-Hoo" and basically dancing around, laughing like a fool. There is a method to this madness and while I don't recall the technical term, it is part desensitzation and part associating what was previously a fearful event with a positive reaction from the pack leader. Luckily our ranch is in a neighborhood that doesn't light off a whole bunch of fireworks around the 4th, but I do believe that our techniques helped our guests stay calm and relaxed.
We also employed another successful method: Playing music on two stereo systems in different locations around the dog house. I believe this method helped to disguise the source and by using the two seperate stereos, they had a more difficult time pinpointing the location of the sounds. (Dogs have great pinpointing ability due to the mobility of their ears, so fooling them with a single radio would be extremely difficult.)
Regardless of the methods, the dogs remained calm. In fact there was virtually no barking, whining or howling going on during the peak fireworks hours.
Yep. Happy, calm dogs on the 4th of July? I would call that a giant success! __KP
June 11th, 2008
Steve is a little miffed with me... It's been over two weeks since we finished off the new fencing and I'm just now getting around to writing about it! It looks good and the dogs are loving it! We have nice large gates that we can drive our truck through (which will make upkeep a lot easier and help facilitate the spreading of wood chips when the grass gets torn up.) We also have already installed French Drains in the new yard to help with drainage problems. There's a big shady tree that the dogs are enjoying lounging under.
I keep wondering if summer is every going to come to Marysville, this has been one of the wettest June's that I can remember in recent years. Oh well at least the grass is staying green.
Steve and I received news that ADR has received the "2008 Best of Marysville Award for Dog Boarding and Kennels" 
Hmmmn... I always thought that the USLBA was for Lawn Bowling... This has taken us by surprise and I'm still not certain that it isn't a scam to make money, but I will admit that their website is very well done. Here's their press release
For those of you who have missed my past ramblings:
If you think of us as just a great place to board your dogs,
read about our other services:
Adventure Dog Ranch is proud to offer Dog training provided by our sister company, Sno-King Dog Training. Offering Individual, "One-on-One" Training Sessions. Evening and Weekend sessions are also available. Click here for Additional Details!
Adventure Day Care!
If you're like 90% of the Dog Owners in the USA, you have a job, a family and a life. It's hard to find enough hours in the day (especially this time of year) to give your pets the amount of playtime and exercise that they truly deserve. That's where we come in, Adventure Dog Ranch offers Daycare Service!
In addition to our Day Care services, we hope to start a pickup and delivery service that will compliment our doggie daycare program. We'll pick them up at your door, take them to our facility, exercise them all day long, and drop them back off at your door!
All of this for less than the cost of boarding! As always, if you're booking multiple dogs and/or multiple visits, there will be a discounted price! We're still working out the details so please call or Email us for more information!)
As of now our target area's are: Marysville, Smokey Point, Lakewood / 7 Lakes, and possibly North Everett. If you are Interested in this Service, please contact Steve for more information:
Day Care without Pickup/Drop-off Service is also available, (by appointment only.) For those clients that prefer to drop them off and pick them up themselves.
More Training Options!
Join our Mailing List!
Want to be informed about upcoming events and specials at the ranch? Join our mailing list! Periodically, (no more than once every 6-8 weeks,) you will receive our newsletter describing the events and "goings on" at Adventure Dog Ranch.
Your Name and Information will NEVER! NEVER! EVER! be sold, as we despise junk mail of all kinds; electronic and postal.