Internship-Day 3

So, I obviously got lazy last night and went to bed instead of doing this. But honestly, the lack of sleep had caught up to me to the point where I was falling asleep while taking a shower. So I am glad I postponed it until now. So without  further ado.....

My day started just as the last 2 days had. Arrived at GDB at 7:30, just as the inside of the kennels were being hosed out. I grabbed a squegge (sp?) and started on the back west kennels. If i haven't mentioned it beofre, every morning they hose down the inside of each kennel. This includes the little office/food prep/medicine cabinets/everything else area that sits between the front section and back section of each kennel. There are drains in the floor in that area, about 4 or so of them, and then in the kennels there are gutter type things that all the water from the kennels drain into. Makes cleaning extremely easy I might add. After that was done, breakfast was served and I washed, rinsed, and acceled 31 bowls before heading out to the west section to start acceling the outside part of the runs. Someone had already scooped the poop and rinsed the pee out, so Collier had me accel the front and back sections, as well as the entire front play yard. this took me about 20 minutes I would say. Then I went back inside to let the accel sit for awhile and I rinsed the acceled dishes and set them up to dry. By then it was 9am and time for the daily CWT meeting.

After we got back from the meeting I rinsed the front west section, which included all the kennels and the play yard. This took FOREVER because 1) I'm not very good at it, and 2) the stupid bubbles would magically reappear after I had just rinsed them off!! I then noticed that it was acceptable to leave these demon bubbles where they were after inspecting the kennels the CWT's had cleaned.Apprently they just dry out and dissapear once the water is dried up. It probably didn't take me more than 30 minutes to do this, but it was the first time I've ever acceled and rinsed a whole play yard/kennel section. Seriously, the morning CWT work is tough!

After all the cleaning was done, Collier took me back to the treadmill room to watch the second session of treadmill training. This is when they put a harness on the dog with a soft leash handle attached and the dog gets the sensation of having to pull forward in the harness. The dogs I watched seemed to be really into it. I watched a little female black lab and a yellow female lab complete their second session, which only lasted maybe 7 minutes for each dog. A big bowl of kibble is conveintly placed on the floor directly in front of the treadmill, and boy did these dogs want to go forward! After that it was time for my 10 minute break, and I happily watched the babies in the puppy play yard again!

After that, I really don't remember much about what I did...I know i took several dogs on cemetary walks, I checked poop stations, I helped prepare dinner and wash the dishes, did 3 health checks on different dogs, checked suture sights on the dogs that were spayed, cleaned the air vents in Kennel 3, helped medicate all the dogs in K3 that are on meds....OH! One cool thing I did get to do was fill kongs with soaked kibble for kennel enrichment! I soaked the food in the bowls, loaded them into the kongs, and topped them off with peanut butter and a few pieces of that kibble so we know what kind of food is in it. We also made ice cubes for some of the dogs that are a little overweight and shouldn't be getting all the food that is in the kongs. Once we give them to the dogs we take their kurunda beds out so they don't roll underneath of them, and hang these little kong shaped tags on their door that say, "I'm enjoying enrichment!" so we know to take it out of their kennels. They get enrichment at noon when we all go to lunch and the kennel is shut down for nap time. I'm totally serious! We lock all the dogs into their inside kennel, turn off the lights, and put a classical music CD on the little boom box that sits in between the kennels. And I'm not even joking, all the dogs go to sleep! It's the cutest thing!

So that pretty much sums up Day 3....and I can't believe I've forgotten to post this, but, KEITH IS IN CLASS! Found out on my first day! Couldn't be more proud of that mellow yellow boy. Graduation is the day after my internship ends, so it will be a perfect end to two glorious weeks!