On the website you could already read more about me, Tessa. I'm a dog trainer and love working with dogs in general. With multiple dogs of my own and a few fosters, it's always a day filled with cuddles, slobber and hair. But what is an average day at Connecting K9 exactly? I would like to give you some insight in a typical work day.
My 'alarm' goes off at 6am. This means: Raven is barking and has to go out. Life with a puppy means you don't have to set an alarm to be up on time, for sure. Before I can even have something to drink and eat I'm already outside with the dogs. First Darka, Aatu, Gator and Raven go out. They can do their business, play a little bit, while I'm waking up.
The morning routine
After they are done, the work day really begins. I make sure all the dogs are fed, walked and had their first play of the day in. I also clean the kennels/crates they are in. Smokey still doesn't want to go inside, so while he's running in the backyard I can clean his kennel. This takes me around 10 to 15 minutes, since it's a bigger kennel and everything gets in the cracks of the concrete. Then I start cleaning everything inside. The whole boarding room needs some dusting and the floors need to be mopped. When dogs leave their crate, I can also clean those. During most days it's only cleaning the tray, to make sure sand, dirt and hair is out. At 7am the drop off starts, so it could be that I'm in the middle of cleaning while someone arrives. Once a week, or when a dog leaves to go home in the evening, I clean the whole crate inside and outside. Even if there hasn't been a dog in the crate. There's always ending dirt and hair in them (yeey, dogs).
My favorite part of the day: training!
Around 8am the training day starts. Because Smokey only has real motivation to train before his breakfast, he gets his breakfast during this training time. We do some basic commands and making him get used to the leash. We also practice on going inside the house, since that scares him. This training session takes around 30 minutes, then you can tell he's getting overwhelmed. Which is okay! The remaining of his breakfast he gets in his kennel afterwards. When Smokey's session is done, I'll finish the remaining of the cleaning when needed. If not, I'll start the other training sessions. Each training session takes around 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the dog.
After all the training sessions, it's time to grab some lunch. People that been around dogs know long enough already: there's never a real lunch break. As soon as one of the dogs makes noise, it's time to take them outside again. If I'm lucky, I can have my little break and make sure the dogs go out for a walk right after. The dogs that get food three times a day get their food around this time too.
Afternoon play and training
In the afternoon we do an extra training session with the dogs that need it. This time mostly in play form. We do some scent work, free work or other games to keep their brain going. During those games the dogs have no idea that they are working and training. For Smokey for example this means playing with a ball or other toy. Before I throw it, he has to sit and stay. With Gator we do some extra 'tricks' before we throw a ball. Think of sit, down, heel, in between the legs, throwing the ball and making him stay or walk in a heel without trying to grab the ball that's already laying in the middle of the yard.
Then it's time for the boarding dogs to be picked up, clean the kennels for the next day, sweep the floor and feed all the dogs that are still here. Around 8pm I can sit down, relax or I watch some videos of conferences I attended to learn some more!
Want to book boarding for your dog? Or want to see what we can do when it comes to training your dog? I'd love to talk and explain what we can do!
