When it comes to toys for your younger dog, we look for durability and difficulty. Each time your pup engages with a toy we want them to get a mental work out! Using their keen senses of smell, hearing and touch, pups get to engage different areas of their brain ensuring a real challenge. We love using our Outward Hound Slow Feeder bowls for meal times. These bowls don't just slow your dog down reducing the risk of bloat and GI distress, but they also provide a fun and engaging activity for your pup. Kong has also created a line of amazingly indestructible toys, loved by puppies and adult dogs alike. We often rotate meals through the Kong Wobbler, Kong Goodie Bone and of course the Kong Classic, which gives a unique test of ingenuity while also satisfying the innate desire to chew. As each dog is at a different stage in their development, we offer the Kong Puppy, Classic and Extreme toys to ensure a safe and enjoyable meal time. All dogs enjoying our Boarding School Retreat will get to experience a different bowl or toy with every meal with us (as if food wasn't fun enough for your dog!).

We get asked all the time, what should I feed my dog? We always suggest checking with your veterinarian and if you purchased your dog from a breeder, do not hesitate to ask the breeder what food they feel their dogs do best with and why! Both of these resources can help tailor a diet that benefits your specific pup. After the FDA released results regarding canine dilated cardiomyopathy correlating to specialty diets lacking in grains (and heavy in legumes), we started searching for diets with healthy grains and GAP Certified meats. Sustainable protein sources are a primary concern for me personally, as I want to ensure my dogs aren't contributing more than needed to climate change and I never want to encourage the mistreatment of other animals. With these goals, we have found that Tender & True brand and Open Farm brand offer some great ethically sourced, grain inclusive diet options. Our facility offers both of these brands as options for your pup's meal time, and if you are interested in transitioning to one of these brands, bring your dog's normal food & we'll do the transition for you! Some dogs have sensitive digestive systems and can be overwhelmed in new environments, and for these dogs our facility also offers Hill's Science Diet GI which provides the optimum fiber to protein ration to ensure your dog's stomach can relax so he can too!

We love our senior dogs! They've given everything they have to being our faithful companions and it's our job to ensure they enjoy every day that they are with us! With my own dogs, I use a MSM and glucosamine supplement Nutramax Dasuquin as I have seen an incredible improvement in my own senior dog's mobility as well as in clients' dogs. The chew is easy to eat and most dogs consider them a treat, making it an ideal addition to mealtimes ensuring comfort and ease of motion for older pups. After two ACL repair surgeries on one dog and a degenerative disk disease diagnosis in my younger dog's neck, I also started utilizing Duralactin for chronic inflammation management. My dogs enjoy the tablets, but I have had several clients that were not too keen on the vanilla flavored tablets, and the size also poses difficulty for inserting the pill inside a tastier treat. However, I have seen improvements in both of my dogs with the addition of this lactose based anti-inflammatory, and I also like that it poses no health risks with prolonged use (unlike many prescriptions). Duralactin also begins working immediately (unlike Dasuquin which requires two weeks to develop a baseline of results), which makes it ideal for assisting older dogs who have done more than their bodies could handle. With this in mind, we are pleased to offer Duralactin to our senior guests as well as to other guests who may benefit from this relief. Simply let us know how we can make your pup more comfortable during their adventure with us!