Menace (a teenage boy’s thought of a perfect dog name) came into my life when my stepson stopped at our house before doing some traveling. He asked if we could keep the dog. If became apparent that Menace a Labadane, 1 yr old, was not well. He wouldn’t eat and didn’t have any energy. This began my research into his health and welfare. He was allergic to everything. He had skin issues, digestive issues, every issue you can think of. We tried Buffalo, Kangaroo, Chicken, Beef, Fish, everything to see what his was not allergic to. We started to cook for him every Sunday and made meals for the entire week. Fish was not an allergen for him. We were gutting Mackeral in our back yard, grinding it up and adding sweet potatoes and a green vegetable.
Menace started to get better. And then I needed to find a way to build his muscles and create a social setting for him. Standing out in the dog park in freezing temps wasn’t working. I called the local daycare/training facility and asked about feeding him and was told by the owner that free feeding was incorrect and that scheduled meals was the only way you train a dog. Well since Menace had allergy and feeding issues, that wasn’t what I was going to do. Anytime he ate was good news.
At the time, I was in between careers and was trying to figure out what I could contribute to the world. After searching for a daycare that would really understand my dog, it occurred to me that I was the only one that was going to understand Menace’s needs. So we started Happy Tails Doggy Daycare. Menace loved it and thrived. He lived to almost 15 yrs old. He started my road to learning everything about dogs. He understood me and gave me more love than I could ever imagine. He was the best gift anyone could have given to me. And by him coming into my life, Happy Tails has been able to give individual attention, love and support to so many dogs.
