Dogtopia of White Flint, MD Blog

After calculating all of the votes we have reached our winner ………

Our Sweet Little Kiss….. HUNTER!

Hunter Howl-O-Ween Costume Contest Winner!

Congratulations to Hunter!  He will receive a gift basket of goodies provided by Bark! Pawsitive Pet Food as well as a 5-day daycare pass!

Hunter will now be entered to compete in the National Dogtopia Contest. When the voting is up make sure to vote for him here!

*** We’re tallying our votes now and will announce a winner shortly! Thanks to everyone who took the time to vote! ***

We are treated to smiles every year during our Annual Howl-O-Ween Photo Contest and this year was no exception!

Please vote via the comments section with the name of your favorite pup. We will accept one vote per IP address. Please note all comments on the blog are reviewed before posting, so your vote will not appear automatically.

Our top vote-getter will win a 5-day daycare pass (valued at $160) and a gift bag of goodies, supplied by Bark! Positive Petfood. He or She will also go on to compete in the Grand Championship Round against the winners from 21 other Dogtopia locations with a top prize of a 20-day daycare pass up for grabs.

Voting remains open through Sunday, October 24th. Our winner will be announced Monday.

Thank you to ALL of the participants and good luck!!

Lacy the Bumblebee

Wile E is Petey

Whit survives a vicious Lobster attack

Cooper and Callie AKA Snoop Dogg and Lady DoGA-GA rock the Grammy red carpet

Molly as Princess Leia is a part of the rebel alliance!

The force is with Jacob as Yoda

Jackson the dashing Matador

Ilsa is the cutest pumpkin in the patch

Hunter the Chocolate Lab Hershey's Kiss

Bjorn was shocked to learn he was half squirrel... on his mother's side

Bear the sweet, shy skeleton

Baxter the Bumblebee - we think he'd make a cute couple with Lacey!

Cool Cowboy Luke

Guinness as a Bumble Bee

Scruffy and Little Buddy

Dog of the Week

This pretty face belongs to Lacy Wier-Banashax! Pretty Lacy is a 1-year-old lhasapoo who has been coming to us since May of 2009. Her smile and prance bring joy to both her doggie friends in the Romper Room and the staff!

Does your pup take  on a certain guarding behavior around their food? Food guarding  is fairly normal behavior that stems from animals protecting their food for survival purposes.

Typically pet owners begin to notice this guarding behavior when their dog is between 6 and 18 months, though the behavior can develop at any age. This problem can be alleviated in puppies fairly quickly as long as it is addressed immediately.  Food guarding behavior that begins in dogs over 3 years should notify their vet, this may be a medical issue.

Since food guarding is instinctual, and may not be cured,  a couple tips to decrease the behavior include:

• Teach your puppy from the beginning  that people approaching the bowl means something good by giving them a tasty treat such as a small piece of cheese or dog treat.
• Don’t free-feed your dog.  Make sure your dog is aware of meal times.  By leaving the food bowl out all day they are constantly protecting their bowl.Offer your dog a treat when removing the bowl.
• All dogs should learn drop it with food items, treats, toys, etc.  Start working on this valuable skill when your dog is a puppy.
• Problems with children and food can occur, since neither dog nor child understand the threat they hold in regards to the food, make sure you feed your dog away from children in a comfortable area.  This also teaches the child not to bother the dog while it is eating.
• Don’t remove your dogs food in response to growling.  This reassures the dogs fears that their food is constantly in jeopardy.

Make sure you contact your veterinarian if the food aggression becomes worse or randomly develops.

Tynes, Valerie. “Is it normal for a dog to growl when someone approaches its food bowl?” Healthy Pet.

Fall 2010.

Dog of the Week

Say hi to Ilsa everyone! This adorable Rotti has been coming to Dogtopia ® since May of 2010. We met Ilsa at 8 months old and we could tell from the moment we met her she was a special one! Miss Ilsa loves to go with her mommy and entertain some of her mommy’s co-workers at the fire station some nights, as well as coming here to entertain us and some of her four legged buddies =) She also just turned one last week on the 14th!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY ILSA!! We hope to keep seeing your tail wag thru our door!

Doggie Dip Day

It’s time for Doggie Dip Day! The Rockville Municipal Swim Center will allow dogs to free swim from Noon to 4pm on Saturday, September 11th for just $5 per dog.

All dogs must have a current rabies certificate or letter from their vet stating that they’ve received the shots in order to gain entry to the event. There will be vendors of dog-related products selling merchandise and providing information for dog owners.

Also, participants are invited to bring canned goods to benefit Manna, a Rockville-based food center. Participants who bring a canned good will be entered in a raffle to win a gift basket and/or gift certificate from us Dogtopia of White Flint!

Dog of the Week

Say hi to Harold the Hound everyone! This sweet 1 year old doggy has been coming to us since February of this year! Harold loves coming to daycare to play with all his good buddies. He loves to play chase and peek a boo with Hunter, Beeru, Beethoven, and Cody! This happy pup will be two in December and we can’t wait to give him big birthday hugs and kisses. Tune in to our webcams and maybe catch Harold playing with your dog for some fun exercise for the day =)

Dog of the Week

This is pretty little lady Evie! Evie will be turning just 1 in October! Miss Evie came to us as a 2 month old puppy, and boy has she grown into such a happy pup. She loves coming in extra early just to get all the fun out of the day as she possibly can =) Tune into our webcams to see Evie go! She’s always playing and getting into something!

We received dozens of entries to our “King or Queen for a Day Contest” – an awesome response! We were so thrilled to read how much you loved your dogs and what made them special to you! When we created the contest we thought we’d receive some funny and cute entries. It would be something everyone could have fun with. Those entries came and they were a delight to read. But we also received some truly heartfelt and at times sad entries as well. Whatever the tone, each one clearly came from the heart.

In the end we chose Rocky Moneymaker a sweet Golden Retriever, because his story is exemplifies everything we love about dogs – unending devotion, loyalty without bounds and an unspoken bond.

Due to the personal nature of the story, we asked Rocky’s mom for permission to share and she kindly agreed. You can read it below.

Click the links to read the entries from those who join Rocky as his royal court:

(Trumpets Sound)

Wile. E, Duke of Twitter

Prince Baxter, Royal Scribe

Princess Nola

Princess Lucky

Guinness, Court Jester

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Rocky’s Story as told by his mom Shannon

Rocky Moneymaker deserves to be King of the Day for so many reasons, but what sets him apart from the other dogs and makes him qualified to be royalty is his most recent selfless act.

Four years ago, my sister-in-law Penny was diagnosed with breast cancer. She moved into our home and instantly became the best of friends with Rocky. They were inseparable – thick as thieves! When Penny went into remission, several years later, she moved out of our home. Rocky was devastated. November of last year, Penny found out that her cancer had returned and metastasized to her bones, brain, lungs, and liver. Despite very aggressive treatments, her battle was futile and proving unsuccessful. This past May, she decided to stop treatments and move back in with us to spend the twilight of her life with her family and her best friend, Rocky.

The final weeks prior to Penny’s passing, Rocky was by her side every moment. He comforted her when she was sad and lonely. He comforted her when she was in pain. He knew when she was hurting and would position his body with hers in such a way that gave physical relief from her pain. There would be days he wouldn’t eat because he didn’t leave her side. He stayed with her every day and slept with her every night. He stayed by the side of his best friend offering her companionship and comfort; unrelenting and totally devoted. The final hours before she passed, she slipped into unconsciousness. He lay in her lap until we realized something was wrong. We had to coax him away so that the paramedics could render aid and was frantic when they took her away. Penny passed away on June 9, 2010. Rocky was so depressed. He didn’t eat, didn’t play, and hardly went outside for nearly two weeks. His best friend was gone.

To top it all off, we couldn’t reward him with some much deserved doggie daycare because I was home recovering from shoulder surgery! The poor guy hadn’t had regular daycare in months. Finally, last week I returned to work and Rocky returned to his buddies at the Dogtopia in White Flint. I can’t think of a more deserving dog than Rocky for your King of the Day contest!

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We agree and can’t wait to pamper Rocky with a day of play, some VIP spa treatment and a spin around the boutique. Rocky is woman’s best friend in every since and we all want to hug our dogs even tighter because of him.

We were very excited to see the number of participants that entered their special pup’s into the Dogtopia King or Queen for a day contest! Every email has been fantastic and must admit we have been a bit overwhelmed. We have received dozens of entries and all of them could be great choices.

Initially we’d plan to announce our winner right now and give them a whirlwind day of pampering tomorrow, but we’re still reading through the great nominations! We here at Dogtopia offer our sincerest apologies that we will have to announce on Monday morning and we will then arrange the right day with the winner for their “crowning” and pampering.

As  always, we have the best clients in the entire world and it’s been so nice to read these stories and learn even more about your great dogs!