Alpha of the Snack Pet Services

11/26/2025

Happy 3rd birthday, Ali! We celebrated your 2nd birthday last year too, who knew she was going to still be here this year too?

Ali is my foster who is available for adoption. She has been, through no fault of her own, adopted and returned three times. (First time was owner's health, second time owners were not willing to train her, third time owners were unwilling to fulfill her physical activity needs)

She is 3 years old, spayed, chipped and comes up to date on all vaccinations.

Ali has come such a long way, and is a fantastic pet. She is an active girl, who thrives with active owners. She has dabbled a little in nosework- she liked the praise she got from everyone rooting for her better then the actual act of finding the thing, but with the right hype team behind her, I still think she would really enjoy it!

Ali is tested and 100% safe around dogs of many temperamants, all cats, and even horses! She has excellent off leash experience and a lovely recall. She is sweet, and oh so snuggly. She LOVES curling up on the bed, and next to you on the couch.

Happy Birthday to your siblings, Atticus, Hercules and 🌈Nellie🌈 too.

11/05/2025

Hee hee, it is said that managing dogs could be called an art. So I'm calling it- it applies here. 🤣

10/29/2025

These days, you may see me out and about walking dogs with this lovely girl.

Nellie is my newest foster, and is Ali's (and as such, Atticus' and Hercules') sister. You may notice that she has some extra gear.

Around here, we try to dispel a lot of misconceptions and address myths!

Nellie may wear a muzzle, but she is by no means a bad dog. To reassure my clients whose dogs may spend time with her-- with my management, she is no more of a risk to you or your dog then any other dog in my care.

Muzzles are a preventative! In the interest in honesty, accountability, and transparency, these are what we are working on. When scared and not given direction, Nellie does choose to aggress on both humans and dogs. In my care, Nellie recieves constant intervention, direction, routine and support when she is given access to other animals and people, and the muzzle is a failsafe. She is crated exactly 100% of the time that I cannot give her this direction. This has the added benefit of crate training her to increase her admittedly, abysmal adoptability.

I have always prided myself on my ability to manage groups of dogs of differing temperaments and needs, and my ability to acknowledge, and stay within my limits.

So please feel reassured that I am taking extra steps to keep risk management a priority.

Nellie is not yet up for adoption, nor is she ready for meet and greets, but please do keep an eye out! When I look at Nellie, I see Ali almost 2 years ago, who couldn't settle, was so hyperactive, unconfident, agoraphobic, not housebroken with a whole host of other issues. I look at her now- a fantastic pet, happy and so loving, fantasticly sociable with dogs of all kinds, crate trained, emotionally regulated and happy and thriving. In time, I know Nellie can be the same, she just has some extra bling.

And yes-- we will be requiring a home without kids that will continue to muzzle her in public for the rest of her life. I'm not a fan of blanket requirements in most cases because they tend to alienate the more responsible adopters, but this is one such case where it is in the best interest of everyone involved. Once a bite risk, always a bite risk, even if and when she becomes a more reliable dog.

Look at that sweet face though! How can you say no to that! 🥰 If you see us out and about, please do say hi! But please- no dogs, and remain at a distance. And ask how you can help with Nellie's training!

10/11/2025

Good morning from Stella and Milo!

08/27/2025

"Shes going to look for excitement outside of this relationship" say it louderrrrrr

08/27/2025

This is your friendly reminder that there are ways to walk your dogs safely in extreme heat, and that you shouldn't pass judgement on people who do walk their dogs when you don't know the steps they are taking to keep their pets safe.

In the heat today, these are the steps we took to safely walk four dogs.
1. Water was kept with diluted goats milk AND electrolytes to encourage hydration.
2. We purposely walked on shaded pathways.
3. Our dogs were all appropriately groomed, which includes Louie the longhaired dog in the photo. Shaving him would have put him in danger of heat illness. His coat helps regulate his body temperature, but only when it is mat-free and well cared for.
4. We allowed the dogs to decide where they chose to walk- if they chose to walk on the concrete, it was because they wanted to. They had access to grass 100% of the time.
5. Air conditioning: our car had AC on blast and of course, the dogs enjoyed it very much on the ride home.
6. There was plenty of rest afterward with water available 100% of the time.
7. I feel these days like I've grown several new pairs of eyeballs. This has allowed me to keep a minimum of two eyes on each dog at all times (today I used 10 of them, on days when we walk 6 dogs I use as many as 14 separate eyeballs) so as to monitor for signs of heat sickness, of which there was none throughout our walk.

Just because you make excuses to not exercise your dogs doesn't mean we all have to! Now enjoy some photos from the walk we took today during the peak heat hours, with our poor, aboosed dogs. And get out with your dogs tomorrow! Safely, as always!

08/25/2025

08/24/2025

How do I handle extreme heat on pack walks?

On pack walks during extreme heat events, We still walk our dogs! We specifically choose areas with heavy shade such as the walking paths in Four Seasons.

We also choose places with LOTS of grass, and our rule that prevents dogs walking on private grass is relaxed. We try not to let the dogs walk on private yards, but if we need to to get them to a more grassy area we might have to, just to protect their paws from scorching sidewalks.

As well, we bring water on EVERY walk, a large bowl near the car for dogs to drink from at the end, but also a small bottle kept on my person for emergencies when we are out walking.

To encourage more water intake, I mix some goat milk powder in to the water, and the dogs tend to hydrate MUCH better that way. I also include a small pinch of salt to replenish electrolytes.

If a dog lays down during the walk we also tend to stop to let them rest.

I discourage the use of doggy boots. Dogs dissipate heat through their paw pads, and stifling that, while helping prevent paw pad burns, increases their susceptibility to heat related illness.

08/23/2025

Today was my walk with Stella the boston terrier and I knew Louie, my newest foster pup and Stella would be difficult together without lots of management (Stella has crazy bounce of the wall energy)

Watch Louie progress to walking closer and closer to Stella over the course of our walk. He went from lunging at her to play with her to calmly walking right next to her 🥰

1- He was lunging at her even this far away from her
2- no more lunging, but was still looking across all the dogs at her
3- No longer so fixated, can walk closer and not care as much
4- reducing the # of dogs in between them
5- oh look at that, right next to each other. Still need to verbally correct him
6- giving him space to sniff at her curiously and he chose to disengage on his own! Good boy