Barks and Recreation

10/09/2023

Have a safe holiday, everyone! It’s definitely ok to include your pets in the festivities, in moderation of course - but here are some things to avoid. If your pet does ingest any of the items on this list, the emergency hospital is open today! Give them a call before heading over there - they will be busy today 🦃

08/23/2023

Hey everyone! Long time no social media!! It’s been a busy time at Barks and Rec but I wanted to spread the word about something I’m going to be doing this fall. The good folks reached out about their new Paws & Pals program and long story short, I’m going to lead the session that starts in September! I’m very excited to get to know even more people and their dogs - if you’re interested in learning more, check out the Forest City Sport and Social Club page for more info! This is going to be a lot of fun - join us with your good boys and girls in a few weeks! 🐾🐶🐶

08/29/2022

And now, for something completely different, may we present - leashes for sale!!

Many of our clients know that all walkers at Barks and Rec love the Big Walker by , wrapped in a modified “half-hitch” style that creates a sort of self-adjusting harness for the dog. This leash is an incredibly effective tool to help you maintain good control of your dog while you help them to master their leash manners (and they remain comfortable, happy, and safe during the process). While we always walk using whatever method you prefer for your pet, we all feel that this leash and leashing method provides the best, most consistent results for issues like pulling and lunging. I learned of these leashes over a decade ago from my brilliant veterinarian, and have never found anything that works better for dogs that are determined to pull (including my own dear dog, now passed - we never walked with anything else after we found this). Dogs who dislike traditional harnesses or other no-pull methods are also much happier wearing this style of leash!

This version of the Mendota Big Walker is not available in stores in Canada as we are having them custom made to a 10ft length, so that your dog can easily be harnessed in the leash with room to spare. In the past, we imported these leashes from the US via a third party, which was a bit of a hassle - we are very pleased to be able to offer these custom Mendota Big Walker leashes ourselves as wholesalers! They come in a wide range of colours and some are even available with reflective Night Viz striping.

Check out this video of Lexi, a long-time satisfied customer and experienced user of the Mendota Big Walker 😍 Lexi is wearing the regular 6ft version, which can be purchased through fine pet retailers anywhere, as she is a petite pup! Our custom leashes are fantastic for dogs approx. 30-35lb and larger. If you’re interested in purchase or have questions, shoot us a quick message either via socials or our website - we don’t have an online store set up for this just yet, so we’ll be happy to chat with you about ordering! Happy shopping everyone!!

08/26/2022

Here are a few of the friends we’ve been spending time with recently - for your viewing enjoyment!! Just look at these sweet faces 😍🐶🥰

08/25/2022

🚨🚨🚨 🚨🚨

This is HUGE NEWS for London and the surrounding area!!! Congratulations and gratitude to Dr. Egli and Dr. Moffat and their whole team. I worked with both of these lovely people at the emerg clinic in my previous life as an RVT, and I can tell you from both professional and personal experience that these are two ✨exceptional✨ doctors who have years and years of emergency medical practice under their belts. The addition of this urgent care clinic will do so much to relieve the burden of need for pet owners with sick or injured pets in our area. I wanted to be sure that our clients know about this new option for care on the days when our local emerg clinic is closed - your beloved family members will be in very good hands here! Give .urgentcare a follow to keep up to date with all of their announcements!!

08/19/2022

My cutie little buddy Apollo 🥰 We had a nice quiet walk this morning, what a lovely way to start the day! 🐶🌸💜

08/19/2022

“The workload in small animal medicine has increased greatly. I’ve never seen anything like it, and I’ve been practising for over 30 years,” he said. “Coupled with that is a lot of stress, a lot of burnout and a lot of compassion fatigue. You add to that, the labour shortage, and it’s just the perfect storm.”

More on the closure of our local vet emerg clinic. I’d argue that these problems have been plaguing the veterinary industry going further back than 2017 - the pandemic just magnified what had been brewing for some time. This is a good read for those who are interested.

London’s emergency animal hospital is shutting its doors for nearly half the week due to a veterinarian shortages plaguing the industry, creating a worrying…

08/18/2022

Some very important information that I wanted to pass on to our clients. This is in effect as of right now, today - our local emerg clinic is CLOSED THURSDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. The reasons for this are very complex - for more on what’s going on in the veterinary industry, look back a couple of posts on our Facebook feed for a great, informative report from The Atlantic on why staffing shortages have happened and how this is impacting the veterinary industry in many places around the world.

Please get in touch in some way with your regular veterinary clinic to find out what they recommend should your pet experience a medical emergency after hours, particularly on the weekend (emergencies always seem to happen either at night or on the weekend!). I also have it on good authority that a local clinic will be stepping up to fill the dire need for after-hours care in London, and I’ll share more details about that when I have them! Stay tuned!

08/17/2022

🚨🚨🚨 BIG NEWS ALERT!!! 🚨🚨🚨

Have you been hoping that we’d offer overnight care for your pets? Read on….

Introducing the newest member of the Barks and Rec team - meet Alyix Hall!

Phew, it’s been a wild summer over here, how about you? We’ve been so busy walking and sitting for your pets that we haven’t been making time to update this feed 🙈 But a new team member - and a new service offering - deserves an announcement! Alyix joined us a couple of months ago and has been having a blast caring for pets in our service area. Alyix was born in London and has family in town but has lived most of her life in California; we’re lucky to have her here while she completes some long distance study towards her university degree. She currently shares her home with a cat named Oscar and a dog named Rocco 🥰🥰 Alyix has years of experience caring for pets and in particular spent a lot of her free time while in high school volunteering for a local cat rescue - she even personalized art prints for each of the adoptable cats, to help them find their furever homes ❤️ She has a special love for senior pets and has been busy this summer providing exceptional care to some of our newest clients. Welcome Alyix!

In addition to adding Alyix to our team, we are now able to offer services for overnight care in your home!!! This is a service we’ve wanted to add for ages and we are so glad to finally be able to meet that need for our clients - if you are interested in overnight care in your own home for your pets, we are ready to help you with that 🥳 There are a couple of options available for our new overnight services, please contact us for more info. Link to our website in bio!

dog

07/22/2022

A lot of our clients have been asking us about what’s going on in the veterinary world, having noticed that it’s become a lot more challenging to get their pets seen quickly (and especially for emergencies), or even just to find a clinic that is accepting new patients. This piece outlines the challenges facing veterinary care providers better than anything else I’ve read. For those who want to understand what’s happening, see below! And remember to be generous and show your appreciation to veterinary staff, they sure need the encouragement now more than ever ❤️

07/02/2022

A note about fireworks this weekend (with pics of some recent cuties for attention). From our good friends - please have a safe and happy long weekend! PS - I think it’s good to use caution every night this weekend. Fireworks tend to go off each night of a long holiday weekend in the summer so take good care!

“We encourage you to keep your pets safe indoors tonight.

Here are some tips for tonight’s celebrations

➡️ Make sure all windows and doors are secure

➡️ Give them a safe place to hide.

➡️ Put your tv or radio on to drown out the noise

➡️ Walk them before dark

➡️ Leash them when out in yard as dogs will find a way to escape when scared

➡️ Ensure tag and microchip information is up to date

Enjoy your holiday with your family and stay safe.

Your friends at k9 Ground Search.”