Big welcome to little Poppy who had an awful case of the Mondays yesterday judging by this picture :) This Yorkville puppy has been training with us for the past month and joined offleash dog walks last week. She is as sassy as she is adorable and a very welcome addition to our group. You can find her running around, zoomies full throttle, at Ramsden Dog Park. Welcome sweet Poppy!
Picture of the Week: Baller
Chances are, if you’re reading this, you have a dog or work with them and know first-hand how much the dogs LOVE the snow. In THIS regard, winter is the most fun time of year to be a Toronto dog walker. In other regards (hello, freezing temperatures and dog parks feeling more like ice rinks than grass) it can be the least.
The dogs don’t seem to mind the ice all too much though :) They’re just happy for the snow. Here’s Fresno, the Bernadoodle, loving life this week at Stanley Dog Park, located in Toronto’s King West area. Clearly, the cold is a non-issue for this ball loving, super social pup!
We love you Fresno!
Stay safe, warm, and, ideally, surrounded by dogs this winter!
Happy First Birthday, Churro!
Birthday Girl!
they say it’s your birthday!
Happy first birthday, Churro! This Seaton Village, Mini Goldendoodle is so much fun to walk; she LOVES to play, is incredibly sweet, and just has a lovely nature through and through. We love you, Churro!
Welcome Maebe the Potcake
I want to extend a big welcome to Maebe the Potcake! This park loving pup had her first walk yesterday and rocked it.! We’re so happy she took a break from the banana stand to join us and can’t wait for more adventures to come. Together, we are working on loose-leash walking and focus (which is very typical for a dog her age) but really she is a freaking rockstar! Maebe, we love you already and promise to give you the best dog walk possible each and every walk.
Best of 2020: Bogey, the Morkie, and Monkey, the Jack Russell Terrier
Best of 2020: Bogey the Morkie and Monkey the Jack Russell Terrier slipping each other a bit of tongue en route to the park. These Annex dogs are truly "amoureux" (in love!!)
Best of 2020: Lucy, the Boston-Terrier French Bulldog Mix, and Oslo the Mini Goldendoodle
I love this picture, taken last spring, of these two Seaton Village pups going bananas at Winston Churchill Dog Park. Lucy and Oslo, we love you!
More Best of ... Action-Fill Dog Walks To Peanut Butter Filled Boards
The month of our best moments of 2020 continues on Instagram with Scrabble, Baymax, Rudy and Beau going wild in the private dog park, Oslo enjoying a Saturday treat during a sleepover, Bowie and Scout getting cozy, and Oakley, Frankie and Beau going wild at Coronation park.
I’m getting so much joy sifting through the best moments from 2020 and hope that you are too! The dogs bring their all each and every walk, so we do too!
If you’re looking for a Toronto dog walker or force-free dog trainer, we are currently accepting new pups in our service areas. If you are outside of our service area, please feel free to reach out; I will always offer to connect you with another force-free walking company that I can vouch for. The city has a lot of great walkers, outliers that shouldn’t be walking dogs at all, and everything in between. If not us, let me help you find someone great so your dog ends up in good hands (and on great walks!) In the meantime, keep loving your dogs and we’ll do the same.
Welcome Tuna, The Saluki-Mix
I’d like to extend a big and belated welcome to Tuna, the Saluki-mix.
This Bloorcourt rescue has been working with us on-foot with the goal of making it to the dog park, which he is on track for!
Working with Tuna is a good reminder that we have to respect our dogs’ comfort levels and help them, not force them, to get them where we want them to be ... because the latter just won’t work. We can put dogs prematurely in the dog park, but we’ll likely end up even more set back than when we started, so we don’t!
Thank you very much to our friends at When Hounds Fly for referring this super special dog to K9 Kate’s. We promise to love him each and every walk!
Best of 2020: The Pictures and the People
2020 was not an easy year at the best of times. Many of us saw our lives upended in various way- we lost our jobs, our health, and the everyday social interactions we all need to thrive.
Through it all, there was this bright spot in the dogs, in their joy as we ventured out to the dog park and in their parents’ pride as they saw their confidence grow or their behaviour (hopefully!) improve,
Throughout the month of January, I’ll be posting highlights from the past year on our Instragram page: @k9katetoronto.
Some of the year’s brightest spots, though, may not be in those pictures so I wanted to mention here. I want to personally thank the walkers and the trainers who help make this company what it is: Mark, Allie, Elana, Joe, Hilton, Traci, and Katherine on the streets, and Natalie and Andrea training the city’s pups using the force free methods we so deeply believe in and advocate for.
I’m grateful to be surrounded by people more talented than me in so many ways, people who will keep K9 Kate’s running as Toronto’s best dog company on at least one more arbitrary list, per year :)
Also, thank you to our incredibly supportive clients, some of whom have been with me from year 1, all of whom I hope will be with us for years to come.
Stay safe and keep loving your dogs!
Baymax the English Bulldog: Repping us for the Holidays
Meet Baymax: a longtime K9 Kate adventurer and our official holiday representative. It may not have been the holiday season we all once loved (or not) and knew but there’s still always something that can make us smile if we look hard enough. We love you, Bay!
Thank you and Happy Holidays!
A big thank you from some of our very big dogs. It wasn't an easy year for anyone but you made it so much easier by supporting us and letting us hang out with your dogs. Stay safe and pawsitive as we sign off for the holidays. See you in 2021!
Welcome Brooklyn, the Mini Goldendoodle
Big welcome for little Brooklyn the Mini Goldendoodle. This Annex pup will graduate from private walks to offleash adventures next week. We’re so excited for and proud of you Brooklyn! And we love you ... obviously :)
Welcome SNOW!!!
We are SO happy the snow has arrived. If you are a dog lover and you're seeing this, you just get it! Here's Bowie the Goldendoodle - our Wychwood Bowie as opposed to our Annex Bowie- on her walk last week, clearly loving life. Toronto winters aren't all bad - just partly! If you’re a dog, they’re just about the best thing since sliced … hot dogs (and the positive reinforcement joke just slides in there).
Enjoy the snow and stay safe out there. If your dog is shivering or lifting their paws, it’s time to pack up and warm up with a good cuddle! Keep blankets on hand if you’re driving to the park for added safety.
Stay safe, pawsitive, and dog happy this winter!
Welcome Harper, Charlie, Bailey, and Zoe
I want to extend a big welcome to Harper, the Vizsla, Charlie, the Mini Poodle, Bailey the Goldendoodle and Zoe the Bernadoodle; and yes, Doodles have taken over Toronto … and we’re not complaining.
These four amazing pups have been hanging out with us, some since the summer, and are such wonderful additions to our walks. They all LOVE other dogs, and mucking about with their dog friends ie the perfect candidates for offleash dog walks. We’re so lucky that they chose us and we promise to love them each and every walk. Big welcome guys!
Welcome Sid, the Great Dane
This gentle giant has been rocking offleash walks for the past few weeks and has been a great addition to our group! I’m so happy to officially welcome Sid to K9 Kate’s.
This Annex pup can be found running with his friends (and tasting the snow) at Ramsden Park. His interests include belly rubs, playing with his new friends, and long naps in the afternoon. We love you, buddy!
Welcome Coco, Bowie, and Whippy!
Some congratulations and welcomes are definitely in order! Meet Coco, the Morkie, and Bowie, the Cockapoo, on the bottom, and Whippie, the Springer Spaniel, on top.. Coco and Bowie are best friends who, together, started puppy visits with K9 Kate’s a few months ago and are graduating to group walks. Way to go, guys! Following in their paw prints is Whippie, the Springer Spaniel, who will also make the move to offleash dog walks in the coming months.
Coco, Bowie and Whippy: thank you for choosing K9 Kate’s for your puppy visits, private walks, training and now, for our graduates, group dog walking! You’ve covered all of our bases :) ! We promise to love you and give you the best (force-free!) walk each and every time.
Welcome Churro the Goldendoodle
It has been way too long since my last post so, brace for impact, as there is some serious catching up to do. Over the past number of months, we’ve had old friends return to walks and new friends join us for everything from puppy visits to offleash dog walks to private training.
Meet Churro. This pure bundle of Doodle joy was referred by fellow Seaton Village resident, Poppy- ok, her mom :)- and while they continue to be BDFs, Churro has also made so many new friends. We love you so much Churro and are thrilled that you chose K9 Kate’s to be your Toronto dog walker.
Welcome Scout the Cockapoo
This too-cute cockapoo joined K9 Kate’s last week and has been such a great addition to our group!
Like all puppies who have recently signed on for offleash walks, Scout started in the private dog park we currently share with Woof, Waggle and Walk. The park has proven to be a fantastic tool in allowing the younger dogs to gain exposure to offleash life in a highly controlled environment where we know all of the dogs who enter.
It was here that Scout had her incredible start last week. By the end of her first walk, she was playing with her new friends, exploring and clearly over the moon. She now gets the zoomies even BEFORE the walk starts; once she sees me or her co-dog walker, Traci, come to the door, she … well, she zooms!
I’m so thrilled that we get to be Scout’s dog walkers. We love you already, girl!
Welcome Lucy, the Cockapoo Puppy!
Lucy started offleash walks in our private dog park (where all puppies start), a few weeks back and has been such a lovely addition to our group. The little miss was referred to K9 Kate’s by our friends at Annex Pooch Patrol (the awesome team that offers force-free, on-leash dog walks in the Annex, Seaton Village and Summerhill). Lucy, like most Cockapoos I know - my own Storm was one- is sassy, confident, and ready to play! Lucy, we love you girl!
Welcome Indy, the German Shorthaired Pointer Puppy
This sweet, energetic bundle of love - I believe that’s not the technical term but there’s no way other way to describe him- joined K9 Kate’s a few weeks ago and has been such a great addition to our group! Indy is heading out on both private dog walks- so he can master the art of loose leash walking - and offleash dog walks - so he can master the art of getting his sillies out and coming home tired! This Trinity Bellwoods puppy is such a doll. I can’t wait to see him shortly for his morning dog walk!