Although less of a change than the previous two stops, I am very excited about our new ceiling in the small dog playroom. Here is a picture of the “Before” of the ceiling. Notice the darkness and lack of insulation. White spray foam insulation was added to the ceiling. This provides some noise reduction and…

Another big change we made here at the lodge is adding a wall to the back of our large dog playroom. The paw prints on the wall were painted by staff members.   This new wall has given us a separate area to keep the nap crates, and allows a hallway for our small dogs…

The lodge has been going through some big changes this fall. Literally the biggest change is our new parking lot. The old lot had been deteriorating. It was cracking, growing weeds, and had poor drainage. Please enjoy cruising around the building next time you visit the lodge.  Also included in the new lot are bollards…

There is no nutritional value to food dye. I understand that by appealing to our eyes, manufacturers are trying to make us more likely to purchase food for ourselves. Our dogs do see color, but they are much more driven by the smell of a product. Any dyes added to dog foods are purely for…

Two years ago, I had no idea a sweet little black puppy was born who was going to steal my heart. In June 2011, I saw a picture online of a dog with his litter mates in a South Carolina shelter. They were on the euthanasia list. I kept checking to see if they had…

We at Cold Nose Lodge take great joy in helping homeless animals find families. We take in dogs from several local rescue groups and give them a free place to stay. We treat them like our family members until they have a family of their own. Part of that family time includes training. Our tenth…

I remember someone telling me long ago the reason we all love to talk about the weather. It is one of the few things we all have in common. It is certainly a safer topic than politics or religion for conversation with strangers, or some family members. Another “go to” topic is animals, something many…

January has been designated as National Train Your Dog Month. In honor of this month, I’d like to focus on two of the most common training issues brought to me and the other trainers at Cold Nose Lodge. Even dogs that have mastered the basic commands often have a few remaining challenges. The two that…

Since my favorite part of my job is helping animals find families, it seems appropriate to focus on the current foster dogs at Cold Nose Lodge in my first blog post. Both of our foster dogs are available for adoption through The Sanctuary at Haafsville. Our trainers are working with them on basic manners and…