Week Three Morning: Tuesday

It was a hot one in the tent today!! We started with the animal card game.  We had alot of fun in the side yard guessing and asking what we were.  It was a huge surprise what each of our animal cards were.

After the card game, we were each sworn in as animal investigators.  Joann showed us all of the rules for tie-up dogs and then we were able to pretend that we were investigators and we investigated some pretend animals by the picnic bench.

We were so excited to meet the two gerbils in the air conditioning.  Then we got a surprise visit from the ferret!  We each got to pet the ferret, even though we were so distracted with the new kittens.

We finished the day with a visit from Buster the Bed Bug Dog.  We were all very impressed with his skill and his sharp nose.  The highlight may have been when we all got the chance to pet Buster.

We had a great day today, and we have been hitting the water hard all day and trying to stay cool.

Week Three Afternoon: Monday

We had a great start to the week today. We began the afternoon the way we begin most weeks, with a name game.  Even though we started off quiet, we were soon being more outgoing and ready to rock the rest of the week.

Once we learned every one's names, we started doing a rotation.  We rotated between the cat rooms in the shelter, and painting water bottles in the tent.  Yet again, Buddy was a huge hit. The cute little kitten got alot of love from all of us.  

Halfway through the session, we got to meet Joann.  Joann showed us all of her reptile friends. We even got the special treat of seeing Tiki the hedgehog!  We also really liked meeting the turtle and the fire breathing dragon.  

We finished the day with Shayla.  Shayla works for the Humane Society.  She was filling in for Nancy's talk about what the humane society does for animals and for humans. 

That's all for Monday. Very excited to see what the rest of the week brings!!

Uodate!!

Friday

For Friday's afternoon session, we started with a meet and greet with a state police dog.  Just when we started with the officer, the dog got a call into work.  He needed to go to a traffic stop and was the only dog available. 

After the short tour of the cruiser, we took a walk to Red Rocks Park. Red Rocks is right around the corner and we had a great time walking to the beach.   When we got there, we stuck our toes in the water and played around in the sand.  

When we got back, we played a rousing game of career charades.  The girls did a great job acting out the many different careers people can have with animals. 

Monday

The first day of the third week!  Today we started with a name game.  We had too much fun learning each other's name's and tossing a ball around.  After the name game, we went back to the tent and met Harper and Ritter.  These are the same two therapy dogs from last week.  We enjoyed giving the two labs lots of love.  We think they like getting all the pets too.  

We followed up the therapy dog visit with snacks.  We then did a rotation of decorating water bottles and visiting the cat rooms in the shelter.  There is a new kitten, Buddy, who was a huge hit.  We couldn't stop talking about him! 

After a quick t-shirt game, we were finished for the day!  We can't wait until tomorrow!

Week Two Morning: FRIDAY!

Happy Friday!!  Today was a fun-filled day.  We started the day with meeting Otis.  Otis is a puppy being fostered by our counselor, Kathryn.  Otis was happy to meet all of us, and he was so so good!  It was nice to be able to meet such a kind puppy.

Our next speaker was Joann.  Joann showed us some of her reptiles.  Some of us were very excited to meet the snakes and reptiles, but some of us were slightly more apprehensive.  Yet again, Tiki was the favorite of the talk.

Not too sure about snakes

After some popsicles and a game, we were lucky to meet two dogs from the Burlington Police Department.  The dogs showed us some of his skills.  We were all very impressed with the pop doors on the police car.

Today was such an amazing day, and a great ending to such a great week.  Thank you to all of our morning campers, we enjoyed all of you!!

Week Two Afternoon: Thursday

This Thursday, we had TWO speakers!  Our first speaker was Jackie. Jackie is the feline coordinator at the Humane Society.  She taught us all about feral cats.  Feral cats are cats that live in the wild.  We made shelters for feral cats living in our own communities.

The finished shelters!

After we learned and created our shelters for the feral cats, we met Helen and her dog Jackson.  Jackson was so nice to come and meet each of us. He was so patient, even though it was very toasty in the tent this afternoon.

 Very excited for our last day, always a big hit with the police dog and some reptiles.

Week Two Morning: Thursday

Happy Thursday! Today we had such a jam-packed day.  We started with an activity highlighting the differences between humane and inhumane treatments.  We stood on a spectrum as Kathryn read to us different scenarios of pet and animal care. We then had a great time explaining our reasoning for where we were standing.

With an introduction to humane and inhumane, we were able to transition very easily to working with Joann.  Joann is our humane investigator. She explained to us about her job.  We learned what dogs need if they are going to stay outside on a tie.  We then role-played and investigated a pretend scenario in the yard.

After a quick snack, we creating puppets of different pets.  Soon we were joined by a real pet, Jackson.  Jackson is a therapy dog in the area.  We had so much fun playing with Jackson.  Jackson is a husky and german Shepard mix.  He was actually adopted from the Humane Society! He was so patient and kind with all of us.

We ended the day with a game of poison dart frog.  What a fun day we had. Looking forward to tomorrow as well!!

Week Two Afternoon: Wednesday

The girls in the afternoon session were lucky enough to meet a spider biologist from University of Vermont!  Dr. Higgins first explained to us all the differences between bugs, spiders, mammals, and flies.  After a silly session of the telephone game, we hunted for arthropods.  This means that they have jointed legs.  Each girl got a vial to hold the catch and we also found many spiders out in their webs.  Dr. Higgins was a big hit with the girls, and we also liked looking all around for specimens (and then returning them to their homes).

Dr. Higgins explains to the girls the many different bugs they can find in their areas and when the best time to find them is. 

After our adventure around the grounds hunting for our tiny friends, we made our own animal puppets.  We then had the puppets tell their stories.  We had a great time creating our puppets and then telling the stories.

Tomorrow is packed with speakers! We can't wait to hear from each of them!