Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Mumble goes to Disneyland!

I have an annual pass to Disneyland, so obviously I'm a frequent visitor. For a variety of reasons, Mumble can't stay at home alone while I am at Disneyland all day, so I am so glad that Disneyland actually has a kennel for doggie guests! Mandy found out about the kennel back when she first got Chopper, and he's been there several times.

<-- Mumble on the tram at Disneyland


The first time Mandy and I were going to Disneyland and taking Chopper, Mandy called the kennel the day before to ask questions, one of which was "where should we park to drop the dog off at the kennel?" Unbelievably, the answer was "park in the structure, and you can just come over on the tram." Excuse me?! Put Chopper, a 70 pound dog who likes to "scream" at strangers, on the tram?! That doesn't seem like a good idea! Instead, we figured out that you can park in the "15 minute guest drop-off lot" on Harber Blvd and walk into the entrance plaza of Disneyland to the kennel.

Mumble has, however, been on the tram a couple of times. The first time, I don't think he knew what we were doing and he just happily jumped onto the tram when I told him to go up, but didn't really enjoy the ride. Another time, he was sitting patiently in the floor and suddenly got the apparently uncontrollable urge to lick the arm of the unsuspecting person sitting in front of us. (who looked back at me at first as if he thought I had licked his arm).


The kennel itself is pretty much a self-serve facility. There are small, medium and large sized kennels for the dogs, mostly inside (which is better because (1) it's air-conditioned and (2) the fireworks aren't as loud). You put the dog into the kennel yourself when you check in, and you can come and take them out for a walk / potty break whenever you want to. They do not take the dogs out for you. You can also choose to give your dog his food yourself or else have them do it at a specified time.

Mumble travels to the kennel with his travel mat, a filled bone, a treat toy, some treats, and sometimes one soft toy. I also bring the Comfort Zone spray that I spray the inside of the kennel with before leaving him there.

The first time Mumble stayed in the kennel, I came back to pick him up and the worker said "Mumble has been stacking things all evening." Not knowing what she meant, I went back to his kennel and looked inside. Mumble had a made a stack out of all of the things I brought. At the bottom was the water bowl, then his food bowl (with all of the food uneaten), some toys were inside the food bowl, and the blanket was wadded up and on top of the whole thing. I really wish now that I had taken a picture of this "tower!" He's stacked up stuff when confined a couple of times since then, but never quite like that!