Welcome!

Hi. I’m Louise – married to Dan Yates, or as the neighbours call him, dog boy. Our lives revolve around dogs. We share our home with two beautiful, gracefully aging golden retrievers, Daisy and Buddy. We own and operate K-Lane Kennels, a very special dog place. I love my job. In my spare time, I volunteer for our local animal shelter and read about dogs. Yes, I’m one of those special dog freaks.

Buying a kennel was Dan’s mid-life crisis. Expanding it was mine. For 16 years, he was a milk man and each day, I left the sanity of reality for corporate land. We’re both farm kids, so each spring, we talked about moving out of the city to an acreage. We both absolutely love dogs. And, Dan was looking for a change.

We were heading out for a camping weekend in the Rockies and our darling little Daisy needed a place to stay. My very good friend Brenda recommended K-Lane Kennels. When Dan brought Daisy out for her weekend visit, it was as good as Brenda described it to be, and it was for-sale. The stars aligned. We bought K-Lane in 2002. What an adventure – oh, I wish I had blogged then. Learning how to operate a kennel, moving to an acreage with adventures in water, sewer and snow removal, living in an old mobile home and building our new dream home. What a rush.

Stars aligned once more in the summer of 2008. Even after 24 years of marriage, I still really, really love my husband, and he’s pretty fond of me too (that’s what he says – he really does…). And, darn it, he was having a lot more fun at our kennel with our doggie guests than I was working in an office. I quit the corporate gig and we expanded K-Lane. We’re both super pumped about our change.

We believe that all dogs should be treated well. And, I find that people want to do the right thing for their furry kids, but unless they work with dogs, they some times don’t know what the right thing is. There’s a lot of information out there that’s geared toward animal professionals – groomers, trainers, breeders – rather than pet guardians. It can be quite scientific, snobbish or generally irrelevant for your basic, every-day pet owner who just wants to do a little better.

I teach Pet First Aid. I love teaching the class because I get to hang out with other dog freaks – we share stories and ideas about ways to keep our dogs healthy and happy. It’s the stories that help people learn. So that’s what this blog is all about. It’s real-life stories about real-life dogs to help real-life pet people. I’ll share insights and recommend books, internet sites and other references that I find interesting.

I'm not a vet, nor do I pretend to be, so please take my perspective as that - my perspective and my observations from watching and working with dogs, and talking with their people. I always leave medical diagnoses to trained professionals.

If you have topic suggestions, please send me an e-mail. I hope you enjoy learning about dogs and meeting our canine friends.