Well the set up is more like a schedule.

1.  They have 2 air-conditioned play rooms in our barn during the summer heat, one also serves as our grooming room and equine tack room.   The paddock area around the barn is 1/2 acre.  The backyard is over an acre, so they are running on 1.5 acres free will.  We have a total of 30 acres, and 8 acres of it is fenced for equine, cattle and of course, dogs.  They think they're herding dogs when we're working the calves.

2.  We have a very special person who lives on the farm with us.  Her family began working with us as puppy nannies, which led to a full time job between the responsibilities at GoldenGael & Stay and Play Pet Resort.  So, the dust bunnies are swept daily, and our bed linens are often changed several times a week. No, I'm not kidding.

3.  They all love to run like the wind after tennis balls smacked with the newest craze in tennis racquets tightly strung.  Right now, I think they have the new Prince "Shark" and the newest from the Babolat line.  While in the pastures, they often cannot resist the stop, drop & roll when it comes to fresh cow pies.  Never mind the horse droppings, the cows win!

4.  This leads to the weekly or twice a week bath by anyone of 4 of us who are constantly working with the dogs.

5.  The pool man comes solely for the pool cleaning and care in which the dogs deem necessary.  Most people can get a year out of a pool filter.....we get 3 months.  The pool service considers us his 401-k plan.  As for the dog who swims laps and one of 3 sliding glass doors happens to be open, of course the dog thinks it was left open for him or her.  So you can bet that when this occurs, they NEVER shake off first.  They must think that the tile needed a mopping and that they'd help out.  Amazingly, the dogs have us so well trained that we never yell at the dog, but we yell 'Who was the idiot who left the doors open?"  No one ever admits to it.  But the guilty party is generally the one grabbing the mop.

6.  Don't ask me how they know it, but the dogs know the schedule of our farrier better than I do.  There is nothing they love more than to swipe a hoof trimming and sneak off to enjoy it.  They even zoom to the next barn and they know exactly where the hoof trimmings have been swept! 

7.  After the first round of exercise and while the horses & burros are eating, we go upstairs to my loft office and begin the paperwork.  You can see in one of the photos that I often have help from the “Golden Supervisors”…..at least 2 on each sofa, several at my feet and usually one under my desk.

8.  Where to they sleep?  Well just take a look at the photos.  When I stated above that “the first one to bed gets the best spot, I wasn’t kidding!”