It’s hard to believe 2024 has come to an end. We’re grateful that our Camp Fam came along for the ride and was a part of so many activities, events and milestones! From romantic doggy Valentine’s Day dates to a Dog Days of Summer Bonfire with doggy s’mores; and from hosting the Upper West Side’s Doggy Trick or Treat Night to opening our second location?! We experienced so many awesome moments with your pups! Here are some of our favorites:
- We started the year off with a bang that we called ‘Daycare Dash’! If a dog attended daycare on Fridays, Saturday, Sundays or Mondays, they’d earn one point per day. Then, at the end of each week, prizes were awarded to our top point earners! They won prizes like Houndstone treats, Bark Avenue the board game, a ‘Home’ book from Animal Lighthouse Rescue, and so much more!
- In February we held our classic ‘Romantic Valentine’s Day Dates’ in Central Park. Once your pup was signed up for a V-Day date, our Counselors would play matchmaker and invite your pup’s crush – they’d then spend an afternoon in the park together with a dozen roses and a puparazzi who was there to snap pics!
- To celebrate Valentine’s Day with our Camp Fam, we also hosted our first-ever Valentine’s Day Mixer called ‘Puppy Love Unleashed!’ We had a wine bar for humans, a treats bar for the pups, and we played some fun games – including a game in which our campers built their pawrents’ dating profile.
- In March, we celebrated the turn of the season with our Solstice Pawty! We pulled oracle cards for each pup and danced with Maypoles – it was an excellent time spent welcoming Spring and celebrating Mother Nature!
- In May, right before school let out for the summer, we took School Pictures! Every dog that signed up got a professional headshot in front of a background reminiscent of the school pictures we each used to get as a kid. We featured these pictures in our favorite highlight this year: the Camp Canine Yearbook!
- As always, we celebrated Mother’s Day and Father’s Day at Camp with a festive photo booth and the open invitation to come and pose with your pup to create those special memories!
- Pride Months rolled around and, with it, came our typical celebrations – we love going “all out” during Pride Month! We offer creative grooming in our Salon, which Enzo (pictured left) took us up on; and at the end of the month we hosted a Pride-themed photo booth for pawrents to pose with their pups and celebrate love in all its forms.
- Our Dog Days of Summer Bonfire event was the first of its kind – we had doggy s’mores and the cutest photo op. Plus every pup who attended got to take home a scout badge!
- Finally, the time had come – our yearbook was published! And boy was it a hit. The yearbook included all of our School Pictures, as well as suPAWlatives, class quotes submitted by our campers’ pawrents, featured events from the school year and so much more!
- We kept our Foster Program with Animal Lighthouse Rescue going strong, officially fostering 12 pups this year! All 12 went on to find their forever homes – we as so happy to play a part in giving these dogs their second chance.
- Each year we host our hotly contested Brand Ambassador contest – these Brand Ambassadors reign for a year and become the face of Camp Canine during that time! Their headshots are memorialized on the ‘Wall of Fame’ in our lobby, and they receive free events, activities and items throughout the year as well. The instagram contest usually only goes for a few days, but it’s a nail-biter the entire time!
- And it was Agnes who won with a well-fought campaign! Follow this pocket beagle on Instagram, and learn these five fun facts about her too!
- Then came our biggest announcement of the year: we opened a second location! Camp Canine Sutton Place is now open and operating under our team – it has been such a privilege and a joy to welcome a whole new neighborhood of campers into our Camp Fam. We’ve had so much fun introducing our newest campers and pawrents to our brand, and are grateful for the warm reception!
- In October, it was time to celebrate Howloween! And it’s no secret that Camp Canine does Howloween best. To celebrate with our Camp Fam, we hosted our annual Howloween Pawty – including treats (for both humans and pawrents), and our festive photo booth. Year after year, our Camp pawrents show up and show out with their creative Howloween costumes!
- The Upper West Side has loved our Doggy Trick or Treat Night for 2 years – and this year, our third year, was no exception! This year we partnered with Open Streets so that our four-legged trick-or-treaters and their pawrents could truly take over the streets. They followed a map of over 40 participating businesses that were handing out Rescue Treats and other fun treats. Along the way they could stumble across live music, a costume pawrade, non-profits like Rescue Treats and Animal Lighthouse Rescue, our Drag Queen hostess, and so much more! We can’t wait until next year.
- As always, we welcomed the howliday season with our Camp Canine Craft Time – there’s a craft for every howliday! Our campers got creative by painting the tail on the Thanksgiving turkey, lighting the Hanukkah Menorah, and adorning the Christmas wreath with their colorful paws. We even introduced Camp Craft Time to our campers over in Sutton Place!
- We celebrated Thanksgiving with a feast! On the east side, it was a faux feast – complete with plushie Thanksgiving feast toys. This made for a great playtime add-on, and even greater photos!
- On our west side, we had plenty of pups boarding over Thanksgiving – and we believe that, if you’re feasting, your pup should be too! That’s why we offered a Thanksgiving feast of doggy turkey jerky, sweet potato chips, green beans and a “pumpkin pie” (aka a pumpkin biscuit and whipped cream.)
- And our year came to a close as it always does: with the magical visit of Santa Paws! We managed to get Santa Paws and his helper elf to visit both the Upper West Side and Sutton Place – and he’s a busy guy, so we’re proud of that accomplishment!
Now, the holiday season is coming to an end and we’re left with a year full of memories! 2024 was an eventful year, and we can’t wait to see what 2025 has in store. We are overwhelmingly blessed to spend our days with your pups – each face kiss and cuddle, each Central Bark walk and Brain Game, each wrestle in the playroom – it all means the world to us. Thank you for sharing your camper with us. Now, onto 2025!
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