October 12, 2026 · Enrichment

The Monster Hunt, Week 2: The Cursed Pumpkin Patch

Why enrichment? Enrichment gives dogs an outlet for their natural instincts (sniffing, searching, solving) and works their brain, not just their legs. A few minutes of sniff-and-search or puzzle work takes real effort, so dogs go home happily tired: body exercised, brain satisfied, confidence a little bigger. How our enrichment works

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In week 2 of the Monster Hunt (October 2026), a Halloween monster-hunting theme, Metro Animals daycare dogs in Fort Worth and Plano searched a cursed pumpkin patch for hidden pumpkins, followed a crow’s trail of clues and wove through a crow flight course.

The Ghost King is back in Pandora’s Pooch Box, but our Canine Monster Hunters barely had time to catch their breath. Reports started arriving from the farms around Barksville: crops failing, pumpkins disappearing and enormous flocks of crows gathering in the fields. Most worrying of all, the scarecrows had started to move.

Professor Dumbledog believes Lord Scarecrow has placed a curse over the harvest, and there is only one way to break it: follow the evidence and recover the straw hat the farmer who made him gave him long ago. So in week 2, our hunters in Fort Worth and Plano headed into the Cursed Pumpkin Patch.

Monster Hunt week 2 poster, The Cursed Pumpkin Patch: a golden retriever in a red bandana runs through a pumpkin field past Lord Scarecrow and his crows

Monster Hunt week 2 enrichment menu on tombstones: Scarecrow’s Workshop, Pumpkin Harvest, Crow Flight Course, Harvest Rescue Team and Follow the Clever Crow

The week 2 enrichment menu:

Pumpkin Harvest: searching the fields for hidden pumpkins and using natural foraging skills to uncover the rewards inside.
Scarecrow’s Workshop: exploring straw, hanging objects, unusual textures and mysterious equipment inside Lord Scarecrow’s barn.
Follow the Clever Crow: investigating the crow’s clues, ignoring the false leads and following the right trail through the pumpkin patch to a special reward.
Harvest Rescue Team: teaming up with a Senior Monster Hunter from our crew to gather the rest of the harvest before the curse spreads.
Crow Flight Course: weaving, stepping and ducking past the enchanted crows that guard Lord Scarecrow’s fields.

Every challenge mixes sensory exploration, problem-solving and purposeful movement, and our team stays close by the whole way, cheering each dog on and making sure everyone takes part comfortably.

In Fort Worth, the pumpkin goblins had hidden the town’s pumpkins all over a cursed field, so our hunters got sniffing, carefully, so the ghouls wouldn’t catch them. There were pumpkins galore, a pumpkin party right in the middle of the field and even a new spin on the corn maze before the storm clouds rolled in.

A scruffy white-and-tan dog sniffs out a small white pumpkin on a square of turf in the haunted pumpkin patch

A red doodle sits among autumn leaves, cauldrons and a tombstone in the pumpkin patch set

A red doodle noses into a row of black cauldrons to find a hidden pumpkin

Can our hunters find the missing straw hat and break Lord Scarecrow’s curse? The clues are waiting in the pumpkin patch.

Watch the week

Watch this reel from Metro Animals on Instagram

This month’s adventure

The story begins (week 1)
Week 2: The Cursed Pumpkin Patch (this post)

How to join the next adventure

Enrichment is an add-on to any daycare day at Metro Animals — ask for it at drop-off, by the day, the week or the whole month. It’s part of the program that earned us the highest score in the country at the 2024 Dog Gurus Daycare Games. Read more about how our enrichment works, and if your pup is new to the pack, find your nearest location — every new dog’s first day is free.

It’s a great day to play!