Spring is in full jive now and you ’re likelylooking for opportunity to get alfresco with your cad , especially if you subsist a state with warmer climate . If you ’re in a plaza like Maine , where I live , winter can be in particular farseeing and give way outdoors with my dogs can be a challenge sometimes .
I cherish those opportunities of spending more time outside of place with my dogs , and we especially roll in the hay hiking , but I know it ’s not for everybody . Therefore , I settle to brainstorm a fiddling and make a solo podcast episode with some ideas for exciting ways you could get active with your bow-wow and shed some ofthat winter adipose tissue . Tune in if you ’re await for intake on how to exercise with your dog other than veritable walkway and playtime .
take heed to the episode in the video above and recover the full podcast transcript below . For more , visit this installment ’s post on the officialTheory of Petswebsite .
Exciting Ways to Get Active With Your Dog(podcast transcript)
Hey guys , I trust where you are it feels like spring today . It is a batty 37 degrees where I live on in Maine which is not adept for anything . It ’s too cold to go outside but the coke is melting and everything is all muddy so I hope you last somewhere where it ’s warm and you’re able to get out and bask the temperateness and the open air with your pet . Spring is coming I am tell , the atmospheric condition man hold back telling us that spring is on its way here in Maine . So , I ’m thinking spring that ’s me , I ’m always an optimistic and I ’m thinking spring with my dogs we have had such a foresighted winter , we got tons of snowfall here in Maine , we had some viciously dusty days , it was too cold to go outside .
So , I ’ve notice that my bounder have tamp on a few excess pounds , I noticed that I have packed on a few extra pounds and I ’ve been thinking about ways to get out and be active with my young lady . We have a chocolate Labrador named CD and we also have a small beagle English cocker spaniel spaniel mixture named Molly . We are esurient hikers and we do a quite a little of hike up with our dog in the summer , the springiness , in the gloaming as well .
I wanted to think of today this break of the day as kind of brainstorming about other ways to get practice with my firedog and I thought you know what ? This is a great topic for a podcast because I ’m sure that a lot of you have been cooped up , you kind of have the wintertime blue sky , it ’s time for spring , we ’re all getting really excited for it . So , let ’s sing about the different ways to absorb your heel , get them participating , keep yourself active without get to really go out of your way . You have intercourse that ’s the biggest thing that I hear from a luck of pet owners is that I just do n’t have the clip .
One of the thing that I always say is you know you make the meter to take the air your dog every 24-hour interval , most mass do or if you have a muckle of dimension you make the time to take your dog alfresco and you know check that that he decease to the bathroom . The easiest affair you’re able to do is just put out that time , take a trivial longer take the air , spend a little more time outside in the 1000 . It should n’t take a whole lot of campaign to rearrange your agenda and get an extra 10 minutes here or 20 transactions in your daytime in the grand outline of things .
Move your schedule around , do whatever you ask to do , get that additional 10 minutes and spend it with your dog . 1- it will nurture that bond that you have , it ’s going to make him happy , it ’s give out to make you happy . Getting outside . It ’s a proven scientific fact that being alfresco in the out-of-doors , in the cheer is a humour plugger , it ’s a temper booster to be around your pets .
You know , take that time , spend it with your hound , what could be better than that you recognize ? Some masses even perchance you ’re listening and you have a computed tomography that you take for a walkway , I have seen it many times cat on a lease , drop the extra 10 minute , 15 arcminute , 20 minutes you know play with them , engage them in the yard if that ’s what you do or you know if you take those daily walks just extend it a few minute longer on each side and you know you ’re going to end up spending that time , doing something probably not very rich anyway throughout the course of the solar day . So , whether you knowdrink your morning coffeea little mo faster or you decide to spend a lilliputian bit last prison term on your cell phone , playing a biz , whatever it might be , less time on societal medium . You be intimate take those 10 , 15 , 20 arcminute and just gallop your activity with your heel .
Another bang-up elbow room to further the bond between the two of you and one of the thing that I am so looking forward to doing is using your dog as a training cooperator . And this is so easy , it ’s so hard to chance the motivation sometimes to exercise . What better inducement than your dog ? What good training partner than your dog ? They ’re always delirious to be around you , they ’re always excited to go and play and run or do any form of usage with you . It makes them happy so of course that ’s go to motivate you if your exercise partner is motivated to do things and they ’re happy and they ’re excited , you ’re kick the bucket to course on that and that ’s going to be nifty .
There are tons of thing that you’re able to do with your dogs , a lot of citizenry you sleep with will just course , walk , jog , bike ride , whatever you have it away you would do anyway normally . But there ’s other things too if you want to try something steel raw there ’s tons of sports that dogs can take part in , that you’re able to help your blackguard participate in . Things like agility , bobtail diving if you hold out somewhere near the water that ’s a democratic thing in the fountain , summertime and fall . Another cracking thing is that ’s becoming more and more popular is called doga and its yoga with your dog .
It ’s neat again to foster that bond but it ’s also really peachy because you know it ’s a great practice for you and your trunk and your overall wellness and well - being and if you may bring your frump into that of course that ’s a win - winnings for everybody . Another affair that I love doing like I suppose it ’s fairly parky here still but if you live somewhere where the piss is warm up get in the water with your dog . Dogs making love to swim , swimming is a great overall exercise for humans as well . If you ’re not big into swimming there ’s so much hooey you could do on the water with dogs . I have understand dogs ride kayak and canoes , I ’ve seen dogs on paddle table , there ’s a lot of way to interact with your dog-iron and involve the water . I know I love the water system , I love being around the water , diving is a large affair to do with dogs .
If you do n’t necessarily want to get in the body of water yourself just take the air , be near the water , you know let your dog go swimming perchance throw afloating toyout there for him to bring . Water is a great place to go with the dog , usually Mossads like water not all of them . If your dog does n’t like the urine or if you are n’t a self-aggrandizing fan of the piddle yourself look for some step . A caboodle of communities have stair and stair running is really great if there is peradventure a arena in your area that set aside people to practise on the steps , a lot of communities will have step type you know up hills and thing like that outside . So , you could do that . Do n’t exaggerate it on the stairs , that ’s a heavy thing ; do n’t exert yourself , not a plenty of running play or anything like that , just walk up and down the stairs is a great exercise .
Another great agency to hire and interact with your cad this time of year is to play some game with him , make him work for treats or a toy , whatever his pet thing is . you’re able to play games to 1- it engages your dog and keep him from being bored , it ’s mentally and physically stimulating for him , it ’s also fun for you . I love playing hide and search with my dogs , they are really good at our Beagle obviously she ’s got a very good nose , our Labrador as well . So , nose work really well for them I hide delicacy and they can get them . If you protrude small you know start with something soft . Do a little bit of research on nose work with dogs .
I ’ve in reality written an clause on our sister siteabout olfactory organ workplace for dogs . And it ’s jolly round-eyed , you start out you sleep with rent your dog see where you ’re putting the kickshaw or the toy under a box or behind something you know let him see it and then he ’ll seek it out and then you could reward him for doing that and then you just get harder and harder . you may start inside where there ’s not a whole lot of activity going on or anything that ’s run to disorder him , different smell out things like that and as he gets better at it you may play your way up to going outside . For me that ’s kind of where we ’re at flop now in the spring , we ’re doing thing in spite of appearance and so as shortly as the atmospheric condition gets considerably we ’ll move outside .
There are some other great games to play too that a stack of best-loved owners find really enjoyable with their frank . Fetch plain is great , tug of war , you’re able to recreate brain game like hide and seek as I mentioned . There are a lot of games that dogs really excel at , some breed specially like frisbee , as I said you knowdock diving . There are certain summercater that dogs are really in force at , agility . If you do n’t have anything in your country some dog parks have some agility equipment and that ’s great . But if you do n’t you could make your own agility equipment for hound , there ’s some wild DIY tutorial online , YouTube has a crew .
you’re able to corrupt some really inexpensive stuff as well if you ’re not into the DIY affair . So , agility is one of the things that we love doing it ’s as much fun for me to be honest with you as it is for my dogs . Not only is it fun for me because I ’m affiance and interacting with them and it ’s just fun to see them do different thing but I seek to get originative with that . I seek to see what my girls can do and I know that , I love experimenting with the departure between the two domestic dog . Our small Beagle she ’s smaller obviously than our laboratory but she can jump higher and she ’s actually really speedy .
So , seeing the difference between my two dogs , trying to figure out way to harness both of their strength and work with them to maybe help them with some of their weakness it ’s really … . I do n’t know , I do n’t have it away what the word is , not productive but it ’s really engaging I guess for me and it is productive . I finger like we ’re doing something , we ’re not just wasting our time you know hanging around deep down or we ’re not just going on a plain honest-to-god walk that you sleep with is going to get boring for all of us after a while walking the same route over and over but it ’s something that really stimulates me and the dogs both mentally and physically . I get out there in the yard with them you make out it gives me some need I guess think about we have to go for another paseo again , you ’re walking on the same road or the same street , the same side walk , the same tramp trail that you go on every day you get laid that sometimes is n’t all that motivating specially when the atmospheric condition ’s not really overnice .
But you know if you have something like agility , you ’ve been make for on thing , you want to try things , try thing , be creative with it you know that ’s something that never make honest-to-goodness for me . I ’ve gotten into lightsomeness with multiple dogs that we ’ve had in the past and every dog ’s dissimilar so it ’s always an adventure you know every time we get a new dog . But even you know Canis familiaris that I ’ve had for 8 and 10 year we ’re doing new matter all the time , that sometime saying “ you ca n’t teach old frankfurter new tricks ” is not always the true statement . So , keep that in mind particularly when it comes to agility .
And the other thing that I wanted to mention too , that ’s a great way to get some extra physical exertion size and combust off some of that wintertime free weight is just socializing . Get out and socialize whether you know there are so many situation now , public places that allow dogs . So , whether you go to a public park , you go on a hike trail , you might go to a dog park , you might go to you know a local eating place or shopping center that leave dogs you hump that ’s a great way to get out and you know that ’s engaging as well for you and your frankfurter . You ’re socializing with the owner , there ’re socializing with dogs and that ’s a corking way patently to get out and about and be alive . It ’s a decent way to kind of fatigue off those winter blues , you could meet some new citizenry or your dog can conform to some new people .
This is especially great if you are traveling and you desire to maybe just you bang you do n’t make love anybody and you want to possibly suffer somebody to attend it and drop some meter with so you ’re not all on your own . Or if you have recently relocate to an field you know dogs can be a smashing conversation starter . If you ’re out walking around somewhere where there ’s other frankfurter owners odds are when your bounder matches up with a hot dog and they start play or you know you take the air by a preferent owner and they congratulate you on your dog or you compliment them on their dogs it ’s really easy to get a conversation started like that . So , that ’s another thing and I always recommend to pet owners you know it ’s spring it ’s time for new thing , new adventures , get out there ascertain things that you like to do , find things that your dog care to do .
The other thing that I always talk about when I peach about exercising with your weenie is to know your blackguard and your dog ’s limits . You know I note agility and that ’s a really good exercise because there are different activity that you may do as in the agility field whether your dog ’s untested , old , big , small it does n’t matter but you need to care the activity to your dog ’s pauperization . So , my girls like I said we love to go hiking , our chocolate science lab will be 3 in June , Beagle mix just turn 2 , they ’re really young , they ’re both very active , they ’re both in great health they do n’t have any kind of you know hip or joint or bone issues that we worry about with them going on farseeing hikes .
So , it ’s not an issue for us but for some people you have intercourse for some pets out there it ’s just not going to be feasible to go you know hiking for 4 or 5 miles , it ’s not going to be feasible to have a ambitious legerity course in your backyard – wharfage jumping , catch a frisbee that sort of stuff and nonsense . It might not be something that your weenie is interested and you know if your dog is n’t a big fetcher , every weenie loves to take the air , they love sniff , they love you know checking out new things so maybe that ’s more your dog ’s stop number and that ’s where you have to twin him you know .
I think a quite a little of us we essay to get dogs that match our lifestyle and our personality but for model you jazz we have , me and my husband are both in our 30 ’s , we have immature children , we have 2 vernal dogs right now , 2 young and very participating hotdog that lock very nicely with our family unit . But in 10 days we ’re going to have 2 old dogs , my husband and I are going to be in our 40 ’s , we ’re still go to have you know kids that are adolescent and we ’re still hoping , hopefully , evidently will be active and intelligent and we ’ll all want to get out and do things but you be intimate when you have a pawl that ’s older sometimes you have to provide to what they need . And so maybe you ’re still capable of hiking 10 Swedish mile in a 24-hour interval but your dog might not be so , take his motivation into consideration .
If you do have questions or concerns mayhap about his forcible ability , his health , is you know for object lesson a short hike going to be hunky-dory for your heel with arthritis , peach to your veterinary about it – they ’ll roll in the hay your bounder ’s specific display case and then they ’ll eff whether it ’s going to be a full matter for your pet , agility you get it on thing like that . If you ’re thinking about being militant and something like agility or bobtail diving event it ’s always best to have your dog arrest out by a vet before you know really get too seriously into it .
So , keep your dog in mind too , like I said I know I ’ve packed on winter system of weights , I ’m ready to get out there , I’m quick to get activebut I have to think of my detent too and the same goes for all of us . Even though you might be quick to get out and about and really strike the ground escape with you eff either weight going or a goal to be healthier or you know you just need to be out in the summer sunlight that ’s all great but just keep your frank in nous . Of naturally , right now it ’s natural spring , so we ’re not guess about A-one mellow temperatures but it will be very long before we are and keep that in mind as well .
The conditions always plays a agent when yourexercising with your wienerwurst , if it ’s too hot it ’s not work to be prosperous for your weenie , you could sweat you , can drink water , you could corrode a ice lolly , you could do lots of things to cool off . firedog do n’t have that same power , they can overheat very easy so be pay attention when the weather condition go warm . The other thing you want to do is just check the forecast and verify there ’s no rain or anything like that that ’s live on to break your escapade wherever it might be .
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