We are so excited to be co-hosting this 2015 Walk Your Dog Week Celebration with our friends the Cascadian Nomads and Dolly the Doxie! Last year we were participants and we had a great week of walking. It was just the motivation we needed to walk daily and enjoy the autumn sunshine and foliage.
I put together a collage of some of the highlights from 2014. There’s a big difference this year; our foliage has barely started changing over compared to last year (I think due to a late summer heat wave as well as very little rain), and there aren’t nearly as many leaves on the ground. We hope to be seeing more color by the time we kick this off on October 1st.
What’s this all about, and how can you join in the fun? First of all, thank you to Pet Lifestyle Expert & Animal Behaviorist Colleen Paige, National Walk Your Dog Week founder: http://www.walkyourdogweek.com/. This week was started as a way to fight pet obesity and manage behavioral issues. Ms. Paige wanted to promote the benefits of exercise to improve the health and wellbeing of dogs (and humans as well!).
- We are celebrating this effort by asking everyone to join us in committing to walking our dogs every day for one week starting October 1st. Do you already walk your dog or dogs daily? Great! You can try walking in a new location, or increasing your walking time or distance.
- We want you to share your progress to encourage and support others. Use and follow the hashtag #DogWalkingWeek on social media and leave comments on the hosts’ blogs and social media, including our Facebook event page. If you are a blogger, share your dog walking posts on the linky which opens October 1st. The goal is to inspire and encourage each other to get out for one week, and to keep it going after that.
- When the week is over, let us know how it went! You don’t even have to stick to the exact week – start when you’d like and go for a week from there. Our event will be open until October 15th so you can let us know how your seven days of walking went. Use comments on blogs and social media to share your results. Three committed walkers will win prizes, including dog toys, treats, a leash and collar set and t-shirts for the humans. So make your commitment through the list below and keep us posted on how you’re doing!
As for us, we will be sharing our progress and some tips that were helpful to us last year. One of my first tips last year was to “have a plan”. We went to some nice places on our walks, and I need to decide if we’ll re-visit some of those, or maybe find some new places (probably a combination of both). We’ll be keeping in touch and checking in, and we hope you will too!
COMMIT TO WALK YOUR DOG WEEK BELOW (your entry here will also enter you for prizes):
Please be sure to check with your doctor and veterinarian before changing or beginning a new exercise routine.
Tell us your plans on the list below. If you are sharing your progress on social media, enter a link to your public page or to our Facebook event page. If you are going to keep us posted on your progress through blog or social media comments, enter a link to a host blog.
The list asks for your name and email so we can notify you if you win a #DogWalkingWeek prize. Your information is always kept private and is never shared.
Bloggers, join the hop and share your progress, tips, and inspiration: the blog hop link will open up on October 1st and remain open until October 15th. We will share the linky codes in subsequent posts as well.
We’re walking with you all! Thanks for putting this together!
Yay, we’re so glad you’ll be walking with us! Looking forward to hearing where you explore in your new hometown!
Love this!! I know there are so many benefits to walking and being outside in the fresh air. Mental and physical benefits galore :). Cocoa and I walk and run every day but I tend to go the same routes and it is always nice to go to a new park!!
I tend to stick to the same routes as well. We live in a rural area so we don’t really have a lot of parks or anything nearby. I’m going to come up with something though!
You do so well to walk and run every day….I need to be more consistent, and a challenge always gets me motivated!
Every week is walk your dog week! 😉
We love to hear that!
Well, we don’t go for walks, but we’ll have fun watching everybuddy else. 🙂
Thanks for following along! Are you sure you don’t want to put a harness on one of those cats and get out there? 🙂
We always walk several times a day, and will most likely find some new spots.
Now that my new arthritis meds are working, we can walk too!
So glad to hear your meds are working and you’ll be up for walking! Don’t forget to sign up for the commitment and prizes!
Not sure yet if I can commit to this with Shadow’s toenail issue. We’ll wait n see what the vet says later this week.
I sure hope Shadow gets healed up soon. I know toenails can be difficult to heal. Remember you can start late too….you have up until the 15th to finish up!
Oh you know we are in! Our first adventure is later this morning, stay tuned! Love Dolly
You’re getting an early start…yay! We love what you did for your first adventure too!
Hunting season is here. We will be spending a lot of time at the cabin and hopefully that means walks. 🙂 Not much internet there though…lol.
That’s so great you’ll be hunting and at your cabin, that must mean lots of walks. Try to check in if you can!
we walk 3 times per day, so we would like to join :o) I will look for interesting places with a lot of leaves and rabbits :o)
3 times per day is awesome – good for you! Be sure to sign up for the commitment so you can enter to win some prizes! We’d love to hear if you see some rabbits too! 🙂