Between our icy winter weather, and Luke’s luxating patella diagnosis, we’ve been pretty challenged around here about getting exercise. Luke is supposed to be resting, which is challenging in and of itself, and the girls still want to play out in the snow. They don’t understand that their brother can’t do that right now, and it’s hard to go outside with them and leave him inside. It’s a bit easier when my both my hubby and I are home, but during the week it’s usually getting dark by the time my hubby is home from work, and our yard is not well lit.
It’s been raining, snowing, or sleeting almost every day and the roads are a mess so I don’t feel safe out there walking on them. On top of that, the yard and stairs to the deck have been icy as well, so having the dogs run around out there isn’t always the best thing.
In addition to the fact that Luke is supposed to be resting, he is supposed to lose a couple of pounds. How do you get a resting dog to lose weight, other than starving him (or at least what he perceives as starving)? Plus entertaining him indoors usually involves something that uses treats! We’ve cut back his meals just a bit more for now, and I’ll give a full update and details on his condition soon (I’m still researching).
So we’ve had to think of some different ways of doing things. Here’s a couple of things we’ve been doing:
When hubby is home, I take Luke downstairs and play a treat game with him, while hubby takes the girls outside and plays fetch, only letting them run in the safe parts of the yard where there’s soft snow. Since the temperatures have been a bit warmer that’s been doable. When it’s just me, I take Luke out onto the deck with some toys, which I throw lightly and low to the ground and he can get them and play with them. The gate to the deck is closed, and Cricket can bring the ball that far which I then throw into the yard for the girls to chase. Every so often I let Luke steal their ball, because that’s part of his joy in playing fetch! He wants to be in the yard with the girls, but he enjoys being with me too.
I previously had thoughts of working with Luke in agility, but with his bad knees I don’t think that’s going to be a possibility. So I’ve started nose work with him at home again. Donna and the Dogs posted a good starting series called “Sniff School”, which we started last winter but slacked off on. We went back to Lesson 1, and Luke excelled at that in just one session. He was a bit nervous when I started stacking the boxes, or he had to walk through them, but he quickly got over that. Therefore we’ll be moving on to Lesson 2 next time. I have some very low calorie treats that I use for that which he likes. It also gives us a chance to work on reinforcing his basic training skills, as I’ll send him back to his bed to stay while I set the boxes up again.
Luke’s knee is showing signs of improving, knock wood, and hopefully our weather will improve as well so we can get back into walking soon. I want to keep him away from running and jumping completely until he’s not holding that leg up at all anymore, and even then we’ll have to be cautious with his activities.
How do you think are we doing under these circumstances?
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i have servise dog and i have to train princess she only 1 but she learning sign i amdeath and then i wnat her to know i am ok she my tia dog
Training a service dog sounds very challenging, but I’ve seen with my own dogs how smart they can be, especially when it comes to learning hand signals. Good luck with Princess!
Glad to hear Luke’s knee is getting a little better. It sounds like he’ll excel at scent work. I am a bit envious of all his boxes!
Thank you, so far so good…knock wood! We are lucky that we work at a general store where we have an endless supply of free boxes! I should let Sam have a couple of those to enjoy as well. 🙂
The more and more I hear about nose work, the more I think it might be great stimulation for Harley. Thanks for the post and I’m hoping the knees continue to heal.
Thank you!! You should give the nose work a try with Harley, and see how it goes. I’d like to try it with the girls as well, just need more hours in the day….
Glad Luke likes nose work, it gives him something to do while resting, isn’t that the truth about how to loose weight when you are suppose to be resting. I hope his knee continues to heal.
Thank you! So far, so good. He went two whole days without his knee slipping out….yay! Today it slipped out, just once, and it went right back in after a minute. So we think that’s very promising.
Hi Y’all!
My Human thought that nose work would be something new and challenging for me since I love to track scent outdoors. However, I thought she wanted me to pick the boxes up and bring them. I kept pickin’ them up and carryin’ them around. She’s goin’ to have to work harder to get her point across!
Merry Christmas,
Hawk aka BrownDog
Oh, Hawk, that made me laugh….I can just picture it! Actually, I’m surprised that Luke didn’t do that! Boxes were one of his favorite toys when he was younger….but when he started eating them more than playing with them, we had to take them away!
Merry Christmas to you too!
Have you looked at getting a fitbone or something to work on conditioning exercises? I don’t think it would be too much exertion (the easier ones anyway) but you should probably check with the vet to be sure.
We do have a fitbone, and I want to see how we can use it. I plan to check with the vet this week on what kinds of things we can safely do, and what will help him the most. Thank you!
We think you’re doing great considering what you have to deal with. Ice is no fun. And we’re purring Luke’s knees are better soon.
Thank you, I think your purrs are helping!! 🙂
Poor Luke…sorry we have been so awol! i had the same problem and had a lateral release done to stop the problem and i know how it hurts when it pops like that..Doc had a knee reco after tearing it up playing and yes being told to keep a Fox Terrier on light duties..well..they sleep or go flat out..he has arthritis in his knee now and to keep him fromk running is pretty hard.. as much as we can in summer we get him with a harness and very very long rope swimming in the dam here..he gets a good non weight bearing workout…winter is harder! then we just walk him as much as possible..the fear of him slipping on wet ground and doing more damage a real worry. I think you are doing a great job…having multiple dogs makes it so much harder to get all pups happy with a certain kind of play.It would be perfect if they had more indoor water rehab places for pups..as indeed Doc did start to pop some pounds on…we found by not getting as much exercise we cut his meal portions a bit..he was not expending as much energy and so needed less anyway…it is a real balancing act and i am sure you will do a great job 🙂 loves Fozziemum xxx
Thank you so much, Bev! So far, so good….his knee seems to be getting better. I’m not sure how we’re doing on his weight, but I think OK.
I also wish we had a place we could take him swimming in the winter. I did take him for a walk today, the conditions weren’t too bad and I think he did OK with it. We tried to stick to more level ground so slipping wouldn’t be an issue. While I had him on his walk, my hubby played ball with the girls.
Thank you for coming by….I know how crazy things are at your place, and I really appreciate it.
xxoo
Good luck with the recovery! Yeah, losing weight and resting seems like a tough combo to get going… that said, the scent practice is a great activity that is not too intense with the physical exertion, so seems like a good restful yet somewhat active game. You’re on your way! *wags*
Thanks, Gilligan! I feel like we’re managing things pretty well. Luke has really been pretty well behaved, and his knee seems to be getting better. Fingers crossed!
Nosework is a great idea for helping to tire him out. I play a lot of find it games with my Lab mix Ace in the house. Today it’s raining and we haven’t gone for a walk. Guess what we’ll be doing later?
I hope Luke keeps showing some improvement. It’s so hard to keep them quiet when they want to be active and have the energy.
That’s the most difficult thing…he feels fine, even when his knee pops out, he just hops along on 3 legs and doesn’t even want to slow down then!
I wish I could play hide and seek games in the house with all of the dogs, but we have a greedy beagle who doesn’t share well!
Nose work is such a great mental workout for you dog.
And if we can’t do the physical, I think the mental wears him out as well.
we sometimes do some nosework inside, that keeps Easy busy and makes him to a happy and well balanced pup :o)
I know, I hope to keep it up this time, even when we can start getting outside more. I think it’s really good for him.
I used to play a similar nose work game with my Kaeto when we had bad weather and couldn’t get out. The mental stimulation really tuckered him out!
Luke really doesn’t seem to get bored with the nose work, he could just keep going. And he always seems happy to take a nap afterwards. Plus he just enjoys the one on one time with me I think as well.
Sounds like you have found some creative ways to keep him entertained!
It would definitely be hard to get him to lose some weight with him needing rest and bad knees!! SHEESH!!! I love the photos of your pack playing! Just wonderful!
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
Thanks, Jenna! I was able to get him out for a short walk today, and I think that was really good for him…..he’s passed out now!
It’s so hard to exercise an injured dog. I recommend two things…first – veggies to help fill him up. We use those a lot with Jack because he is a bottomless pit. and mental exercise – like the nose work is great too. I find that Jack expends just as much energy with mental exercise. We do a lot of treat dispensing toys with him and he can spend hours on them!
Thank you…..Luke really loves veggies and he was getting a lot when it was fresh veggie season around here. So I need to get back into getting those. I do think the mental exercise is very good for Luke. When he plays fetch with his sisters, he sometimes loses interest….he seems to like a variety of things to be going on. I’m going to try some different treat games with him too, and mix some veggies in for rewards to see how he likes that.
Glad to hear Luke is doing better! I’d say that’s proof you’re doing a great job!
The fruit, like blueberries, is a great idea for treats. Since the girls all had those digestive issues back in the spring and summer, I had to find one treat that they liked and that was somewhat low in calories. They love the bacon and cheese flavor Buddy Biscuits, so I switched them to the mini size. They have far fewer calories, which means I can give the girls more of the treats. And they break easily so you can use the pieces as training treats without worrying about calories — I believe each whole treat is 3 or 3.5 calories.
When I first started writing this, I was starting to get discouraged, but he’s really shown a lot of improvement the last couple of days.
I will definitely look for those Buddy Biscuits, thank you!
Noseworks is one of our favorite ways to get rid of Barley’s winter blues, too! Our training center offers agility classes that are just for exercise and are designed for dogs with various health concerns, like arthritis, that don’t include jumps and just have exercises like plank work for working on balance, core strength, etc., so you might not have to give up agility dreams altogether–it just might not be fast-paced, competitive agility 🙂 You might consider talking to your vet about a wobble board–we use it to practice balance and get Barley more comfortable with movement for the teeter, but I know that some people use it to target specific parts of the body to build the muscles (and there are lots of cheap DIY instructions for them if you don’t want to buy one), so your vet might be able to help you figure out how to do that to help Luke, too! I’m glad that he’s still able to have fun on the deck and isn’t missing out on playing with his sisters altogether!
Thank you so much for telling me that, Beth! I was mostly thinking agility for fun anyway….unless I could talk my hubby into doing it, I didn’t see myself being that great at it, even though I think Luke would be!
Once Luke’s knee seems more settled down, and I think we’re getting there, I plan to talk to my vet about exactly what activities will be best for him.
He really does seem to enjoy the nose work though, so we’re going to keep that up for sure.
I am so happy to hear he is doing better. I imagine snow would be tough with painful knees. I think nose work is a great idea and low impact. I bet he would be good at it. Can he have fruit, like a blueberry, for a treat? Might be a way to treat him but really low cal and healthy.
That’s a good idea. He loves fruits and veggies, but I haven’t given him blueberries for a while.
That is such a bummer with his knees! Nose work is great mental work, but always involves treats, so it isn’t a calorie burning workout, which is a bummer. I sure hope you can get things to the point where he can go out and play and stuff again. It would be so hard if we had to keep Bailie inside, I don’t know that we could stop the wildness as we chase and wrestle in the house if Mom won’t let us out. Poor Luke.
Luke has actually been handling all this better than I thought he would. We still let him play with Sheba in the house some, as long as they don’t get too rambunctious….we can’t take away all of his fun! He’s been showing a lot of improvement the last couple of days so we hope he’ll be able to get back to more of his playing soon.