On our last FitDog Friday I introduced you to Coach Luke and told you how he was whipping our girls into shape! I promised some videos of his training and updates on what else we’ve been up to, other than his program of chase/keep-away, wrestling, tug of war, and toy play. We’ve been spending a lot of time out in the snow, because it just won’t go away!! We got 10 more inches on Wednesday night, just in time for the first day of spring.
The first video shows a little bit of Luke’s keep away training game. You’ll notice early on he goes running under the deck. You can’t see it in the video, but he takes them through what I like to call the “agility course”, which is our summer lawn furniture along with their swimming pool all stacked up that Luke likes to weave through. You can see that in the photo below:
We did actually get one mild day a couple of weekends ago, and the deck was actually clear of snow, so we got out the agility tunnel that I got for them. Luke started going through that with very little coaching, and he just loved it.
Cricket also went through when my hubby would throw the ball in there. Sheba tends to be scared of new big things in her environment so we didn’t expect her to go in. Later in the day it got windy out, so I moved it inside, and Sheba did at least check it out, and she did stick her head in there once. We figured that was a good start for her. Even in the house, Luke and Cricket just kept running through it just for fun, with no coaching from us. Thank you, Emma of My GBGV Life for telling us about these tunnels! I can’t wait to get it set up again soon (preferably outside).
It’s been a bitter cold winter so a lot of the playing goes on inside. Here is a video of Luke and Sheba playing tug of war:
We haven’t had a lot of walks this winter because of the cold weather, and also because all of the snow has narrowed the roads so much there is just no good place to walk. Every time I would make some snowshoe trails down through our woods, they’d get covered with fresh snow and I’d have to do it again. I lost my ambition for doing that, but Cricket and I did get a couple of walks out there. It was too icy and rough for Sheba with her arthritis. Instead I have walked Sheba down to the tree farm, which is about a 25 minute walk for us, off of main roads. Luke is still learning to walk on a leash (as opposed to biting it and playing with it), so we don’t go far with him yet. I am so anxious for spring so we can walk more.
I slacked off entering Cricket and Sheba’s activities on PetsMove during the month of February, and felt bad about that (even though I had good reasons). We were playing every day, but I wasn’t keeping track of it. I got myself back on track towards the end of the month, and now I write down our activities in my Petter Planner (thanks to Emma again), so that if I don’t get online right away, I don’t have to rely on my memory as to what to enter. Once Luke is going for longer walks and having more structured play time, I’ll be signing him up too! He hopefully starts basic obedience school the middle of April. We wanted to get him in sooner, but the class filled up before we could get signed up.
So we’ve been keeping busy getting fit and having fun around here, and we’re looking forward to some changes in the routines, hopefully soon. It is such good exercise for the dogs to play in the snow, especially when it’s fresh like today, but I am ready for a little more variety. I can’t wait to get the swimming pool out and see how Luke likes that! Soon, right? Tell that to the weatherman, please.
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Nothing like a puppy to motivate older dogs to exercise. I think you have done a great job despite the weather!
We did hope Luke would get the girls moving some, but it turned out even better than we expected.
We’ve tried to make the best of what we have to deal with, weather-wise, but I am SO ready for a change!
We have a tunnel in the house too. It’s a kid’s tunnel so not quite as long but the dogs have fun with it. They’re both small enough that the house is probably a huge agility course lol. They leap over whatever we leave on the floor and run around the furniture and go under tables and whatnot.
They have so much fun with it! Luke would probably love your house….he loves to jump over anything that’s in his path. I do think he’s going to be good at agility.
Looks like you guys are have ng fun staying fit. The tunnel looks so cool. Love that its in yr house.
We are trying to add some variety….the girls don’t get bored with playing fetch in the snow, but I do, and Luke likes some variety too!
I have totally set up the tunnels in the house… But it can get a little crazy since they love the tunnel. Hope you are able to thaw out soon so you can take the tunnel outside 🙂
Thanks, Christine, me too. If it doesn’t thaw out, I’ll just have to set it up in the house again and work around it (our rooms aren’t that big which makes it difficult but it is doable).
Those tunnels do look like fun! I hope you get some springtime weather soon.
Keep your fingers crossed for us….maybe later this week spring will really be here….
Hi Y’all!
Glad we don’t have all that snow! Though I guess it really keeps the coach fit, he’s so tiny!
Y’all come by now,
Hawk aka BrownDog
You are lucky, Hawk, to not have all the snow that we have! The dogs do love it though, but we wouldn’t mind trading it in for some running on the grass and swimming at this point!
Looks like Luke has brought the puppy energy to the house that you hoped for… and then some! 🙂 One of the reasons I adopted Amelia was as a companion for the ever social Gryphon (note: I KNOW getting a companion for a pet should never be the only reason for a second pet- that’s why I said it was one of the reasons!) Gryphon was quite old but hadn’t yet slowed down too much. i had stopped allowing him outside, though, since his growing older coincided with more and more coyote sightings in our neighborhood! And, oh boy, did Amelia whip him into shape! He gained back so much lost weight and muscle mass chasing about the house with her. It was wonderful!
Luke has definitely exceeded our expectations! We are so thrilled with how he has gotten the girls moving.
I’m so glad you had great success with Amelia and Gryphon too. I imagine that contributed to the good long life that Gryphon had!
Everydog looks like they’re having so much fun!
They sure are!!
Love the videos! Thanks for sharing, it seems you have figured out how to combat this never ending winter very well!
I’m glad you liked the videos. We are doing our best anyway! BTW….all of your comments went to my spam folder. I don’t know why, but I rescued them all out of there! 🙂
Love the shots of them playing all together! And I know the feeling of winter never ending… but it looks like you’ve got it figured out how to keep the dogs entertained!
Talent Hounds
My dog Ace would love that tunnel. What a great idea! I especially love your photos of the happy crew out playing in the snow.
Wow, even though you haven’t been able to walk them as much as you’d like, it looks like you’re doing an awesome job providing different fun activities for them to remain active. My dog Ace would love that tunnel. What a great idea! I especially love your photos of the happy crew out playing in the snow.
I think we are making the best of this lousy winter. Last winter I walked so much more, but we didn’t have the bitter cold last year, though we did have lots of snow. We got the tunnel from amazon.com and it was not that expensive, around $35 I think.
Your post is a carbon copy of life at our house right down to the snow piles around the deck where you obviously had shoveled off the deck snow! Bailie is always motivating someone to play with her. It gets too wild in the house, so we get sent outside. Only difference is that we walk the same all year regardless of snow and cold. Bailie is having issues with pulling, but has to knock it off as obedience school wants her heeling…good luck, Mom! Glad you all like the tunnel. Bailie and I love to race in and out of it and sometimes wrestle in it. We love how easy it is to just fold up and since it isn’t up all the time it is a novelty, thus more fun!
There’s hardly a dull moment with three active dogs, is there, Emma? I plan to get the tunnel out again next weekend for sure, whether it’s inside or out.
Lots of great activity I think Luke is a natural at cross training 🙂
He sure is!
BOL that video when Luke puts his head under the dog bed! Too cute! loved it!!!
good job coach! Keep everybody in tip top shape in this crazy winter in March that we are having!!!!
I hope you all have a great weekend!!!
Oh and pssssst, I have been trying to tell the weather man for WEEKS that spring was coming, but he didn’t listen, or maybe my huskies went behind my back and had a word with mother nature to keep the snow around! Ha!
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
Thanks, Jenna! Ha ha, I suspect my dogs have been going behind my back too and voting for more winter!
Aww love the videos, they look like they had a good time playing.
They do have so much fun!