We are happy to be joining our blog hop hosts SlimDoggy, Peggy’s Pet Place, and To Dog With Love. Please visit their sites and others through the links at the end of this post to learn more about keeping your dogs fit and happy!
We’ve been doing some fun things for fitness this month and wanted to share them since June is already winding down.
Virtual Fundraiser Walk for Morris Animal Foundation
I already showed you one collage of photos from our walk this past Sunday, when I shared it for the #FuelTheCure blog hop on Wednesday, but wanted to tell a little more about it. Here is Sheba showing off her bandana that she wore for the walk:
Since my hubby and I had kind of a fiasco recently walking all three dogs, for this time I decided to bring Sheba and Luke since we planned on a swim for them as well (Cricket stayed home with Dad and the cats). The dogs and I met my sister at her house and walked to the end of her street where we picked up our local rail trail, which runs for miles through several towns in our area. It was a beautiful day, around 70 degrees and sunny, perfect for a long walk. We walked down to Tewksbury Pond, a very pretty little pond in her town. There we let the dogs cool off with a swim. We walked 4.4 miles total, which took us just over 2 hours. We all had a great time!
By the way, MAF is still accepting donations for this fundraiser, until July 1st. They haven’t quite reached their goal, so if you care to, you can still donate through my page here. We didn’t raise a lot, but I think every little bit counts! We were happy to be out walking to raise money for cancer in pets, and in memory of our own pets that we have lost to cancer. Fun, fitness, and an important cause….it’s all good, right?
New Ball
We recently received a new ball from Chewy.com for the dogs to try out! It is the Planet Dog orbee-tuff sport tennis ball. This ball is made in the USA, guaranteed, and is durable and bouncy. You can even put a treat inside! I’ll let you judge by the photos how much they liked it.
Luke had so much fun with this ball, I had a difficult time choosing which photos to share!
What does Mom like about it?
- Planet Dog uses non-toxic and recyclable materials in their toys, and their motto is “made for dogs, by dog lovers”.
- The ball floats in the pool, fits in my Chuck-it, and Sheba chewed on it for a while and it held up!
- Chewy.com must have the fastest shipping ever! I can’t believe how quickly we get our items from them. *We did receive this ball for no charge in exchange for our honest review, but we were in no other way compensated.”
Sheba’s Best Exercise
Early in June, Sheba shared some photos of her first swim of the year. I found what I think is the perfect workout for her with her arthritis. We can walk from our house down to the rail trail, and it’s a one mile walk to the river by the park. There she can swim, or even just walk in the river, which both are great exercise and low impact for her. Then we walk back home where we have a short walk up a steep hill to our house. I think that hill gives her a little extra workout to strengthen her back legs, which I hope will help her down the road to stay strong (the arthritis is in her front shoulders/legs). The walk itself takes about 45 minutes total, so we can spend 10-15 minutes at the river and still only be gone an hour; therefore it can fit easily into my schedule.
Cricket
You’ll notice there are no photos of Cricket playing with the new ball. Our little beagle is pretty set in her ways, and likes to stick to her tried and true toys and games. She rules the games of fetch, and does she ever get a workout every time. Notice something in common in these photos below? Hint: look at her ears….they are always flying!
Happy FitDog Friday, we hope you have also been enjoying some fit fun with your pets in this first month of summer!
You sure found a nice clean pond to swim in. I wish we had more interesting trails to walk around here without having to drive too far. Congrats on a successful fundraiser!
We are lucky that the bodies of water around here tend to be really clean. Sometimes the rail trail does get boring though…..flat and straight….I wish it had a little more variety of terrain!
Thank you, I’m so glad we did the fundraiser and were able to help.
Looks like everyone is having a great time and staying fit! Love to see a Golden in the water – just where they are meant to be!
I like that ball from Planet Dog as well – We have had great balls from them in the past and I’m sure looking like a tennis ball would make it very popular in our house!
Sheba just loves swimming so much, I really wish we lived on the water or had a pool…she’d be in heaven!
I’m going to look for other Planet Dog balls…they really love this one a lot.
Looks like the dogs had great fun! Coco has the same Planet Dog ball, but I haven’t seen it in a few days. I have a feeling she’s buried it somewhere…
Oh, that’s something that none of our dogs have ever done….buried something. Sheba and Luke like to dig, but they like to dig things up, like rocks. We wish they would fill in their holes by burying something! LOL
A ton of great exercising. Great pictures too. Four miles that is great and yes every little bit helps. Waiting to sit around at hunt test to make your collar so should be sending it in the mail monday. Sorry for the delay.
No problem, take your time!
I wish I had the ambition to walk four miles every weekend! My sister and I did say we would try to do it more often so hopefully we can get out more times this summer.
Looks like tons of fun! Especially all the swimming. I bet it is a great exercise for Sheba with her arthritis too.
I look forward to taking her more this summer I hope….she will swim for a long time if we bring a toy to chase, but we’ve only been for short swims so far this year.
Yes to swimming and its great benefits. Wish the lake is cleaner so Sugar can swim anytime. Woofs to Sheba.
We are lucky that most of the lakes and rivers around here are pretty clean. The rivers can get pretty low in the summer though if we don’t get a lot of rain, and then we lose the swimming holes.
Looks like some great exercise in June.
Hopefully we do as well in July!
Looks like fun.
A good time was had by all! 🙂
Aw, they are such angels after a long walk! We are also jealous of your awesome watering hole!
There’s nothing like lots of good exercise to turn them into angels, right?
That picture of Luke trying to sink the ball is the best! What a wonderful way to stay fit and healthy.
Luke just loves to play in the water, sometimes even without a toy!
What a fun walking trail! I sure wish we had access to a lake so I could see if the boys like it. We are thinking about getting one of those kiddie pools too. I’m so glad that Luke got the hang of swimming! The ball looks like a hit!
We are lucky to live in an area where there are a lot of lakes, ponds, and rivers. We just have to find the spots that are quiet and easily accessible.
The kiddie pool is so nice to have to keep them cool in the summer when we want to just hang around the house.
Luke still needs some practice with the swimming, he still splashes a lot of the time, but he’s getting it!
We also envy your great watering hole. Swimming pools are never the same for summer fun.
Oh, I do wish we had a swimming pool too though! 🙂
Love seeing all the dogs enjoying themselves and being active in their own way!
Thanks! It really is so much fun to watch them having such a great time.
Great great post! I love seeing all your pups having a great time!
I think your right about Sheba’s workout, it sounds pawfect for her, and Cricket is so sweet for being set in her ways like that! Love it!
That tennis ball looks super cool!!!! I have seen it once before on another persons blog, and they had just as much fun with it as your pups!
Have a great weekend Jan!
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
Thank you, Jenna!! It is so great to see them having so much fun, all in their own ways!
Hope you and your pack have a great weekend too.
Hugz!
Mom says you should find a fourth dog and walk four for a few days. After the fourth visiting dog leaves, three will seem easy, with two you won’t know what to do with yourself and with only one you will be bored to tears. That system has worked for Mom quite well. She does say that walking two is the best but three isn’t bad if you have a system.
I’m not sure I want to take all that on….LOL! I guess we just need to come up with a system, which is actually what we were trying to do when we took 3 the last time, but our system didn’t work! We’ll keep trying different things until we hit on something though.
My favorite picture is Luke with his paw on the ball in the pool. We reviewed the Planet Dog ball too, and it’s Ike’s all time favorite. He also has the Planet Dog snowball and baseball! It looks like a very fit and happy gang!
They really are fit and happy…one thing we can be proud of. I’d just like to be able to add “well trained” to that list!
I’ll have to look for those other toys too, Luke is still just having a blast with that ball, I think it’s become his favorite too!
I love the way Sheba is looking at Luke in the picture of them swimming together. It looks like that ball is a blast! Glad the dogs have had so much fun this month!
Thanks, me too! Sheba is definitely showing Luke the ropes as far as swimming!
ohhh, you’re so lucky to have a good swimming river so close by! Have fun and stay cool this weekend!
Diane and Rocco
It is nice to have the river nearby, though I’d love even more to have water right on our property! 🙂
You two have a great weekend too!
Great photos – so glad to see your guys all getting their own flavor of exercise. One size does not fit all and you sure prove that with your variety of dogs…and exercise routines! Thanks for joining the Hop.
Thank you. It certainly keeps things interesting with all of them having their different preferences for how to play and exercise!
I’m always a little envious seeing dogs getting to have all of this summer water fun… it just so rarely gets warm enough here and even if the air is warm, the water is not!
Summers seem to get hotter and hotter here all the time, and this year has been especially warm for June. I just enjoy a little change in the activities with the seasons, and I think the dogs do too!