Last Hurrah
Last weekend summer had it’s Last Hurrah, and we were able to get Sheba and Luke out to Tewksbury Pond for some swimming. Luke hadn’t been in a while but he dove right in with his sister and started swimming immediately. At first he was still doing some splashing with his paws, but it didn’t take him long to refine his technique to perfection.
It also didn’t take him long to show up his sister. I suspected he was going to be a fast swimmer and he certainly is. Poor Sheba has a way of hanging back when her siblings outdo her. Luckily we had brought two toys, a Kong Water Wubba, and a West Paw Jive ball, and we threw both so they could each have something to chase. However, as dogs will do, the Wubba soon became the favorite and the ball floated away in the pond. I knew this might happen so I had brought an older ball that was in rough shape anyway.
Unfortunately, Luke had a little mishap when struggling with his sister over the Wubba. He did a back flip kind of thing, and even though he righted himself and was fine, he took on a little water. He came to shore and spit it back up, but then he didn’t want to swim out again. He had been having so much fun, we hated that this happened and ruined it for him. So we just let him fool around on the shore and it gave Sheba a chance to get in some swimming by herself, which was the good part about it.
After a bit, we would toss the Wubba just a couple of feet in so Luke could try to get it and he did it a few times, so we think he’s going to be OK. Hopefully he’ll forget all about the mishap by spring. Our beagle Kobi used to have a memory like an elephant, so we know there’s a chance Luke will remember and still be timid. We plan to take him out by himself for the first time next year, and then we can let him ease into it without his sister there, and hopefully he’ll get confident again. Fingers crossed.
Sheba seemed a little gimpy that night. She has arthritis, and that worried us….swimming is supposed to be good for her. She was fine the next morning though, so now we think she was just really tired, so we know it was a great workout for her!
#DogWalkingWeek
We are joining Emma at MyGBGVLife and the crew at Cascadian Nomads for their celebration of National Walk Your Dog Week. The challenge is to walk your dog (or dogs) every day between October 1st and 7th. They are having a blog hop and a big giveaway. Bloggers can join in the hop, but anyone can participate in the challenge through social media.
All you need to do is get out there and walk every day! I know we’re a couple of days into it now, but you can still join in. If you haven’t walked the last couple of days, just tack on a couple of extra at the end….I think as long as you get 7 straight days in, that’s what matters. Be sure to take photos and/or videos as well! You can find out all the details, get some tips, and enter the giveaway by clicking here.
I want to share just a few tips as well about what we’re doing, and maybe you’ll get some ideas:
Keep it simple! I have three dogs, but walking all three at once can be overwhelming for me, because they’re not well trained to walk on leashes. So I take them one at a time for now. That also helps in two ways: it gives each dog some one on one time with me, which I know they love; and it gives me an opportunity to work on those leash walking skills with them.
Make a plan! If I don’t plan something ahead of time, it’s too easy to not do it. So I have a plan for the week: some longer walks and some shorter walks. Each dog gets one of each, and maybe I’ll even find someone to walk with me so we can take more than one dog.
Switch it up! We’re going to find some new places to walk, and intersperse that with some of our regular places that are more convenient. Emma’s post made me realize one of the reasons we hadn’t been walking lately was because I was bored with the same old walks.
On Day 2 Cricket and I headed to the historic district in our town, and took in some interesting sights. Does anyone have any idea what the contraption in the photo below is? I will reveal the answer in my follow up post next week.
Add some sprints! If you and your dogs are physically able to do so, break into a jog or a faster walk every once in a while. It can really break up the monotony and get your heart rate up just a bit.
Enjoy the scenery! I have my cell phone with me for two things only: the camera, and my walking app (I just started using WoofTrax….check it out – and thank you to Kelly’s Dog Blog for reminding me about that app…it’s another motivation to walk!). With the changing seasons here, even the same old places are looking different, and I’m enjoying the beautiful fall colors.
On Day 1 Sheba got a shorter walk to one of our usual places close to home, but the colors reflecting on this pond really changed it up a bit:
I hope you will join us in making the commitment and join in the fun! We’ll be sharing much more next week about what we did on our week of walks.
We are also joining the FitDog Friday blog hop. Thank you to our blog hop hosts SlimDoggy, To Dog With Love and MyGBGVLife. Please visit their sites and others through the links below to learn more about keeping your dogs fit and happy!
All of our dogs have had mishaps in the water where they swallowed water or went under and they all got over it. I know Luke will too. Just keep it fun and he should be fine. 🙂 Love the pictures. It looks like a good time!
Oh, thank you so much for telling me that! I was hoping that would be the case but was still worried about it. Now I feel better, and thank you, they did have a great time!
Great tips and lots of wubba fun, my gang loved their wubbas.
These guys love their balls so much, I wasn’t sure if they’d like the wubba, but they sure did!
Yikes! Hopefully Luke will realize that the fun of swimming is greater than that mishap.
I think he will. He once got hit with the ball when playing, and then kept shying away from it. I threw him some real gentle throws and he got back used to it, and forgot all about being hit.
Aww poor Luke!!! Glad he is ok though!!! I just love these photos!
Looks like you guys are having a ton of fun!!!
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
Thanks, Jenna! Everyone really was having a great time!
The boys love walking in new areas. We just have to be cautious of loose dogs. Grrr. ☺
Yeah, we have a lot of that around here too, and it makes me leery of new places as well, because you just don’t know.
Yeah, I get bored walking in the same places. My solution is to take Mr. N around with me when I run errands and we go for a walk there. Easier with just one though.
I used to do that with Kobi too. He was the only one who really liked to ride in the car (until Luke now), so he got to go with me and the others stayed home and played fetch later.
Poor Luke I am sure he’ll be swimming next summer! We’ve been walking too but today it really rained! Plan to be back at it tomorrow! Love Dolly
We already had two days with rain so far, but luckily we were able to plan our walks around the worst of it!
Walking and swimming! What a great pair of exercises for dogs and humans. Now if you can just get them to ride a bike you’ll have a triathlon partner! Unfortunately for us neither Ava or Veruca swims, so we just stick with the walking and occasional sprints.
LOL….even I haven’t been on a bike in years!
Good selection of types of exercise. Im sure Luke will be back in the water soon.
I think he’ll be OK. He’s such a natural with swimming I just can’t see him giving it up.
I like the idea too, to switch the places and to include some “special events”,
it’s a win-win thingy for all :o)
It definitely is! 🙂
Thanks for joining in both hops. I bet Luke will be fine with swimming by spring. You ended it on a good note with splashing around in the water, so hopefully the fun memories will stick! For a while Mom walked all three of us together, but now it is just so hard because Bailie is so fast, Katie is so slow and I am in the middle. Usually it is two walks with two of us and then the other, or Bailie runs with Mom and Katie and I walk after. Mom likes that she gets even more exercise, but it takes a lot more time. As you say, though, it is good as we all get alone time with Mom.
It is especially difficult to walk when each dog is at a different place. Cricket does well with jogging, but I don’t want Sheba to jog with her arthritis. The two girls together walking would just be too much pulling for me. Luke is like Kobi used to be….he just pokes along half the time wanting to smell everything! It can get time consuming doing each separately and that definitely makes it more challenging.
Great assortment of exercise – swimming and walks – love it. Swimming is good for Sheba’s arthritis – not just the low impact, but the cool water. I bet she was just tired. Hope Luke forgets his mishap. Good luck on the walking – we’re about to head out for today’s walk.
So far so good with the walking! A challenge is just what I needed to get us all moving.
I feel bad that Sheba doesn’t get to swim more….can’t talk the hubby into getting a pool to make it easier. 🙁