It’s difficult to believe that Day 4 of #DogWalkingWeek is already behind us! Our weather has been absolutely perfect, and we’ve been enjoying getting out so much. Join us and our co-hosts the Cascadian Nomads and Dolly the Doxie in our celebration of this week.
For Days 2, 3, and 4 we’ve stuck pretty close to home. Day 2 was a work day for me, so after work I took Cricket up the street to the fields of what used to be a farm. We used to walk these fields all the time with our first two dogs Shelby and Maggie. They were allowed off leash and loved to run in the fields. Back then the fields were kept mowed and easier to walk in. Now they are only mowed about once a season and since the ticks can be bad in all that tall grass we don’t walk there much anymore.
But the ticks don’t seem to have re-emerged this fall like they usually do (knock wood), and the grass wasn’t too tall, so we ventured out there. Cricket was raring to go (how am I supposed to remember that this little beagle has arthritis? Nothing slows her down!). The first field leads to 3 more fields, but they were wet in areas, so we only skirted around the edge of two of the fields.
The foliage was pretty and the fields were full of smells that Cricket enjoyed. When we went to pass through this opening to the second field, I heard something in the woods that sounded like a snort to the left, and turned around for a minute, not sure what I had heard! But we didn’t hear anything further so got brave and passed through. We never saw any wildlife, but the deer wander through these fields a lot.
We covered 1.2 miles that took us about 35 minutes. I shared the fun selfies for these 2 walks in yesterday’s Sunday Selfies post.
Day 3 fell on Saturday and I had a busy day planned, so opted to just walk Sheba up the street. I had to register my new car, and then the Dadz and I drove around looking for properties for sale. I was meeting with the girls for lunch and a visit to a local winery, but I ended up with enough time for a longer walk than I had planned on before heading out.
Sheba was a little nervous because it was very windy out. I had brought the SnapLeash, but only put it around my waist when snapping photos. That was a big mistake, and I realized how big when I lay awake that night with pain in my hand, elbow, and the front of my shoulder. I should have used our leash from EzyDog, the EzyDog Cujo Shock Absorbing Leash
Sheba and I even did a few little jogging sprints on our walk and we ended up walking almost a mile and a half in 34 minutes. The morning was chilly, but comfortable for walking.
Just a couple notes on other equipment: Cricket wears a harness from HotDog Collars that I’ve been very happy with, and Sheba wears a step in harness from Drs. Foster & Smith. The step in is inexpensive and easy to put on, which Sheba can be very fidgety and uncooperative with. I stopped using them for Luke and Cricket though, because they both wriggled out of them when scared. I don’t recommend them for reactive dogs.
On Day 4, I did a walk that was a combination of the previous two. Luke and I headed out in the fields, (with the hands free Umbilical Belt
We saw some of our neighbors in their yards, which gave us a chance to work on Luke’s fear of strangers. I’ll fill you in on how that went in the Positive Pet Training hop tomorrow (hint…it went well!). We walked a total of 1.51 miles which took us 51 minutes (there was A LOT of stopping to sniff things on this walk, so I remembered to let Luke have fun!).
So we’ve had three more successful walks, and it’s been wonderful for the dogs and myself. After our 2nd day, my head did start to clear, so I came up with at least a rough plan for the rest of our week. I’m so glad we have this week to motivate us, and we’re looking forward to 3 (or more) days of it!
*Some links in this post are affiliate links, so if you order product through them we may receive a small commission. We receive no other compensation for sharing these products.
Thank you to Pet Lifestyle Expert & Animal Behaviorist Colleen Paige, National Walk Your Dog Week founder: http://www.walkyourdogweek.com/.
Have you started walking yet? Our celebration lasts through October 15th, and you have until the 7th to make the commitment to walk for one week! Be sure to sign up below to make your commitment (just click on the first “click here to enter”), and be entered for prizes! (we never share your email, we just need it for prize fulfillment) We have over a dozen people signed up so far, but we’re hoping for more! We want to hear how you’re doing, whether you share that through our or our co-hosts’ (Cascadian Nomads and Dolly the Doxie) comments, your own social media, or on our Facebook event page. Bloggers, be sure to join the blog hop at the end of this post to share your stories!
Please be sure to check with your doctor and veterinarian before changing or beginning a new exercise routine.
It sounds like you have been having great walks.
Jan, I just pulled two ticks off Sampson on Wednesday night. They were tiny little black ticks and easy to spot on him. Thankfully they were not attached, just trying to find their ‘spot.’ UGH I can’t stand those things! I’m pretty sure he got them in the yard, so since them I’ve been hitting the dogs hard with the flea and tick spray every day. Honestly I can’t wait for the fleas and ticks to be done so I can give them baths and get that stink/residue off them. LOL
It seems like you’ve done really well with your walks. Good for you!
Thank you, Jodi! Our last two walks weren’t very long, but we got out there!
I found a tick on Cricket as well. I thoroughly checked the other dogs and haven’t found any though. I think Cricket might have picked it up in the fields, since I took her to an area where the grass was thick that I didn’t take the other dogs. We’ve had a couple of frosts, but I think it takes more than one good hard freeze to get rid of those nasty things!
Hi Y’all!
The rain has finally stopped and the walkin’ begins!
Y’all come on by,
Hawk aka BrownDog
Wow–You do have gorgeous weather for walking! All of those beautiful leaves make me envious. It’s still too early up here for fall color.
Jean from Welcome to the Menagerie
One wordless wednesday I’d love to see how you store all your leash paraphernalia. You have quite a few tools to choose from.
You’re assuming I’m organized enough to have it all neatly in one place? Actually, I do try to keep things neat, but they’re in 3 different places. The trick is to remember where I left the one I’m looking for at the time!
And I have probably spent way too much money on trying different things. Our local humane society makes out when I clean things out though!
Lady says we will get a daily walk until this coming Sunday. We may not go on a walk on Monday, not because it is our Thanksgiving, but because we are going to have dog company and playing with them can tire us out! LOL!
I’m so glad you’re going to keep it going right through Sunday! I’m going to try to keep it going too, but will have to miss Friday because of work and appointments.
What a pretty walk. The colors are fantastic.
Go Cricket! Your dogs are so lucky to have those long country walks! We don’t have any color yet just grey skies no rain no sun no fall color. Boring. We stayed close to home today too just our regular park walk, mom was so tired from the walk yesterday, like you said the right equipment, she wore the wrong shoes choosing to be more sporty than practical so her legs, feet, knees are still bothering her. We have one more outing at least planned for tomorrow so we are trying to rest up. Love Dolly
We hope you got out for your last outing! I wanted to do at least one special outing, but it was just a bad week to find time to do that. I may still try to do something this coming weekend though.
I’ve learned my lesson with shoes in the past. If I know I’m going to be doing a lot of walking, it’s sneakers only (and I have some pretty teal green ones…LOL).
Love starting to see the fall colors coming out!
Oh I just love the fall colors!!! I wanted so much to join this weekly dog walking hop, but I got so backed in in my posts with everything going on lately! UGH!
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
I understand, Jenna! I have so much going on right now, I think I might lose my mind! LOL
I hope your daughter is feeling better!
We’ve had beautiful weather to walk the boys in this weekend. I included this in the sports on BFTB News today. ☺
Running off leash in a field is the best!! It is nice to change up the routes and get some fresh smells 🙂 Your weather does look perfect. Sunny and cool enough to enjoy. Happy Monday!!
That location looks amazing! We stayed close to home, because Sydney had an injury. We’re blessed to live on 5 acres and we now have several ponds so plenty to explore and different levels for a great workout. It was fun.
It’s so wonderful that you have your own land to walk on, and ponds as well! We are looking for a place like that!
I’m glad you had fun with it, and I hope Sydney is recovering?
When is take momma for a walk day?
Snorts,
Lily & Edward
I’m pretty sure that’s every day, isn’t it? 🙂
Is it really Monday already?! Things must be getting back to normal around here. But they will never be the same. Callie used to pull on the leash, and yank my arm out of its socket. Oh, how I miss my girl!
The second picture of Sheba almost made me cry – the expression on her face looks so much like Callie’s “let’s go Mom!” face.
I wonder if all golden retrievers are pullers!?
At times looking at your photos of Callie, they have reminded me of Sheba. Some day, something like that will hopefully bring a smile to your face, and just a tinge of sadness.
The leaves are stunning! Ours are just starting to change, so we just got a few pictures yesterday, but I’m hoping they’ll be even prettier by this weekend. Yay Fall! Looks like you got some great walks. Day 3 was a rough one for us–it was freezing and rainy, so we made it up to the dumpster at the end of the complex and back twice, so we could say we left the house, but that seems like such a pathetic little distance compared to what we’ve been doing!
At least you got out there in spite of the nasty weather…you still deserve credit for that! 🙂
Another day, another series of walks is what Mom says around here. You all have much more fall color than we do here. Things are starting to change but it is still pretty green.
Sheba your fur looks great with the leaves around you. I agree there are a lot of interesting smells! And sadly tooooo much rabbits and rabbit holes, I feel like Alice sometimes… where is the caterpillar with the relaxing smoke when we need it?