How are you doing on the dog walking and training challenge?
If you missed a day or two, no worries, you should still join us. Details here.
I have to admit, 2 miles is a little too far for my dog so I am changing our goal to 1 mile per day instead of 2. That in itself is a good challenge for me. I am an athletic, active person, and it’s hard to admit I need to slow down for my older dog.
Sometimes I say my dog doesn’t know when to quit, like when he’s chasing a ball. But honestly, I’m the same way when it comes to physical training. I’m more likely to push too hard and hurt myself vs. not work hard enough.
So, if any of you think you need to change your original goal to a shorter distance, go ahead and change it. These walks should be fun for both the dogs and the people, not stressful.
How are your walks going this week?
Also, how is the training going?
I have been working on keeping Ace focused on me when we pass other dogs. I’ll have to do a separate post on how that is going. It’s going pretty well 🙂
If your pups are participating in the challenge, I hope you’ll email a pic to Lindsay@ThatMutt or post them to That Mutt’s Facebook page. I’ll feature some of the “participants” in a post later this week.
If you’re interested in following our daily updates on the challenge, a good place to follow along would be Instagram. I post more fun, personal photos there. Because you know, Facebook …
Jessicavy
Thursday 15th of January 2015
I've been really bad about timing myself to make sure we walk for the full hour every day, so I guess I've been kinda bad. I have been good about stopping for training on our walks though, which is new for me. I'm normally too lazy to do that unless we have to stop and wait for some reason.
Lindsay Stordahl
Thursday 15th of January 2015
I loved the picture you posted! So cute!
Cora
Thursday 15th of January 2015
Our walking is doing well - I'm setting a goal of one hour of good solid walking every day - I noticed at the end of the year last year I was so busy the walks came down from an hour to around 40 minutes and I really noticed a difference in Harvey. The walking regime is going hand in hand with Willow's lead training. I can't believe the huge leaps and bounds she's made over the past week. It's astonishing :)
Lindsay Stordahl
Thursday 15th of January 2015
Oh that's so good to hear!
Rachel @ My Two Pitties
Wednesday 14th of January 2015
Good work! Like Ace, Zoey has slowed down a lot for walks but when her adrenaline is up during her favorite games, she doesn't want to quit! She shows a lot more energy when she's with Kaya & Norman...she wants to prove she can keep up with them:)
We went on another long hike yesterday & today at sunset. Luckily no skunks this time! And after a 2nd bath, I think Kaya is finally skunk-scent free. For now...
Lindsay Stordahl
Thursday 15th of January 2015
Haha! Oh Kaya! I'm sure it's good for Zoey to be around your younger too. I notice Ace is energized around younger dogs, which is good to see.
Mal
Wednesday 14th of January 2015
Training is going great so far. Today Ranger walked two full blocks along a really busy street fixated on my treat-filled hand instead of the cars whizzing by us. I was so proud. We usually avoid busy streets because he pulls in his excitement at being around cars.
Lindsay Stordahl
Thursday 15th of January 2015
That's wonderful! Thank you for the update.
Allison L
Wednesday 14th of January 2015
You said that Ace is going in 9, right? Has he always been fairly low energy? My labx, Jaxi, is 5.5, and people still continually ask whether she's a puppy…
But yes, the walking's going great, except for large amounts of muddy slush (It got up to 10C/50F today -- Calgary's weather is crazy!)
Lindsay Stordahl
Thursday 15th of January 2015
Ace will be 9 in March. He has his hyper moments, usually over a tennis ball or greeting someone. But overall he is very laid back and low energy, which has always made him pretty easy to train and handle.
Oh gosh, the slush! That's when I'm thankful I have a black dog so it doesn't show up on him :)