A Walk In The Park

One of my favorite thing to do, besides eating treats and taking naps, is taking Mom and Dad for walks.

Walking is a cardio exercise which means it is good for your heart. It is also a weight bearing exercise which means it helps keep your bones strong. The more you walk, the more you can walk. That’s called endurance and like other kinds of exercise, waking makes the good chemicals in your brain feel happy. That’s called “improving your mood”.

Walking is very good for weight control. That means walking can help you keep your weight right or if you have too much weight, walking can help you make the too much weight go away.

Come to think of it, we dogs need to have good hearts, and bones and we like to have improved moods and controlled weight too.

Walking is magic. It’s does all kinds of healthy things and it’s fun. DixieLee and I have to get Mom and Dad to do more walking.

There are other reasons to get your humans to go for walks.

Walking with your human is a good time to build trust and bond with your human.

Walking uses up energy and that’s a really good thing for hyperactive dogs like DixieLee. When dogs have lots of extra energy they find ways to use it up and sometimes the ways they find can be very destructive. Nobody likes to come home and find a big hole in your sofa or your favorite shoes missing their heels.

Before you leave the house, make sure you are wearing your tags and you are on leash. Your human should take along some poop bags. Good neighbors always clean up after their dogs.

Don’t go for walks when it is too hot or too cold. Mom puts her hand down on the black top and counts up numbers and if it’s too hot for her hand, it’s too hot for our feet.

If you are going for a big walk, make sure your human brings water for them and for you.

So how big is a big walk? That depends on lots of things.

Age is important. Very young or very old dogs shouldn’t walk as long or as far as a middle age dog. The dog’s breed is important when deciding how long or far a dog should walk. Sport breeds can walk much bigger walks than a little dog like a Chihuahua.

A dog that has too much weight should walk to help lose that weight or dogs who don’t do many walks need to start out doing little walks and work up to big walks.

Today is a beautiful day. The sun is shining. It’s not too hot and there is a nice breeze. I think I’ll get DixieLee and we’ll tell Mom it’s time to go for a walk.

See  you when we get back,

Zeva

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Can We Talk?

I love the sound of my Mom’s voice.  Well most of the time that is.  She has this way of saying my name when I’ve done something she isn’t pleased with.  You know what I mean.  I bet your Mom says your name different when you’ve been bad too.

My Mom talks to us all the time.  I like hearing the funny stories about things she does and people she meets when we aren’t with her.  I heard that it is healthy for people to talk to their dogs.  Dogs are great therapists because we are good listeners and we don’t judge.  We are also really good at keeping secrets so you can tell us anything.

We are wonderful companions for children and the elderly. We are happy to spend hour and hour with them so they can talk to us when everyone else is busy.  

Talking things over with your dog is a good way to make decisions. I especially like it when Mom asks my opinion.  The other day we were making a gift basket and she asked if I thought it had enough treats in it.  After careful consideration I said we should add just one more of the big cookies and she agreed.

It’s good for humans to talk to their dogs because it strengthens the bond between us.  I like it when Mom tells me what that I am her best Zeva dog and Dad tells me how pretty I am.  It’s true that we are more sensitive to body language than the average human but we do understand words.  What dog does not know the word “cookie” or “treat”?  Chaser, a Border Collie, understand about 1000 words!   Lots of dogs understand 200 or more words.  Just so you know, some of us are good spellers too.  V-E-T does not spell dog park!    

 My friends Bumo and Miu’s Mama sings to them.  They love it because she changes the words and makes the songs about them.  They say she has a very pretty voice. We’re glad our Mom only talks to us because we have heard her sing and it is not pretty.

Mom talks to us like we are grown up humans.  I’m glad because I don’t like it when people talk baby talk to me.  And, she usually has something important or at least somewhat intelligent to say.  I remember one time at the dog park when a lady said to her dog, “Don’t pee on your sister’s head!”  Mom started laughing.  She said to the lady, “I thought I was the only one who ever said that.”

Does your Mom or Dad talk to you a lot?  If so, what is the best thing your human says to you and what is the silliest.

Your friend,

Zeva 

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