The Lazy Dog's Workout Program

People know that exercise is very important to being healthy. Exercise lets people have strong bones and hearts and exercise is good for being happy too. Well dogs want healthy bones and hearts and we want to be happy too. When dogs get exercise we get rid of extra energy that makes us look for things to do like chew shoes and furniture, dig holes, and bark too much. Our people like it when we don’t do destructive things which make us happy.

Some people think that talking walks is the only way to get dogs exercised. Not true. Walking is very good but on days when it is rainy or cold, we don’t want to go out much either. So, I found lots of other ways to get exercise.

1. Obstacle Courses. These are big fun and can be an indoor or outdoor exercise. Our pen is a good place for an obstacle course. Big chunks of wood are good for running around and old tires stuck in the ground are good for going through.

In the house we get to run around the chairs and tables and up and down the stairs. Stair running is good because it makes you tired fast and you use different muscles going up than you use going down. Mom throws a toy down the stairs and we fetch it and bring it back.

Mom shows us how she wants us to go around chairs and we follow. DixieLee usually is better at the running stuff but I good at the figuring out stuff like a champion agility dog. The thinking part is hard because we train with treats and in obstacle course you don’t get to go straight to the treat you have to go around stuff.

2. Hide and seek. Dad is a good hide and seek player! Our house is not very big but he still finds good places to hide. At first we needed to be held while Mom counted one, two, three… but we learned not to go until ten. Sometimes DixieLee still starts looking earlier.

3. Tug of war. This is a good game to play with our humans and just with dogs. Tug of war is a very competitive game and both DixieLee and I are very competitive so we have strict rules about how hard we can play. When Mom or Dad say “stop it” we know we have to give up the toy and calm down. We have some good tug of war toys but DixieLee likes Dad’s socks the best. She forgets that socks are no nos.

4. Hiding treats. It’s sort of hide and seek where you look for hidden treats instead of hidden people. Good hiding places are behind chairs or doors or under tables.

We also play hide treats with our Kongs. Treats hidden in Kongs are easy to find but hard to get to. It takes concentration to get the treats out and keeps us quiet for long times.

We still like taking walks with our friend Scout and her new puppy friend but when we can’t we have plenty of other ways to get our exercise.

Let us know what you do to stay fit.

Your friend,

Zeva

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Mom Was Right!

Me at 66 pounds

Me slimmed down to 56 pounds

Holy guacamole!  Who is that dog?  Flipping through my blogs, looking for ideas, I saw a photo of me from August 2014.  

Mom said I needed to go on a diet and at the time I thought she was bonkers.  

I’m part lab and labs tend to be stocky, right?

Well, here we are, just over one year later and what a difference!

 Mom’s a healthy living nut. She watches what she eats and goes to the gym every day.  DixieLee, Dad and I, well we like being retired and hanging out around the house.  We do yard work and such but we really like napping on the couch and watching TV better.

I hate to admit it but Mom was right.  She made all of us go on diets and get more exercise.  It’s not just about looking good it’s about feeling sooooo much better.  Since Mom made us all be better eaters and exercisers we all lost weight and have much more energy.  I lost 10 pounds! We all still grumble that we are starving but we really do like carrots and apple slices as much as cookies and even Dad has discovered that he actually likes vegetables.

I think the bestest part of getting healthy is the walks.  Mom makes us all go on big walks.  It’s so much fun that the minute DixieLee see that both Mom and Dad have their coats on, she runs to the rack where the leashes are an tries to get her halter down.

We never know where we are going which makes it very exciting.  Not going to the same places all the time gives DixieLee and me a chance to explore.  Sniffing out our surroundings is important so being in different places is lots of fun.  Sometimes we walk around one of the towns.  Sometimes we go to the dog park or to one of the hiking trails our part of New Hampshire if famous for but the best times are when we go to walk on the logging road up to the old orchard.

Mom and Dad like the logging road because it goes up a mountain so we get more cardio.  I love it because I get to be off leash.  I only get to be off leash when Mom knows there is no danger to me.  I NEVER get to be off leash where there are cars or even where there are going to be lots of people.  DixieLee doesn’t get to go off leash because before she came to live with us, she must have been trained as a hunting dog because she loves following a scent and would get lost for sure.

We didn’t start out walking up mountains or going for big hikes.  We started by taking short walks around town.  Yesterday we walked a trail that was three miles long.  That’s far!  It was a nice walk cuz we got to enjoy Nature.  It was peaceful, no traffic sounds or other people, and there were lots of scents from the animals who live in the forest.   

Walking with your humans has lots of other Ben Fits.  We are a pack of two humans and two dogs and walking is a way for us to get to know each other better and strengthen our bond.  Walking is a great way for humans to get rid of stress too.

So, if you or your human is a little on the chunky side, consider taking more walks.  Seriously, I know you’ll like it.

Your slimmed down friend,

Zeva

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Eat, Sleep Play

Had a very busy morning catching up on reading some of my favorite blogs.  I love the internet cuz I get to talk to all of you guys and read your blogs where I learn about you and where you live.

Even though we live in different places around the world, there is one thing I noticed we have in common.  All dogs love to play.  Age or size or breed, it doesn’t matter, we were made to play and have fun.  You dogs that have brothers and sisters are lucky cuz you have someone to play with all the time.  For those of us who are in single dog households, although there are some advantages, like not having to share cookies or the bed with another dog, humans don’t like to play as much as dogs do.

Have you noticed that with your humans? They do lots of things like work, drive cars, cook meals, shovel snow, but they don’t play so much with us dogs.  It could be cuz they aren’t so good at it.  For one thing, they’re not very fast runners.  I can run around our house three times and they barely move from the starting point.

They don’t play Chase Me at all.  I think they are trained not to play that game.  I wonder if it’s some religious thing.  Whenever I want to play Chase Me, they call me back and want to play another game like Sit and Down. 

They don’t play Catch very good either.  I can catch the ball almost every time they throw it but they almost never catch it when I throw it back.  And, they don’t know the rules.  They can’t understand that in a game of Catch or Fetch, after you bring the ball or toy back, you are supposed to play Tug of War with it.  Two years and my humans still don’t know how to play those games right.

 

Don’t get me wrong.  I love my humans very much, even if they are play challenged.  They are kind and loving and smart.  They are smart enough to know their short comings and take me to Dog Park or Doggie Day Care where I can play with others who have equal athletic abilities and who know the rules for all the games.

Love to know your favorite game and your secret for getting your humans to play with you.

Your friend,

Zeva

 

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Run Zeva Run!

Spring is almost here which means that swimsuit weather can’t be far behind. Okay, I don’t wear a swimsuit (I don’t even like water which is embarrassing since I’m part Lab) but I do want to keep my girlish figure so I try to get lots of exercise every day. Here is a photo of me working out in the snow.  Great for the legs.

In my last blog I talked about how Dog Park is a good place to exercise because there are lots of other dog to play with. Although humans are good companions most of the time, they don’t run as fast or jump and wrestle as well as dogs. At Dog Park I get a great work out playing with all the other dogs.

Exercise is not only fun and good for helping you look good, it is good for you. My Mom goes to the gym because she says exercise helps her not be stressed. Dogs get stressed too and when we are stressed we can be hyperactive or aggressive.

When we don’t get enough exercise we also get bored and boredom can cause some really bad things to happen. I know dogs who were so bored that they chewed furniture, woodwork, shoes, and other things that made their humans not happy.

Getting enough exercise is easy. Take your humans for a walk or if they can handle it, a run. Some dogs even go with their humans when they ride bikes. Bikes go really fast and really far so you have to make sure that you are in good shape already. Bikes can also run over you so you need to stay away from the wheels or you and your human can get hurt. They have special leashes that attach to the bike so you can’t get tangled in the wheels.

Agility training is an awesome way to get exercise. Being part border collie, I would love to do agility and Mom said some day we’ll take some classes. Any dog can do agility so even if you are a little dog you can run the course, jump hurdles and go through hoops and stuff.

I’ve heard that there is something in human Yoga called dog down pose and now there is a yoga for dogs called Doga. Well, it’s really for humans but they get to bring their dogs along. It’s supposed to help with bonding. I think I’ll stick to the aerobic type exercises and leave yoga to cats.

Working out makes you tired and we all know that a tired dog is a good dog.  A tired dog is also a happy dog.  Have a great work out, I'm ready for my nap.

Your friend,

Zeva

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