Walk, Bike, RUN

Elli enjoys a good daily walk. As long as the weather isn't too hot, rainy, too cold or snowing she's eager to get outside.

In comparison, Reilly's exercise needs far exceed little Elli's. The best way to wear him out is a good run with his friends at the dog park. Since going to the dog park isn't easy to do every day for us, we have to find other methods of getting all Reilly's energy out. I've learned that a tired dog is a good dog (mostly!).

So I've been working on incorporating different ways for Reilly and I to get exercise during the week.

We do go on walks daily. Although these walks are much too short to really make Reilly even slightly tired. Sometimes I will walk Reilly and Elli together for half of our walk, then drop Elli back home and continue on with Reilly.

The past few weeks I've been taking Reilly to the park in our neighbourhood and playing frisbee with him. He seems to really enjoy this and it does make him tired. The only thing that I have to watch out for is other dogs or walkers who may distract him while he's off leash. Luckily his recall is pretty solid, but you never know what might catch his attention and send him off running to make a new friend. I try to go to the park just before the sunsets. I feel this is the best time for the park to be relatively empty, especially as the weather gets colder.

I also bike ride with Reilly. We make two laps around our neighbourhood, or sometimes if it's not busy on the main road I take him north to ride by the alpaca farms for a change of scenery.

Since Reilly is lucky enough to get to go to his babysitter's house while I work, I'm trying to incorporate a mid-week stop at the dog park. Elli does not appreciate this since her main goal at that time of day is to get home for dinner.

Another thing I'm trying out with some success is working on new tricks with Reilly. He's a really smart dog, and it's fun to have some interesting tricks to show off. He just learned the trick "under". Basically he weaves under my legs as we walk down the hall. He gets it, but we haven't perfected the smoothness yet. Like when he went to his puppy classes, mental exercises like working on new tricks and training help him use up energy as well.

The latest thing is the hardest for me (although probably also the most beneficial for me). Last week I started jogging with Reilly. I'm a terrible runner, so we're starting off slow and increasing our distance and time spent running weekly. He seems to enjoy these (short) runs so far. He does start panting, so I know he's at least slightly tired. I just need to work on my own endurance so I can keep up with him.

Providing your dog with the adequate amount of exercise is important for their happiness and health. It's also important to consider the weather conditions and keep an eye out for any injuries.

My goals in maintaining a fitness routine with both my dogs is to keep them in healthy, add some variety to their days, and also socialize and train them to be good out in the world.

Crates

Crate-training my dogs has saved me in a few situations. I strongly recommend getting your dog used to being in a crate, especially when they are puppies.

Elli never liked her crate as a puppy. I would keep her in there during the night. She would bark, and growl, and scratch at the door to get out. I think she made a fuss about being left alone in her crate because she knew there were people in the house that would pay attention to her. But, she never had an accident in the night. So for house training the crate worked well.

Reilly never made a fuss about being in the crate at night. He just went in, got a cookie and went to sleep. He would only make noise if he had to go out. I would let him out in the backyard, just to go to the washroom never to play, and then right back in the crate he went until it was time to wake up.

Since both dogs are now house trained we use the crates for other purposes.

Elli had to have back surgery this past year (more on that later). Part of her recovery was strict crate rest. She wasn't too pleased about that. She was in the larger crate we have for Reilly, so at least she had enough room. She only lasted in that crate for a few days. At the same time, we discovered another use for the crate. She now uses her crate in the car as a car seat. This keeps her from moving around the car while I'm driving. Surprisingly, she actually seems to like being in her crate in the car. This experience has taught me that you never know when you might need to place your dog in a crate. It makes things easier if they are already used to it.

Reilly is still having a bit of trouble when he's left on his own. He always manages to find something to get into. At least the things he destroys are getting smaller. A Ziplock baggie opposed to a couch cushion. To save some worry when I walk in the front door Reilly stays in his crate when he has to be home alone. Luckily this isn't very often,  he usually goes to his babysitter's during the day. We do try leaving him out every once in awhile. Sometimes he does okay, but sometimes he gets into trouble. He actually seems to enjoy being in his crate. He goes in as soon as I say "crate", and isn't barking to get out when I get home. When I go to let him out, he stretches and yawns from his peaceful nap. One day (hopefully soon!) I would like to be able to leave him out all the time without having to worry, but he's not quite there yet.

Cullen Gardens...We made it!

It took over two years, but I finally brought the dogs to Cullen Gardens in Whitby. We live only a few minutes away from this park. So Friday after work I packed up the dogs and we went over. We walked around the trails that were once home to the miniature village. It was like an abandoned ghost town, with a hint of being the perfect location for a horror film. The once well-tended gardens were overgrown, and the pedestrian bridges were rotting away. But, it was a more interesting walk then walking around the block for an hour. We ran into a couple dogs out for walks, and a photographer taking some nice fall shots.

We then ventured further north in the park where there is a large open field. I let Reilly run a bit off-leash. We managed to find a stick to play fetch with. Just when we were about to leave, a couple of dogs showed up to play. They were also off-leash so Reilly got a good work-out playing with them. I kept Elli on the leash since it’s technically not an off-leash park (yet). While talking to the owners I discovered that the trails are quite extensive. They are all clearly marked, and go all the way to Heber Down (another location I had been meaning to get to).

Since the park is so close to home, and offers a good experience for the dogs I think this is somewhere that we’ll start making more trips to. I want to get back into the routine of taking the dogs out more. Reilly has tons of energy to use up, and Elli and I can use a good walk too. I’m looking forward to the opening of the official off-leash area at Cullen Gardens.