Winter brings its own set of challenges for exercising your dog. Around these parts it’s dark by the time I get home.
Sometimes we get really icky weather (last night was misty and foggy.) I’m pretty stalwart when it comes to walking the dogs but sometimes it’s just not possible to get out and walk them.
What do you do?
I’ve written in the past about how I like to deviate the dog’s exercise schedule. Personally I feel it’s important that they not only get walks, but they get different types of physical and mental stimulation as well.
My dog is just as tired after an hour of obedience, agility or tricks class as she is after a nice long walk.
On weekends when we are home all day and Sampson and Delilah are awake more, or on holidays when we have family around they get less sleep than they do during the week, which means they are just as tired as if they’d walked for hours.
Mental stimulation can be equally tiring.
Just as I find exercising during the winter challenging, I find it equally challenging to squeeze training into my already busy day.
Which is why I try to add a little bit of training to our daily routine.
My dogs are really great at sitting. We make them sit on the edges of the kitchen while we work in the kitchen either preparing their meals or ours.
We make them sit when a car approaches while on our walk.
Delilah’s always been a challenge when it comes to the down command, for some reason she’s reluctant to down and has a problem staying there as well.
I work her down, in the bathroom while I’m getting ready for work in the morning.
Fine, I’ll lay here, but I don’t have to like it.
This past weekend I decided to try a paws up on one of the fallen logs on the trail.
I stood on the opposite side of the log as her, and held the treat down low. She tried to grab the treat without putting her paws on the log, but I pulled it away. We worked this for about a minute before she understood what I was requesting of her.
The next time we approached the log and I said, Paw’s Up, she actually held it so I could take a picture.
This is what you wanted? Well why didn’t you say so?
I’m not quite sure what’s up with that expression, she doesn’t look happy to me, but then again paws up wasn’t HER idea.
How do you deviate your schedule when weather just won’t let you do what you want?
LOL she is looking like, “Why am I frozen on this log?”. It is hard for us to get out to work the dogs in the winter too.
We are lucky we go out everyday. However when it is raining hard I get to play catch or hunt the kibbles round the house. I love it. Have a terrific Tuesday.
Best wishes Molly
This is one of the reasons I love trick training so much! Five minutes of working on a new behaviour is actually more tiring than an hour long walk for Shiva. She can walk for hours without needing a break. But a few short training sessions and she is ready for a nap! And so am I 😛
Good work with Delilah! She is turning into quite the little trickster.
You’re right about wearing their brains out – infinitely more exhausting that walking for hours 😉
She has you thinking doesn’t she.
When it gets COLD and WET and Snowy and stuffs…. WE Sleep… a LOT.
I have to admit this is a challenge we really don’t have here in Florida…rarely does the weather keep us from outdoor activities…our coldest days are moderate ones up north 🙂
My biggest challenge is time…life & work get so busy that it’s poor patient Gizmo that takes a back seat…I do like your ideas for incorporating some mental stimulation into everyday tasks…I’m going to have to try that…My dog is smart and he deserves an interesting life
Even though it doesn’t get really cold here, we don’t like the short days. As we get older we pretend we are bears and hibernate.
I like to sit Doggy on a chair in the middle of the living room and leave it there while I cook, whenever he tried to get off I give him a treat, that way he let me cook in peace.
We play a little fetch in the house, although Cupcake is still struggling with the bringing-it-back part of fetch. She also has a couple of treat filled IQ puzzle toys to solve.
I have something called a “Linus” – he provides a lot of entertainment for Blueberry. 😉
Thankfully, we don’t have a lot of yucky days and I actually prefer hiking in the rain and cold and B doesn’t seem to mind.
Love her expression in the last photo – I wonder what that means indeed?
We really need to start doing some fun training with Cali – she is SO BORED! I love the look on Delilah’s face! She looks a little worried – “how long am I going to have to stand here??” Too cute 😉
Yup, I hear ya! Long walks in the cold and wet are not my idea of fun. We also depend on metal stimulation. I take out the clicker and try to teach Rocco new tricks. We got all our basics covered. Now we are working on sit pretty. I also like to practice out of sight stays. Also, hiding treats around the house and making him find them is a fun activity. Under Training Thursday, on my blog, I have two posts on “lazy training” 🙂
What a sweet face.
We’re kind of the opposite–this is the time of year it’s *easiest* for us to get out, so all of our training has been let slide a little.
Hi Jodi,
I’m not a big fan of down either, unless it’s when I feel like it – I’ll give you a sit in a heartbeat, but you’re gonna have to work for a down – Mum has no idea why it’s such a big deal! 🙂
Hope you’re having a fun day 🙂
Your pal Snoopy 🙂