Trees

You may be sick of Winter right about now, just like the rest of us. You bundle up your million layers of socks, pants, snowpants, hat, scarf, coat, etc etc- then grab the dog leash and do the dreaded walk. You almost bail on the neighbors sidewalk (who never salts), then your dog squeals and lifts their foot in pain from the salt (the other neighbor that salts ever last bit of snow off the walk). Your hat blows off from the -30 degree wind, your lips are cracked, your nose is cold, and you can barely see through the snow flakes that are purposely landing in your eyes. Sound familiar??

Well first of all congratulations for being a dedicated ALL WEATHER dog walker, so few people are. I know people that train their dogs to go on pee pee pads just to avoid even having to let dogs out in the snow-Yes these are real people.

Instead of just going for a boring sidewalk walk with you pup, think about walking off the beaten path.My suggestion is to find a wooded lot, or any area with trees, and start dodging them! I take Kona and Rugby on woods walks all the time and have Kona tethered to me and the fun begins. Running through trees is fantastic for stimulating your dog, ensuring they pay attention to your directional changes (big trees are not very forgiving if they decide to run in their own direction), and you get to act like you were 10 and playing jungle ninjas. Okay maybe that last part is me just resisting getting older, but, bottom line I run, crash through trees, and end up laughing.

I challenge you and your dog to try the above, and see if you don't have fun doing it. Your dog will be super stimulated, tired, and grateful for not walking that same Winter walk.

ps, close eyes when branches are eye height- poke your eye once and you will remember this :)