Exercising for me AND my dog

[Cassandra_Cain]

Hi Cheri

Totally understandable about you wanting to get some exercise for your dog. I used to have two Alaskan Malamutes and tried all manner of things. In time I found some things that worked (at least for us).

First and foremost - hello obedience training! Without that, it is just a struggle and definitely not fun. Once I got my dogs to heel (so important), sit, and stay on command, the rest fell into place.

My favorite things to do with them were hiking/backpacking (they had doggie packs which you can get from a neat place called Black Ice - they have a website). I found the dogs got plenty of a workout, plus they were quite fascinated with all the neat, novel smells on the trail which are largely invisible to us! Other than that, I did have some luck inline skating with one of them. At the time I was doing a lot of skating and was pretty decent at it. Otherwise that could have been real dangerous! Running was easier than skating and it worked well. The caveat was I always had to be very careful with the heat as dogs don't deal with it as well as we do.

Good luck with this

[mimitabby]

when i had a dog we did obedience training. Took classses with the pooch,
had a weekly event, (the class, i mean) and the dog liked it and we liked it.
got certificates when we were done, and worked all week to be ready for the next class. I enrolled one dog in obedience when he broke one of my fingers lunging at a flying duck while on the leash.

works wonders. No more pain, enjoy your dog..

[sp0okYrider]

I have a 4 yr. old Siberian Husky (strong desire to run) and when she was about 18 months old, I purchased an attachment for my bike that my LBS ordered for me. She has not once become entangled in the bike, made me fall, or run into anything. I even bought one for my 12 yr. old daughters bike, and again they have never had ANY issues with it. At first she could only go a few miles, then she built up to several miles. I always bring her own water bottle for her, and try not to go out when it's over 80 so she won't get overheated. During the winter months when I am not riding nearly as much, she tends to get back out of shape so we have to rebuild miles back up come spring. I often do my long run by myself, then come back to the house to get her for a doggy sized run...she waits for me at the gate and when she sees my bike she knows exactly where she is going! I think it was a great invention, and we've had a lot of comments on it.

~J in Oregon