Heart Like a Dog

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh My God of living with dogs!

Exercising Challenges

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It’s been incredibly hot and humid in the northeast the last three or four days which makes exercising the dogs pretty challenging.  I haven’t been able to find any areas of water they can swim in and Sampson is not a big swimmer anyway, so we stuck to our walks.

I generally keep their walks short in this type of weather, anywhere from 20 to 25 minutes,because I worry about heat stroke. If I have the time in the morning before the heat of the day catches up, I like to take advantage of it.  Such was the case the past couple of days.

Yesterday I decided to take the dogs down to the back part of the woods.  This is an area I generally don’t go to for a number of reasons 1) the scare I had back there last year, 2) the path has very easy access to a much larger park so there are generally more people and dogs down there and 3) the path down and back is very steep.

It was only about 9:15 am, but it was already warm and very humid.  There is a lovely little brook (when we have our fair share of rain) down there and it gives the dogs a little drink and a place to cool off.  Plus there is less sun busting through the trees which it makes the hiking somewhat comfortable.

As Kristine indicated last week, The Leaves Are Back In Town which means when you are walking your dog off-leash it’s not as easy to see approaching people or dogs.

The nice thing about this area is there are a number of options for walking, one of which is a lovely wash, that is fairly wide (in terms of hiking trails) with quite a good view of the trail ahead.

Very good visibility.

We walked for about 10 to 12 minutes up the wash, then I turned around and headed back.  I knew this would be the toughest part due to the steepness of the climb.

Luckily there are lots of stones, both small and large embedded in the ground, as well as some areas where tree roots are exposed.  I use these stones and roots as a way to secure myself to keep from slipping and falling.

Almost like stairs.

When we are heading down these steep areas, I usually say, “Easy Delilah, Easy” and she actually does very little pulling and waits very patiently for me.

On the way back up however I have been heard to say, “Pull Delilah Pull.” 🙂

Delilah is spectacular on the hills.  She is also great on the giant rocks, sometimes I actually think she is part Mountain Goat as I have literally seen her go straight up the face of a rock.

We’d been out about 35 minutes by the time we reached the top of the cliff, and yes I’m calling that a cliff, so shut it.

I swear the picture doesn’t do it justice!

By the time we got back to the car it had been about 45 minutes, that coupled with the fact that they were sniffing and exploring a new area, helped tire them out.  After a quick cool off in the pool, they each found a comfy spot and settled in for a well deserved snooze.

Whoo, that was a tough one!

 

You can say that again!

Delilah did rally a little bit later to play a couple of rounds of fetch to help us make a showing in K-9 Kamp, but for the most part they had a pretty mellow, relaxing day. 🙂

Do you modify your dog’s exercise when it’s hot and/or humid?  If so, what types of things do you do?

Wash, Wash, Wash The Dog…Day One Hundred and Thirty One

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There’s a little brook that runs along the side of the field where we take the dogs to play; it’s a dirty little brook but the dogs love it.  They love to run through the brook and occasionally Sampson lays down in it.  I’ve been trying to catch it on video but have been having a hard time with it until today.  I uploaded it to youtube tonight, but let it buffer for a minute or so before watching it; because I’m pretty new to this youtube stuff. (I also got Delilah’s agility run up and the video of how excited Delilah gets when she gets her dinner.

The problem with the dogs running through the brook is they get absolutely filthy!  So every time they go in the brook, we have to wash them off when we get home.  What I started doing was washing them outside.  I take an empty dog shampoo bottle, fill it with warm water and put a squirt of shampoo in it.  We then use the soapy water to wash them quickly and rinse them off with the hose.  Then we dry them off and let them in the house. 

I’m happy that the warmer weather is coming so they aren’t outside freezing, but the water from the hose is still cold!  Although as Chet pointed out, the brook isn’t warm water and they willingly go in there. :-0  Still I am calling the plumber to see how hard it would be to get an outside shower.

Where The Wild Things Are…Day One Hundred and Thirty

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Chet was outside working in the yard; I went out to ask him something and I noticed the neighbor’s dog.

Notice the tail....

Immediately I thought, “Isn’t the dog a little old to have his tail docked?”  Then Chet told that the dog had gotten loose and gone to the park at the top of the street and came back missing his tail.  Something ferocious that is not afraid to attack a large dog lives in the woods at the top of the street.  The poor dog had bite marks all over his tail.  The neighbor told Chet the story and also indicated, “This dog does not back down from a fight.” 

I have to admit, I’m a little freaked out.  Without knowing the entire story, such as the time of day the dog got away, if it was gone overnight etc…it makes me a little nervous taking my dogs up to the woods.  I’m not entirely certain that Delilah wouldn’t want to try to fight. I do carry  Pepper Blaster II and had really thought about it more for protection against the two-legged predator as opposed to the four.  From what I’ve read, it should work on a wild animal.

 I wonder what kind and size of animal might be up in the woods and hungry and vicious enough to take on a large dog.  I know you can’t tell from the picture but this is a decent size dog; I would say somewhere in the weight range between Delilah (78 pounds) and Sampson (97 pounds.)

Chet said he thinks the dog is part Chow....that is nothing to fool with.

I’m very grateful that most days/evenings Chet goes walking with us, still I’m a wee bit  nervous about taking my dogs to where the wild things are.

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