Playing and socialization
Anne | January 24, 2010Dogs who are busy and well-adjusted will be happier animals. They will have happier owners. Sometimes it can be a challenge to keep your dog busy, especially if she is young and active. It helps if they have a like-minded friend. Try as you might, walking with your dog on a leash for 45 minutes will not get all the naughtiness out.
Dolly and Bubba love to play tug-of-war. Yes, that play is frowned on by vigilante trainers, but hey, they like it and it tires them out. Both animals have lost 10 pounds each of unwanted flab over the last year, this play is important.
A deceased tug tire rests inside a not yet used tug tire.
Be creative in your choice of toys, there is no need to enrich your local pet store. An old Kevlar bead bicycle tire is one of the dynamic duo’s favorite toys. A great use for something we haven’t figured out how to recycle yet. So be ecologically correct; reduce, recycle and REUSE!
Some people are much more organized with tire re-using. http://www.greatgreengoods.com/2008/02/26/recycled-bicycle-tire-rug/comment-page-1/#comment-333676
WOOF! This is the first of the new ‘Fitchburg Green’ modern art form. Dolly and I will be famous. Move over Paris Left Bank and Manhattan here comes Fitchburg. Show Mayor Lisa. Our future is the “creative economy”. Let’s have a First Thursday that features us!! WOOF WOOF Anne please make us a poster.
WOOF! This is my picture. I don’t like that gray snow man shape I have been assigned. WOOF (again)
Bubba,
You need to get a gravatar. http://en.gravatar.com/
I sure see nothing wrong with a friendly game of tug of war. Your dogs are happier and healthier for it. The losing 10 lbs surprised me though.
Anita
Yes, a youngster like Lilly has to have run time and we did until about November when she had a stretched ACL.
So now we are on leash and you are so right, they need the running every day!
We are adding LAB FLAB!
Labs put on weight fast, and so does her mom, me. Though my husband hasnt.
Cant wait for her next appt with our vet to see if its ok for her to run again and swim and do all the things the we used to do.
Oh, be careful with that. A friend with a lab ended up getting two surgeries on her for that. My sister brings her dog to aqua-therapy to get some running in.
I measure Dolly’s food and am extremely miserly with the treats. I say that I am applying all the disipline to her that I neglect for myself.
Me too. I didn’t realize she was that chunky. She’s positvely pit bull centerfold material now though!
Exercise is so important! My service dog has her own physical and mental exercise buddy. Both dogs benefit from their rough play and running. They love their hanks of rope that are kept in their toy box, along with the balls. Yes we actually throw balls INSIDE my house to make sure they get enough exercise on bad weather days!