The snow hasn’t started yet. But the doomsayers of local weather tell us it’s coming.
If you live in the Northeast or New England, does this mean your dog will get less exercise this weekend? Does a walk seem like too much trouble when it involves hip waders to get through the snow?
It doesn’t have to.
Especially if you want to have as much fun as this chihuahua and his little people.
Sledding is a great way to exercise your dog.
- A strong dog can help pull you up the hill
- The effort of running around keeps her from getting too cold
- And you don’t have to do it for long before everyone is exhausted
Even if you don’t own a sled, I bet you can find something around the house to get you down a slippery hill. I’ve used:
- plastic cafeteria trays (back when my butt still fit on a cafeteria tray)
- garbage can lids
- cardboard
And, while I haven’t tried it myself, I bet my recreational kayak (plastic, not fiberglass) would do a good job too.
I encourage all my fellow bloggers in the snow belt to try sledding with their dog. And post a picture or video for our friends in warmer climes.
After all, we have to do something to show them we’re not crazy for living in places where you can lose a toe to frost just by taking a walk.
We have Winners!
Train Your Dog Month Challenge
I’m pleased to announce that Sugar the Golden Retriever was randomly chosen the winner of the Train Your Dog Month Challenge. Congratulations!
I’ll be sending a $25 donation to the favorite animal charity of Sugar and her person as well as a prize pack to their home.
We had some really creative entries:
- Jodi at Kol’s Notes is teaching Kolchak to let her sleep in
- Sue at Obedience Training Journal is teaching her dogs not to trip her going on the door
- Ms. Taleteller of Tales and Tails took up the challenge to walk every day in January
- Beth and Gizmo at Terrier Torrent worked on learning to “wait” and enjoying grooming more
- Jodi at Heart Like a Dog shared her secrets for teaching a perfect heel (it involves chick peas!)
- Loy and Gizmo of Yikes! Loy Turns 60 also completed the challenge to walk every day of the month
- Dawn of NEPA Pets began clicker training her rabbit, Glee, to pick up a basket (love it!)
- And not only did Sugar the Golden Retriever show off her amazing treat balancing skills, but shared links to earlier posts showing the steps that got her there
So thank you to everyone who worked hard to build their bond with their pups (and bunny) by working on the challenge. I hope you’ll join us next year.
Frosty Paws Giveaway
Congratulations also to Amanda, Lisa, Vera, Kathleen, Peggy, Amber, Jan, and Beth (or rather to their pups) who won the Frosty Paws giveaway. I’ll be sending your prize as soon as you reply to my email with your mailing address.
I have two more Frosty Paws packs (two coupons for free Frosty Paws frozen treats and a Frosty Paws stuffed mascot) to give away.
The first two people who haven’t already won a prize and live in the U.S. who send me an email with their mailing address before 11 a.m. EST today will also win. So hurry!
How do you exercise your pup when weather gets extreme (whether too hot or too cold)? Have you ever tried sledding?
Dakota would NEVER go sledding, no way!!!!!!!!!!!! Wish he were more adventurous!
I remember “sledding” on cafeteria trays in college 🙂
Dakota is a smart boy. He knows how tacky ice balls look in Sheltie fur. 🙂
Now I can’t wait to see your sledding video 😉 Have a great weekend!!
I’m beginning to wonder if the snow is coming at all. The snow warning is on but I’ve barely seen a flake.
Maybe I’ll need to photoshop the sledding images. 🙂
I used to live on Long Island — I grew up there — but we didn’t get all that many blizzards back then. When we did get snow, I just stayed home from work (rather than risk being stuck away from home). I’d dress my little poodle in her red snow “parka” and take her for a walk around the neighborhood. She loved the snow when she was young…she would put her face in a drift and pull it out with a face full of snow and melted my heart (yet again) b/c she looked so cute. Now that I’m in South Carolina, I miss the snow itself but not all the havoc it wreaks. We had a big snowstorm here about 2-3 years ago, and Callie & Shadow had a blast out in the back yard trying to chase and find the snowballs I threw for them. I wish I could have taken videos of that!!
I suspect growing up in Maryland was similar to living on Long Island. You don’t get much snow but when it happens, everyone panics.
Now that I’m in upstate NY, we get 10 times the snow each year without the havoc. Everyone just copes. Of course, that means we don’t get as much time off to enjoy it.
Maybe you’ll get snow again soon while Ducky is young enough to make a big fuss over it. 🙂
Congratulations to all the winners of your contests and give-aways! The video is so cute! Look at that little chihuahua go in all that snow. We never get snow here, but in the summer it is terribly hot so we do all our exercises in the early morning or late evening so we don’t overheat.
Have a great weekend!
Oz
I’d guess that swimming would be good summer exercise if not for the Florida gators. 🙂
If we get enough snow, we promise to try sledding with Kelly and Brooks. It is a great way to have fun together and get in some exercise. We’re supposed to get Storm Nemo but so far not too much is happening.
I see just a few flakes coming down now. I heard the Albany area was expecting a lot of snow so you may be getting dumped on later. I don’t know that we’re going to get much. Ten inches isn’t a terrible big deal to us, especially on the weekend.
I hope you at least get enough to try sledding.
Daddy keeps talking about taking me sledding, but so far he hasn’t and our snow has gone. I think he should pull me though:-)
But who has time to be pulled on a sled when there is snow to roll around in?
I hope you get more snow so your Daddy can redeem himself. 🙂
First, we were very pleased to see that we’d won some Frosty Paws in your drawing…Gizmo loves them and it’s always Frosty Paws season here…Congrats to Sugar…Her banana balancing trick is pretty awesome…that dog can balance anything! Afraid we can’t comment on the sledding question 😉 But back in Wisconsin with my two big dogs I did try skijoring with them and that was fun…you folks in the north might want to give it a try Hope you all stay safe and warm this weekend
I don’t ski. And my husband refuses to let me buy one more piece of recreation equipment. Our basement already looks like REI. 🙂
But every time we get snow I see a cross country skier or two on our street. Maybe I’ll lend them Honey for a good workout.
Honey and Layla helped me deliver your Frosty Paws to the post office. If the snow doesn’t interfere, you should see them early next week. I hope you enjoy them.
We actually have a slope at the back of our yard, and my kids love to sled down it– but when Our Best Friend goes out with them, he tries to eat the sled. And it’s not on his diet.
I’ve often thought, though, he wouldn’t mind pulling a sled– there’s definitely some Husky in there.
Pamela, a quick update on our training challenge progress…Giz and I took a long hike today and i worked on Wait from a distance…I have some pictures of him stopped and waiting a good 50′ in front of me…I was doing the happy dance…he’s really got it down…funny part is once i snapped a picture he could tell and that’s when he’d break…so maybe i need to rename the command “pose” …i think he’s turned into a camera hound…we saw a great video yesterday on “that dog dancing guy’s” blog about teaching your dog to weave between your legs…the video is great and it’s posted on Gizmo’s FB page…that will be our next training challenge
A little birdie on FB told me today that they might need some Newfies to come pull them out of the snow so that’s how I’m gonna tire my dogs out:)
Hope you all are safe and warm.
I’d love to pull some humans around in the snow!
Last time I remember sledding was when we had our dog Shelby. She used to do her own sledding down the hill….on her side. It was fun to watch! That video was great….that little dog certainly got a lot of exercise! I won the Frosty Paws too….thanks so much for the contest! The dogs are excited…they will be watching the mail very closely. 🙂
LOL we got far too much snow to take the dogs sledding, they cannot possible run let alone walk in it. We’ve started a new fad, it’s called “Snow Swimming” because that is the only way your dog can get through it. Talk about tiring!
Thanks for the linky love Pamela! Happy Monday.