You know you’re living in Minnesota when…it’s 40 degrees outside and it feels like a heat wave. We soaked up the much-needed sun today, especially after the holidays and all the craziness.
I was beginning to get slightly frustrated with both Lola and Rio lately.
It seems like Lola has been rebelling lately which has led us to taking away her roam-the-house-when-we’re-gone freedom. Last week she pulled a pack of gum off the counter and managed to eat half of it and the pieces of gum that she didn’t like, well…those were in the carpet. Then take that last sentence and repeat – she did the exact same thing a few days later. On Friday, while I was showering (which takes a whole 15 minutes) I thought to myself, “She’ll be fine, I’ll leave her out” and proceeded to bring Rio in the bathroom with me. Well, I come out only to find my notebook with a piece of paper shredded on the floor. That piece of paper was my blog post idea with all of my notes jotted down on it. Joy. And if that wasn’t enough, Lola helped me finish my cookies & cream smoothie from Caribou – dumb on my part for leaving it on the table, but sheesh. Just thankful there wasn’t enough chocolate consumed to make her sick. :/
Then on top of that, Rio peed in the house last week. Twice. I think Rio’s two accidents were just a freak occurrence because he has been potty trained since before his leg surgery, or at least we thought so.
But when it comes down to it, I think the real problem is simple. I am not the only one that is going stir crazy in the winter. The week before Christmas was insanely busy and bitter cold here. I was working 12 hour days and ‘A’ was the only one to really tend to the dogs. When it’s in the negative temps, the dogs can’t really stand to be outside for too long because their paws get too cold, too fast. Yes, we have booties for them but they are pretty worthless. So on those days we practice training inside and go outside for 5 minute spurts, lol. But what they really need is a good exercise!
But today, today was good. I took Rio out for his own walk and it was probably the best walk we have had. He stayed close to me, paid attention to me and we practiced “sit”, whenever a car would drive by or whenever I would stop walking. Then Lola and I went up to the park, played disc for a little bit and went on a short trek. She absolutely loved it. They are SO much better behaved once they are able to get out, run off that energy and just be dogs.
I will never underestimate the importance of physically exercising your pets. It’s good for their health and mind as well as yours! So not only for the new year…but for life – resolve to keep your dogs (and other pets) in good shape!
Here is a short video taken on my cell phone of Lola today:
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We’ve been through some misbehaviors due to not getting enough exercise here before too!
It happens! Especially with these two young pups. I’ve always said, a tired dog is a good dog. lol.
Great video – I love seeing dogs doing snow zoomies. You are so right when you say they need that exercise…we preach that all the time at SlimDoggy…a well-exercised dog is a well-behaved dog. Easy for us to say living in SoCal 🙂 Thanks for joining the Hop – can we add your photo to our Resolve to Move Photo Albums?
Thank you! Isn’t that the truth…now, if only we lived in CA (or anywhere but MN, lol). Feel free to add a photo from this site to your Resolve to Move Photo album!
Thanks so much for joining!!!
I’m new to your blog and HAVE to remember to add this to my BlogLovin’
Your dogs are gorgeous and thank you for the reminder about the snow. I’m sitting here staring at the sky wondering “when??????” and this post reminded me that when we get dumped on, it’s great for a day or two and then it becomes a nightmare and our dogs don’t understand that spending the day with them playing in the snow (they don’t like to go out alone) isn’t fun for the humans.
Thanks for stopping by my blog! I’m following you on Bloglovin’ and pretty much every social media site :). Excited to be a part of the pet-blogging community! 🙂
We know the drill and agree that exercise is a usual fix. No one like being out in foul weather- trust me Dina HATES the rain! Point blank refuses to leave and goes crazy indoors.
Haha!! Yeah…Minnesota is not good for short haired dogs and wimpy humans, lol.
Oh yes a tired doggie is a good doggie. We know that well around here. 🙂
it is definitely a very true statement! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
You are right on, when us dogs don’t get enough exercise we get naughty. Mom made it a mission from the day she got me to keep me tired and its worked. We aren’t in MN but we had a cold spell for about a week it was even too cold for us to go to the park for like 3-5 days then mom started noticing things torn up. Lesson learned. Love Dolly
Isn’t that the truth!? Thanks for stopping by our page! Hope you had a great New Year’s Eve!
Hey Guys
Being bored and being as cute as you both (so you’ll get away with it!), is a recipe for some mischief! 🙂
Luckily here we don’t get snow, so I get to go out all the time,
Stay warm and have fun,
Your pal Snoopy 🙂
Lucky you! Apparently we need to move. I think that sounds like a good solution. Haha. Thanks for stopping by!
What do you do when a leash walk isn’t enough? I stopped running with my pups (lab/boxer mix and lab/husky mix) and I’m finding daily walks are not getting out their energy. Any ideas?
I feel your pain! We could go for a 5 mile walk and ours would still have energy. We almost always have to let them run. We have a closed in hockey rink that we use during the summer, otherwise we’ll find a fenced in area and play fetch for at least 20-30 minutes or let them run at a dog park. Another idea, that we’ve seriously considered, is a treadmill. I know many friends who have one and swear by it for their dogs.