Easy Like Sunday..."Living with Your Pet" Tips

We think it's a tad ironic that we're providing these pet care tips to you for leisurely reading while you're sipping coffee on a Sunday morning, when today's tips focus on getting out there and exercising (yes, even running) with your dog. What's even more ironic is that Parental Unit doesn't even do much walking, let alone running until she's had about three huge (barrels, not cups) of tea and eaten a breakfast fit for a post marathon reward.

However, the point, we think, is to actually implement these tips after leisurely reading them, which likely will involve some expenditure of energy...

Human and canine actually expending energy. Photo courtesy of Dog Channel.

We've culled today's "running with your dog" tips from Dog Fancy's website, whose judgement and opinion we respect. We like that before they even get into the do's and don't's of taking on that running routine, they tout the benefits right up front-to keep you motivated to at least finish reading! But the key seems to be, as it is with most ventures with your dog or otherwise, to prepare: both you and your dog should be cleared for jogging or running by your respective doctors, make sure your pooch is  leash trained (take it from us, when I see a squirrel, we'll be running not jogging), and always do a warm-up and cool-down, to prevent injury and soreness post work-out. So think ahead, folks, please don't just start running with us in tow.

But what we really like about this article is that they provide links to lots of other exercise ideas to share with your dog if running isn't your bag. Note: I do jog with Parental Unit (nothing she does could be construed as running), and we've had some near misses (can you say "big trees"?). We re-started our jogging routine with the advent of warm weather, and after four times out, Parental Unit promptly got a sinus infection from all that heavy breathing of pollen, and we had to quit for a few weeks. But we'll cautiously try again after the trees have stopped launching their beautiful flowers, and we'll let you know how she's we're progressing.

Share