My Fat Dog: The Book

Too Hot for a Long Walk? Time To Train For Tricks

85 is starting to feel cool in our neck of the woods.  So our dog's not getting the walks she needs.  Until we can get her to a pool or a lake or a river or maybe even a large bucket, I do more training inside. Where to start?  How about here?  Thanks to Johan the Dog for this great library of ways to "get your trick on."  Johan's an agility dog.  How agile?  Why, agile enough to have  his own Twitter feed!

How Far Would You Walk For Your Dogs?

This guy is walking from Austin (TX!) to Boston (with his dogs!) to raise awareness about canine cancers.

Powerwalking with Your Dog

NYC Fox 5's Jodi Applegate has a really fun segment on how she POWERWALKS with her dog in glorious Central Park.  The second part of the segment includes tips on how to make your dog your personal trainer.   

Spring is in the Air, and Your Dog Could Be in the Water...

Time for DockDogs, baby!

Seriously, if your dog is the swimphomaniac my girl is, consider competing. It is So. Much. Fun.

Faith gets in the Swim at Brooklyn's Fido Dog Beach

We caught so many breaks today. We had great weather, a car, a willing dog, and ....dog beach--a fantastic pond in the middle of Brooklyn's Prospect Park made just for dogs.  And the great thing about Faith is that even though she had never seen this body of water before, she jumped right in to retrieve her water toy.

Over and over and over again.  She slept like a baby tonight. 

I've said it in the book, on tv, on radio, I'll say it again: water exercise is just about the best thing on earth for most healthy dogs.  And it makes you feel better, too.

Link: Fido Dog Beach.

Winter Diet and Exercise (and Fashion) Tip for Your Dog: Buy Her A Cute Coat

It's finally winter-ish in Hoboken, and soon we'll be celebrating Faith's eighth (!) birthday.  In acknowledgement of both of those facts, I took her to our local groovy pet emporium, Cornerstone Pets, to try on a winter coat or three or four. Faith only put up with it because she smelled cats somewhere on the premises.  It is never easy to fit our bodacious beagle pit, who has maintained her spectacular weight loss, but still boasts the chest of a pit, and the legs and butt of a beagle.  Thanks to the VERY patient Cornerstone folks,  coat number five was the charm.

In more ways than one.  When Faith is snuggled in her reversible, tartan/red fleece coat (very Audrey Hepburn, if Audrey Hepburn had had fur), she goes outside in cold weather with pleasure. She walks farther, and more comfortably.  And I  feel more secure about giving her a good walk, as opposed to a dash out the door and back.

Keeping your dog warm in the winter doesn't have to be expensive--I've seen some pretty groovy-looking dogs in baggy human sweaters, trotting along, oblivious to their lack of designer duds.  Now, if only I could acquire the same lack of vanity....

Going to the dogs: Pets get their park - The Boston Globe

 Maybe you live in a town where you have an off-leash dog park already...and if you do, hallelujah.  But if you don't, this article provides some background into how to get started, and why to get started.  In Somerville, MA, the dogs have gotten very lucky.

Going to the dogs: Pets get their park - The Boston Globe.

When Pigs Fly...and City Dogs Swim

I am inordinately proud of the fact that I have joined the modern world and uploaded my first video to the video file-sharing megamonster, YouTube.  This is a brief video I took of our dog Faith swimming Queechy Lake in upstate New York.  Swimming rules.  It helped Faith recover from her sprained wrist and lose the pounds that aggravated the injury in the first place.  I recommend it highly to nearly every size, age, and kind of dog.

You would never have guessed from Faith's, er, configuration, that she would be a swimphomaniac--but she will retrieve her water Kong until it sinks to the bottom of the lake....and even then, we've seen her go under the dock to get it back.  She is at her doggiest in the water. Enjoy.

My Fido, My Fitness Trainer

A new study from the University of Missouri paired pet-less people with loaner dogs, to see if taking care of a pet would increase a person's desire to exercise.  You know the answer to this one already, but dig this:  one of the study groups averaged a 14 POUND weight loss over a year.  This builds on another study mentioned in my book, PetFit, where dogs and people dieted and exercised together...and got more bang for their buck than either the "dogs only" or the "people only" group.

When Dogs Fly...Into The Water!

Great piece on the expanding sport of Dock Dogs Big Air.   If your dog is a water retriever, check it out.