Yesterday Simba was just restless - wanting to be in on everything, prowling around and snatching things, etc. When Mark came home he wouldn't leave the poor man alone - wanted to play all the time. I had to go out last night so I suggested Mark take Simba to the local dog park in the hopes he'd find another dog to play with....success!! He spent the first few moments playing "keep away" from Mark (not that hubs chased him or anything, but it's obvious that Simba was having great fun zooming away and then approaching, etc) but then he found another dog, a 6 month old Border Collie/German Shepherd cross, and I guess they spent a good 20 minutes zooming around and having a great old time playing. I was glad to hear it - that's the first time he's been able to do that since we've got him in June! Weekly visits to the dog park I order, methinks!! ;D
Re: Fun, fun, fun! i am so pleased for you lisa, this sounds like the turning point for simba, just what he needs to burn that energy, jasper would love a good play with simba,
Re: Fun, fun, fun! Ah I'm so happy ,I've felt so sad for Simba when you have said he hasn't got any pals .....although I know he's loved to bits (Knittingate gate aside!)it will be good for him running off some energy in a positive natural way too....and buy you a bit of peace and quiet x
Re: Fun, fun, fun! Lisa, I am thrilled for you and of course Simba having a friend to play with, this is real progress you must be so pleased. Helen xxx
Re: Fun, fun, fun! That's just great It sounds like he's very friendly towards other dogs, which is terrific.
Re: Fun, fun, fun! Yes, he really does love to meet and greet other dogs...I do wish I could have been there to see it, but I'm glad it happened all the same. The only bad part is that with the turning seasons the dog park will get less and less populated, I am sure. It will be interesting to see if anyone goes out there in the winter...i kinda doubt it but you never know. It's not like anyone will be shovelling it... :
Re: Fun, fun, fun! I lived in Boston for a couple of years Lisa, and I always wondered how people exercised their dogs in the winter, when there is deep snow, especially in rural areas. The roads are snow ploughed, but there aren't really a lot of pavements (sidewalks) for pedestrians... How do you manage?
Re: Fun, fun, fun! Well, municipal Bylaws are such that people have to keep their sidewalks shovelled, or risk a fine. *Most* people do, but you do get the odd ones who let it all pile up. But even in that case a path is eventually made by people walking through it .... although that was such a pain when my kids are young and you're trying to push a stroller...grrr.. So it's okay to walk around the town, and our in-town walking trails are all plowed by the town. Out if town, where I like to walk in the fields, etc, it's trickier, but there's lots of people who have snowmobiles, which will pack down the snow enough for walking on. I am thinking of in investing in a pair of snowshoes, however - the new ones they have now are lightweight and much easier to use than the old ones. If enough people use the dog park in winter, it will stay packed down enough that it's usable. I kinda doubt it though...but it will be interesting to see....we have some ski trails that lots of people use to walk their dogs on (which is irritating as that makes them rubbish for skiing) so I will likely use those as well....hopefully ON my skis, if I can trust Simba enough for off-leash by that point....
Re: Fun, fun, fun! Ha! I have visions of you on skis with a belt and bungee lead! I'm not sure of the terminology, but is this canicross when it is done running? LOL.
Re: Fun, fun, fun! Actually, Jac, there IS such a sport. It's called "skijoring"! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skijoring I have actually toyed with doing this....however I need to look into it more. I live in a small town, and the nearest place I could go for training is 1 1/2 hours away....but perhaps someone around here knows of somewhere closer. I actually saw the harness and everything for sale this summer when I was on holidays (in California, no less ) but I need to research it a bit more. And Simba needs to be a bit more responsive to commands before I would even think of it!! : I think it would be fun, though.... ;D
Re: Fun, fun, fun! At least if he took off over the horizon you'd be very close behind I think it'd be a total blast. Maybe you can learn how to train him yourself?
Re: Fun, fun, fun! At least if he took off over the horizon you'd be very close behind ;D ;D ;D ;D imagine what that would look like,hilarious ...a bit like me when Dexter went after the beagle....minus the sledge!!!
Re: Fun, fun, fun! I press the quote and delete what I don't want but if I quote anybody I don't get the blue hightlight? Hmmmm?
Re: Fun, fun, fun! Whatever you want to quote should end up with these 'quote' things at either end: [quote ] stuff you want to quote [/quote ] (but minus the spaces after 'quote' which I put in there to stop it looking like a quote...). Note that the final 'quote' has a / before it.
Re: Fun, fun, fun! I think that looks perfect for Simba - maybe you could get a book or something to do the training. It also looks terrific fun.
Re: Fun, fun, fun! Lisa I think you and Simba should go for it! Please do equip yojrself with one of these headband video thingys first as we would love to share the experience ;D ;D
Re: Fun, fun, fun! Well, it could be verrryyy interesting, that's for sure.... ;D I am actually quite tempted, BUT....it would mean that he is taught to pull on lead, which I know COULD mean that this is just something he learns for this specific situation, BUT it might mean that he translates it into pulling all the time on lead. I'm not sure I want to risk that...I'll have to do some reading on it and see how others handle it. The other thing is that as far as I know there are no other people around here doing this, so I would not have any instructors, etc. Hmm....will have to think about this further....
Re: Fun, fun, fun! [quote author=Lisa link=topic=2641.msg27150#msg27150 date=1379889866] I am actually quite tempted, BUT....it would mean that he is taught to pull on lead, which I know COULD mean that this is just something he learns for this specific situation, BUT it might mean that he translates it into pulling all the time on lead. [/quote] He'd need a special harness for pulling wouldn't he? I bet you could train differently depending on what he was wearing...harness for pulling, collar for walking?
