Traveling with my dog Savannah has always been pretty simple because she LOVES car rides but this past weekend I came back to Indiana from a visit home to Pennsylvania. Savannah just hasn't been herself. Not eating a lot, and mainly being destructive.... not okay! Let me confess something though it's not completely all Savannah Bananas fault. It's partially my fault. Why you ask? Because life gets busy..... Between me traveling, getting ready to move, working, getting my life in order I don't get Savannah her essential exercise she needs! As I started getting annoyed today with Savannah because was being destructive I stopped, paused, and evaluated that I'm slacking in my role as dog mom and caregiver. When we as pet parents decide to adopt an animal ( please adopt don't shop!!!) we agree to feed, water, give them shelter, and give them proper exercise but that's easy to say in the beginning because your excited to get your new animal companion home with you. We don't realize life does get busy!!!
Okay now what? Life does get busy but that doesn't been the world is ending for your animal or yourself. My dilemma for the day/week so I had to start thinking what can I do to give Savannah exercise and not be bored? That's why I'm blogging about this today because it's a real life in the moment problem! Here are a few ideas I came up with for Savannah:
1. Doggie daycare (expensive so decided not to do that right now but still a good option)
2. Dog park (the best option for me!)
3. Find the dog a hobby!!! (Which means Agility classes, games classes, etc.)
4. Food/fun puzzles (you can make your own!)
5. Take for a walk (at least once a day for a 30-45 mins)
6. Play time inside or outside anywhere with fun toys like a rope, frisbee, etc
There's lots more ideas than these six but the above ideas are my favorite. Savannah will be 6 years old next month. I swear as she gets older her behavior is getting worse but then I realized I have been slacking on the exercise department for her. Most of the time the dogs aren't at fault, it's us humans.
Moral of this blog... first, both human and animals aren't perfect, second, when you get angry at your animal take a deep breath redirect the angry to fixing the problem not making the problem worse, and third, nothing is impossible so stay positive! Animals feel our energy and act on our energy. Good luck to all of you animal parents out there because life does get busy but we can do this together if we help each other out with ideas, communication, patience, and compassion for each other two and four legged!
With Love
Kristina 💚
