I’ve got five winter activities you can do with your dog to keep you both active this winter! Don’t hibernate! Hibernation is for bears and is not healthy for humans and dogs! Winter can be as much fun as the other seasons if you open your mind to the possibilities! At my house winter is our favorite and most active season, if you can imagine that!
5 Winter Activities For You And Your Dog
1. Walk or Run as if it is any other season!
Just because it is cold out or snowy, is not an excuse to stop walking. Most dogs are just fine outside in the winter. Some breeds may need a coat, but coats are easy to find in stores or online. Rather than sitting on the couch get yourself dressed up warm and take your dog for a walk. The cold air is so refreshing! You and your dog will both feel better and be so much happier if you get out and move. If you are a runner, bundle up and keep on running outdoors. Treadmills are boring and a run outside with your pup is much more fun!
2. Get outside and play!
Don’t simply send your dog outside and expect them to keep themselves busy. Bundle up and go out with your dog. Toss the tennis ball, throw the Frisbee, play chase, or dig a snow tunnel. It will be fun for both of you and it will burn off some puppy energy. Do be careful of icy conditions! Like humans, dogs can fall and really injure themselves on ice!
3. Work on training indoors and outdoors!
Winter is a great time to work on obedience or trick training in the house. While watching TV, get up and work on some training during commercial breaks. If you do sports like we do, tracking or nose work, go out and practice. The cold weather changes the way odor travels which is a nice challenge for us dogs to work through. Don’t let us get rusty over the winter! We love to be outside working on our nose work or tracking!
4. Take a fun class or two or three!
Dog school is so much more than obedience these days. There are a myriad of sports for fun or competition, and even classes for senior dog enrichment. Why not check with your favorite or local dog school to see what they offer during the winter months. Most schools have websites where you can sign up online! It’s a great time to try something new! Bailie and Madison are taking agility for ten weeks to see if they like it or not to keep them busy during the winter months.
5. Take your dog shopping!
Taking your dog shopping may not seem like a big deal, but it is so important for your dog. Many stores like Home Depot, smaller hardware stores, car dealerships, and others allow dogs, but you can always bring your pup along to a pet store. Going shopping helps with socialization, practicing manners, and learning to not fear different environments. Besides all that, it is a huge mental workout for a dog with all the sights and smells. Your dog will most likely want to nap on the drive home!
Why sit home being a couch potato with your dog? Get out and enjoy the season, try something new, and do it with your best friend, your dog! Both of you will be happier, and feel better about yourselves if you get out and do something!
Now that I have a 4 year old I can do more activities than I could do with BJ. I used to take BJ to Bloomies and he loved it because everyone would play with him even when he was in his dog stroller. I have to be careful with the shopping. It cost me fortune when Duncan and i went to the pet store yesterday – a harness and a puffer coat. BJ was 16 so the eight coats I still have are too big. Duncan is a 14. Maybe I can stretch him.
You need to find an alterations person 🙂 Stores are good in the winter.
I LUV da cold, but my humans, not so much. So we just make shure to play inside a LOT on cold days.
This sub zero weather makes us all really wild. I guess it wakes us up completely!
Great tips. Mom is still cracking up at your beautiful glasses
Lily & Edward
Little puppies playing dress up. Madison always wants to be just like Bailie!
the mama nodded the whole time with her head and at #5 it was a headbanging…. pawsome tips!!!
LOL! Better get her some aspirin! Now take her outside for a romp.
Winter is our most active time of the year too so we try to get out and do all the fun things while we can!
We enjoyed our invigorating -10 degree walks this morning. The air is so nice!
WE don’t like the COLD… BUTT we DO like to go to Home Depot and Tractor Supply.. and playing INDOOR Games… OH and once or twice a Day… we DO take MOM outside… to Gather our Poops… She DOES love doing THAT… no matter the weather…
Moms all seem to love it when we drop a load, so much so, they want to keep it safe in a sealed bag!
We are two for four this week. You slept on Monday, we slept on Tuesday and today we are both getting exercise! #GreatMinds It must be why we are the perfect couple. ♥ XXOO Bentley
Play hard, rest hard! We fit so well together!
Grrreat post! In all weather my mom still takes me for a couple miles on a walk at least once a day.
That is pawsome. We all need to get out and get some exercise no matter what the weather.
Wonderful photos to go with your great advice! Very important to get out there and exercise.
Purrs xx
Athena and Marie
Thank you. We love to be fit dogs!
These are great ideas but with our frigid temps, I don’t know!
-10 this am and we all were out for about half an hour walking. We love it. It makes us all wild!
I used to be a winter hibernator! The dogs still got outdoors, but I would often throw the ball from inside the house! LOL Once Luke came along that all changed. I knew I had to get outside to get a puppy his exercise, and then it just became a habit. Now we all get outside almost every day, and I enjoy it. I do have to admit if it gets too cold or the yard is icy though, we aren’t out there for quite as long….but we still try to get our daily fresh air.
The icy stuff is the only thing that slows us down, but we still get out, just short distances and very carefully.
We love your ideas for family fun times!
We love fun as you know.
Great ideas. Mom and I took a freezing cold walk at the park today. She said, “No sense having a brand new hat with a giant ball on top if we don’t take it our for a spin once in a while…” So we did!
Love and licks,
Cupcake
Awesome! If you dress for the weather it is a lot of fun for everyone!
guess I’ll try the training class – beginning Rally – starts next week. I’m excited, mom is no so much – she is more desperate. Chablis will whine, but a kid has to try new things.
Elbe
ps we got our first snow last night and today. I got to race around in it!
Enjoy the snow. Mom wants to do rally with Madison, and maybe Bailie, but not yet. First Madison needs to learn some more obedience, and Bailie may need a refresher course!
That picture of Madison with the glasses on … OH MY so cute. Great ideas, Emma!! Great post. your doodle friend Dash
Madison wants to do what Bailie does, so she found a pair of glasses to wear!
What great ideas!!! We have even been out playing in the rain and ice!
Smileys!
Dory, Jakey, Arty & Bilbo
Sadly, we only have ice to play on right now, but we are out on it, carefully.
Great tips here! Delilah and I used to take classes during the winter, and then Sampson did his CCL tear and money got tight, so we got away from it.
Walking is our thing. And we do it consistently, the only time we don’t is when it’s icy. As you said, icy can be dangerous, and those are the days we stay inside and find something else to keep the mind and body moving.
We still walk when it is icy, but Mom has her spikes and we take it slow and not so far. Such a bummer with Sampson!
It’s so tempting to just stay inside! This article gives the reasons why it’s important to get out there. I’m definitely sharing this with my husband and kids.
Madison is so freaking adorable in those glasses. She’s too much!
She is a good sport and such a good puppy!
I wanna hibernate!!! Those are good ideas to get moving.
We love being out in the cold and snow, but this winter we keep getting ice which makes it not so much fun because you really are limited even if you want to be outside.
We may get back out training soon. Hubby has not been allowed to really exercise in the cold but he has the clear now and cold has not been bothering him as much.
That is good. We have a lousy warm front moving through this week which I’m sure will head your way. Maybe that will help.
Luckily I live in California and we usually have great weather! But a trip to petsmart is always fun. I like to capture photos of my dog with https://photoboothsac.com