Winter doesn’t need to be a synonym for tiredness and lying on a sofa in the comfort of your home. This year, there wasn’t much snow. However, this doesn’t need to stand between you and your dog’s walking outside and having fun.
Some winter dog sports can barely be done without snow, cross-country skiing or dog sled with mud is probably not what you’re looking for. However, there are other sports we can enjoy even without snow. If you like dogtrekking or canicross in summer, you don’t have to take a break in winter. Quite the reverse, this season is great to train endurance and strengthen the capacity of lungs and the heart. Tips on what to do to enjoy your time outside without undesired consequences are in this article.
After all, mushing is enjoyable even without snow. It doesn’t have to be a sled really, one or two dogs can pull a cart, a bike or a scooter. This sport can also be a whole-year thing in its varieties. Your dog doesn’t have to be draft breed to try mushing, all dogs who like pulling can do it and enjoy the activity. You can find a few tips on how to begin here.
If you’re lucky and you live in the mountains or somewhere else with snow, you can use the above-mentioned sled. If you don’t have the pack, don’t be sad. Skijöring is quite some fun as well. You can also harness your dog when going country-skiing. If you’re new in this sport, I recommend going to some less busy routes where stepping aside of the track from time to time won’t be such a problem.
Harnessing is not your thing but you need to occupy or exhaust your dog? You can try coursing – chasing a lure in snow. Even though the racing season is summer, training takes place in the course of the whole year. So, you can come across marked routes with stretched ropes and lures on fields in winter as well. A dog should chase the lure on the route and catch it in the end. With a lot of curves, the route can be even several kilometres long.
You can also enjoy simple fetching in snow. However, colourful fetching aids will be more useful than a typical tennis ball, frisbee or aerobie discs which leave a noticeable mark when they fall will be perfect.
Just don’t forget that a dog needs a special pulling harness for drafting. Another equipment for winter sports which should go without saying is active wear and potentially also shoes for your dog(s).
Kitten Lady describes her activities as kittens’ advocacy and humane education. This all is done by young beautiful Hannah Shaw. She’s a kitten rescuer, spreads the principles of humanity and is an unwavering advocate of animal rights. She decided to...
Several kinds of hedgehog are kept as pets. The most common one is the four-toed hedgehog or an African pygmy hedgehog in other words. This pet which is not very common but is becoming more and more popular can live up to 9 years in captivity and...
More than one artist fell in love with these creatures and looked for inspiration for work in them. One of them was Ernest Hemingway. He is the author of the well-known saying “One cat just leads to another”. He really kept a large number of cats (in...
We have an active and healthy lifestyle. Or at least we try to have. In relation to that, we don’t only think about our own food but also about our dogs’ food. The trend of barfing has already come to the Czech Republic, too. It is a method of feeding...
If you go camping for the first time, it is good to prepare for all various reactions of your furry friend. Do you travel with it by car and by public transport with no problems? Is your dog okay when not sleeping at home, e.g. in a mountain cabin? It...
As the name of this breed suggests, you can’t expect much hair on an American hairless terrier. This small or medium size muscled dog has hair only on its muzzle and eyebrows. But the interesting thing is that puppies are born with an undercoat which...
Let us get this straight, what is monoprotein food? It is wet food (i.e. cans and pouches) which contains only one type of meat, muscles and bowels. And why is it better than common wet food?
A meat bomb in a form of a dog paté or can doesn’t have to be only a reward. If you are planning to go on a long hike – to the mountains or to the valley – you can make the use of a dog meat can. Dogs in move, usually when doing any sport outside, need...
The cause of diabetes is a lack of insulin (a pancreas hormone) or the inability of the body to use it effectively (i.e. the resistance of tissues towards insulin). And it doesn’t matter if you’re a person or an animal. With diabetes, the sugar is...
Runner Dion Leonard could talk for hours about the bond which is created between a man and a dog and also about how an unknown Asian crossbreed dog becomes one of the most famous dogs on planet Earth. He bumped into a dog companion at the ultra-trial...
Even when you cannot or don’t want to take your dog on your holiday with you, you still have many options what to do with it. You can take him to your relatives, accommodate it in a dog hotel, use dog-sitting and other things. It’s not that easy with...
Cats can also be heroes and put their lives at risk to save someone from risky or life-threatening situations. The first cat hero I will introduce you to is Scarlett. She showed her heroism in the most natural form – she saved her kittens. She took...
