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).
Did you know that the domestic cat which is now kept as a pet all over the world, is probably a domesticated form of the wild cat, specifically of its subspecies the African wildcat, European wildcat and Asiatic wildcat?
Apart from regular care for the fur and dog’s teeth we should include also the inspection and cleaning of the eyes and ear inspection in the list of everyday tasks. Even though the cats are rather known for cleanliness, it’s important also for a...
Cat is a perfect tool for hunting. It owes it to the dozens of years of evolution. While in dogs, their physical signs have been emphasised or suppressed, cats got to keep, apart from several exceptions, their main anatomical features unchanged. In...
According to various statistics, the number of cats in our country is increasing. Not only dogs, but also cats belong to increasingly more common pets. So, it can happen to us more often, that we'll meet an abandoned cat in the street and we're...
Some dogs take the arrival of a new family member in a hard way. Previously, we described how to prepare them for this situation already before the baby even arrives home and today, we will take a look at the introduction itself.
It's no longer a strange thing when a municipality sets up a dog park or a dog playground. Due to frequent regulation of off-leash movement of dogs, this should, however, often be obligatory. Do you know how to behave in such places so that you...
Another possible sport at which you can play with your dog and exercise with them at the same time, is the Dog Puller. You can practice it with all the dog breeds, no matter the size or age.
Nowadays, cats are increasingly more often becoming members of our households. Cat toilets producers are adapting to this trend as well. They can provide cats with a greater comfort in their daily need. From the perspective of the owners, the producers...
Vacation time is finally here and many of us are planning where they will be headed this year. If you decide to go for an adventure by car and to take your dog friend with you as well, a bit of advice might come in handy on how to provide safety for...
Of course that we won’t talk about how to teach a dog the swimming technique. We want to talk about how to teach the dog to get used to water and how to make swimming a positive experience for it. Since not every one of them trusts water and some are...
If you’re planning to bring a new addition home and it doesn’t matter whether it’s a kitten or an adult cat, it is necessary to prepare the flat for it as well. Do you know what will the animal need and what you shouldn’t forget about or how to choose...
No matter how thorough we are with the prevention, a situation might come up when a dog or a cat will get to a poisonous thing, whether it’s by our inattention or it's somebody else’s fault. That’s why it’s not off-topic to prepare yourself for the...
