As we mentioned last week, we’ve joined in on the fun with Koly & Kelly and the gang for the K9 Kamp 4-week Fitness Challenge! The challenge for week #1 was Walking on Sunshine but since we are heading into our rainy season down here, maybe we should call it Running from Rainstorms! The assignment was to try new ways to “brighten up” your walking…and we didn’t let the weather dampen our spirits!

Daisy and I already have a pretty consistent walking routine but it’s gotten somewhat predictable so we decided to spice things up a bit by adding some variety each day this week. A couple of the days that involved unplanned sprints since we got caught in HUGE downpours – we’ll call that “interval training”. Here’s a few of the other ways we changed things up a bit this week:

Balance Beam Walking: Daisy already loves walking on the curb and has pretty great balance, so I decided to hop on up there behind her and see how long we could keep walking at a steady pace before one of us fell off. This turned out to be more challenging than I expected because she kept stopping and turning around to wait for me! It’s also really difficult to get a photo while balance-walking AND holding a leash but it was good for a laugh and we’ll keep practicing since it was so much fun!

Nature Walk: We took in a change of scenery and got off the beaten path with a nature walk this week. Daisy found lots of new smells to sniff so it was slow going at first but we enjoyed it! That is, until we got home and I counted all of my mosquito bites!

Stair Climbing: To be honest, we live on the top floor in our building so we already climb stairs several times a day. Since we were looking for ways to boost our activity level this week, we took advantage of the stairs during the rainy days and made a few extra trips up and down. I highly recommend practicing stair climbing with your pup if he or she isn’t used to it. I’ve brought other dogs over to our place while dog walking or pet sitting and had more than one pup freak out or actually take a tumble because they weren’t sure what to do! I’ve also nearly fallen down the stairs myself when their leash got wrapped around my ankles, so practice with treats a few steps at a time and soon they will love stair climbing as much as Daisy does!

Low Calorie Training Treats: We all know that we work extra hard and try to do our very best when there is an incentive and dogs are no exception! This week I let Daisy try out a new Lickable Dog Treat from PetSafe called Lickety Stik during our fitness challenge. It’s the perfect treat for K9 Kampers because it’s all-natural, and there is only 1 calorie in every 10 licks! Plus, I like that this handy treat is made in the USA and comes in a no mess rollerball dispenser so it’s great for taking on the go without stuffing messy treats into your pockets.  If you are interested in getting your own Lickety Stik, (short commercial break) they come in all-natural Chicken, Liver or Bacon flavors and you can find Lickety Stik Lickable Dog Treats at Amazon! They cost under $7 each or around $18 for a 3 pack and are eligible for Free Shipping! So far, I’m guessing one container will last us about 2-4 weeks.

So, those are a few of the highlights from our first week! How did you do with Week #1 of K9 Kamp Fitness Challenge? Leave us a comment to let us know you stopped by!