Tag Archives: K9 Kamp

#K9Kamp: The little engine that did

Posted on by
9

k9kamp canine fitness blog challenge

This… this was a month. A busy one.

You may recall that October’s K9 Kamp challenge was to do more – specifically, to get active with your dog for an extra 30 minutes a few times per week. You may also recall that I found this challenge a bit daunting, given how busy my month was shaping up to be.

So, how did it go? Well, I did not meet my own personal fitness goals, given that I haven’t seen the inside of my gym since September. (Here’s hoping that November will be better.) I ate pretty poorly this month. I had no motivation. I got off to a really slow start with K9 Kamp, having a lot of trouble squeezing in those extra minutes. I wasn’t sure how I would explain it all to you here on the blog.

via giphy.com

(That GIF, by the way, is from the show Being Erica. If you have not seen it, you are totally missing out. Thank you, Canada. I was lucky that a friend turned me on to this show so that I could catch it when it aired on SOAPnet, but I believe you can still buy or download it. Anyone else a fan?)

Anyway, it turns out that doing more with the dogs is easier than getting myself to the gym. It’s also easier than resisting a delicious cookie. Thank goodness!

Once I realized that I didn’t have to do all of those minutes at once (thanks, Kol’s Notes!), the challenge seemed more achievable. A game of tug here, a game of fetch (or my dogs’ version of it, which is not really fetch at all) there, and the minutes added up before I knew it. So, I guess the lesson from this round of K9 Kamp is that even when you’re busy, it can be done!

With that, another session of K9 Kamp has come to a close. Would I do it again?

via giphy.com

The llama has spoken. I’ll see you next time, fellow Kampers. How did you get active with your dog this month?

Share

#K9Kamp: The Movie

Posted on by
13

Tavish makes his debut as a film star, with an assist from Bella…

We tend to rate Tavish’s energy level on any given day using a sliding scale of Tavishes. One Tavish is pretty energetic. On occasion, I’ve rated him at about fifteen Tavishes. So, it should come as no surprise that he’s making sure we keep moving this month. He’s like an adorable drill sergeant.

Are you participating in K9 Kamp this month? How’s it going for you?

Share

I’ve got 99 problems, but #K9Kamp ain’t one

Posted on by
16

You have no idea how much I’m dying to change that “ain’t” to an “isn’t” – I’m feeling twitchy about it. Really twitchy. Anyway…

So, as you may have noticed, posts have slowed a bit around these parts. September and October have teamed up to kick my ass, but not in a useful, personal trainer way. Instead, they’ve just conspired to keep me from relaxing and having any free time to recharge and work on the blog. (Don’t get me wrong – some of the busy is fun or fun-adjacent. Some of it, however, is the opposite of that.)

In addition to September and October refusing to pack in a few more days so I can get things done, other forces have conspired to keep me from my gym, which is currently closed for the foreseeable future. I was finally in a routine, too. Le sigh. So, I’m basically a hot mess right now on all fronts.

k9kamp canine fitness blog challenge

Enter K9 Kamp.

This month’s challenge? Do more.

Um…

I’ll admit – my first instinct upon learning this month’s challenge was to turn off my laptop, put it in a box, put that box in the closet, secure that closet with a padlock, and swallow the key. (My second instinct was to return the padlock and key and purchase a combination lock instead. Why swallow a key – a key, people – when I could just tear up the paper with the combination?) The idea of somehow doing “more” this month seemed… daunting. (Heck, even this post is late.)

However, my crippling Internet addiction weighed against placing my laptop in quarantine, so here I am. Also, considering the gym embargo, I most certainly do need to be doing more. This month, K9 Kamp is encouraging its campers (kampers?) to get active with your dog, 30 to 40 minutes extra, three to four times per week. The theme is fitness fun and games. Bella was excited when tug appeared on that list, so I guess I have no choice but to go for it. I’m working on a plan to get moving…

Will you be joining us at Kamp? Head on over to Kol’s Notes and Peggy’s Pet Place to find out more about this session and to find out how you can win some great prizes, including some fabulous handmade jewelry from For Love of a Dog.

Share

#K9Kamp: Turn that frown upside down by not sitting around

Posted on by
5

Today is the last day of this session of K9 Kamp. It’s been fun, so I thought I’d send it off with an appropriate farewell. That’s right, today’s links are fit to be read…

  1. Up first, your punny pet names: Richard Simbones and Dane Fonda. (Alternatives for that last one: Jane Fawnda or Mane Fonda.)
  2. We did a lot of walking this time around. For the next session of K9 Kamp, I hope to step it up a bit. I’ll be taking a cue from some of my fellow Kampers, who came up with great ways to stay fit. Among them? Hiking, skateboarding, weightlifting, superhero training, kayaking, and geocaching.
  3. It’s not just about working out though. Being healthy involves eating right too, which would be much easier if I had a chef like this one helping me out.
  4. I’m feeling nostalgic for Kamp already. Can’t we have a few more days of campfire songs and s’mores (in appropriately-sized portions, of course)? Time to pull out the photos and reminisce.
  5. Even though Kamp is over for now, there will still be mini-challenges each month courtesy of our newest coach. I can’t wait (and I know my squishy core can still use some more work).
  6. I’d still like to put in a formal request that Koly engage in some (videotaped) Prancercise, with or without a John Mayer soundtrack. (Pretty please? I’ll even try to see if I can figure out how Tavish can do the Flo in return.)
  7. On a tangentially related note, today happens to be Take Your Dog to Work Day. I wonder if you could bring your dog to the office gym. (Probably not.)

Finally, I leave you with today’s video. I’m kind of in love with it – it makes me want to finally learn how to edit a decent video and come up with something amazing for the next session of K9 Kamp.

Even though this session of Kamp has come to an end, you can still enter to win an awesome grand prize package until Tuesday, June 25. Go check it out!

Finally, here’s what we were up to on the blog this week:

Will you be working out with your dog this weekend?

Share

#K9Kamp: What’s your dog’s walking style?

Posted on by
15

As I mentioned, we’ve been doing a lot of walking for this year’s K9 Kamp. Tavish and I have been supplementing these walks with some fetch and games of tug (with an occasional assist from Bella).

someecards.com - The best part of owning a dog is getting to leave places to go walk it.

Truth. (via sommeecards.com)

There are a lot of benefits to walking the dog, but I’ve come to realize that whether these walks are actually a good workout depends on which dog I’m walking.

Tavish is a speed walker. He’ll stop to sniff something occasionally, but he prefers to walk with all deliberate speed. Bella, on the other hand, prefers a leisurely stroll.

When the two of them are together, things proceed fine for the first few minutes.

Then, Bella starts to slow down, both to sniff things and because she gets tired more easily. She also tends to walk in a zigzag pattern rather than a straight line. If she ends up in front of Tavish, he acts like an impatient driver in traffic, trying to get around the slow-moving vehicle that’s inexplicably hanging out in the fast lane.

Running: I Still Want More Puppies

via giphy.com

Needless to say, walks with Tavish are much more of a workout than ones involving the Bellaface.

So, tell me – what’s your dog’s walking style?

Share

#K9Kamp tips: Walking with your dog

Posted on by
20
She's got her eye on me: I Still Want More Puppies

I think she suspects something…

As I mentioned last week, we’re participating in K9 Kamp yet again. This week, I’ve been working on increasing the duration and intensity of my walks with Tavish to get a better workout.

Maybe we’ll buy matching tracksuits and kick it up in the style department as well. (Don’t worry, I’ll get Bella one too so that she won’t feel left out. And then she’ll give me the evil eye if I even think about putting her in it.)

When we first moved into our current house, I finally had a fenced yard. It made me a little lazy about going for walks, honestly. Bella tires easily these days, so her walks are shorter and less frequent. (She often prefers to amble around the yard and take a nap in the grass, I think. For this and many other reasons, I am pretty sure that Bella is my spirit animal.) However, adding Tavish to our family changed things significantly. He loves going for walks, and his enthusiasm is contagious. (It can also be painful, when his “enthusiasm” lands on my feet or jumps on my legs.)

Anyway, that brings me to the point of this post. (I realize I took a long and winding path to get here, but that’s pretty much par for the course.) If you’re interested in getting fit with your pup but don’t know where to start, might I suggest just grabbing the leash and going for a walk? It’s great for both of you, and it’s an easy way to get moving.  With that in mind, I thought I’d share a cute video I found that discusses the benefits of walking with your dog and offers a few tips.

What did you think of the video? Share your tips and thoughts in the comments!

Next week, I hope to try some new activities with my workout buddy. Stay tuned…

Share

It’s a good thing my dogs like to watch TV…

Posted on by
6

Will wonders never cease? I’m actually delivering your Friday links on Friday!

  1. First up, your punny pet name for the week: Sansa Bark for a dog and Roger Starling for a bird. (Here’s some extra punnage for you. The second one on the list cracked me up.)
  2. It just so happens that Mad Men is back on Sunday night. Are you as excited as I am? Ah, the glory days of advertising…
  3. Speaking of ads, here are a few funny animal ads for your enjoyment.
  4. In other news, Game of Thrones came back last Sunday, so I’m really in TV nerd heaven right now. If I ever make that Game of Bones parody, I will totally be relying on these casting suggestions. (Jon Snow and Ygritte are my favorite doggelgangers, I think.)
  5. You may have noticed I totally just made up a word. What do you think?A dog doppelgänger would totally be a doggelganger, right? (The word doppelgänger is ripe for wordplay. For example, if you happened to be watching an adult film – or even Game of Thrones – and saw someone who looked like you, then you would have just encountered your doppelbanger. See? It’s so versatile.)
  6. Um, anyway… moving on… I can’t quite decide which of these is my favorite. I mean, you can’t go wrong following the motto of House Swanson, but how can I say no to Professor Farnsworth?
  7. This dragon should be an inspiration to us all. (For good measure, here’s a bonus dragon and a bonus dog imitating a dragon!)
  8. On a completely unrelated note, I feel like this revelation is earth shattering (at least for my younger self, who desperately wanted to be on that show). Speaking of old shows, this post totally took me down memory lane (even though some of the shows were after my time.)

Finally, that brings us to today’s video. This Mad Dog intro is quite clever:

Sorry for all of the TV talk today. I promise that I don’t just sit around watching TV all the time. Ask my pups. (Although they don’t seem to mind being couch potatoes from time to time.)

Speaking of pups and not sitting around, you should head over to Peggy’s Pet Place and check out the great blogs participating in the first FitDog Friday Blog Hop. (I didn’t have a chance to get a post up for it today, but I hope to participate in the future. It sounds fun!) In addition, it’s almost time for K9 Kamp again – I can’t wait to enjoy the nice weather with the pups.

What are you up to this weekend?

Share

K9 Kampers Graduate!

Posted on by
19

The fourth challenge is already here? Kamp’s already over? I would like to protest. “Donna Martin graduates! Donna Martin graduates!”

Wait, that’s not right. “Stop the drilling! Stop the oil!”

Er… I mean, “More K9 Kamp! More K9 Kamp!”

Anyway, it’s with a heavy heart that I write about the last week of K9 Kamp. The final challenge required me to exercise (wordplay!) some independent judgment (not my strong suit) and choose what to do with Bella this week. That’s right – it was Kamper’s Choice! (I initially typed that Khoice… oops.) Read on to find out how we did.

Continue reading →

Share

#K9Kamp: Hold on a doggone minute

Posted on by
18

Wow… we just finished the third K9 Kamp challenge. How did that happen? I guess time does fly when you’re having fun.

This week’s challenge was called Just One Doggone Minute to Win It. This challenge recognizes that sometimes life gets in the way of staying fit. However, we all have some free minutes in there, so Kampers were encouraged to find a way to make those minutes count! Read on to find out how we did… Continue reading →

Share