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Heatwave

The first real heat wave of the summer hit us over the past week, with many days in the mid 30s Celsius, and some days getting close to 40! It is definitely more of a challenge to get out with my bears when it is that hot since they have a double coat and can heat up really quickly! We were able to find some ways around that though by scheduling our walks for earlier in the morning and later in the evening. We didn’t make it to the dog park at the beach as much either as the sand would have burned their feet (not to mention the pavement). We stuck to shorter walks through the neighbourhood for the most part, sticking to the shadier streets and the grass over in the park by the ravine.

Benson Goes To The Vet

Benson was due for his shots so we made a vet appointment for him. Unlike Whiskers, who will do anything to avoid a trip to the vet, the dogs LOVE it for some crazy reason! As soon as we get there they start jumping up at the door and are always super excited to go in and get some attention! I have never actually been inside the vet with Benson…he came home during the first lockdown but clearly they are doing something right in there! And it turns out that the big guy may be suffering from some seasonal allergies as he has been chewing himself and scratching all over excessively…He’s on some meds for it now and it seems to have subsided a bit which is great because I hate seeing him so uncomfortable and was worried he’d end up with a hot spot! It was also a super hot walk that day, but the south side of the street had some shade so we just took our time and drank LOTS of water!

Berners in the Mist

We had some rain during the hot days of the past week, which made the beach an almost surreal scene to behold! There was STEAM coming of the water, and in the dog park you could barely see more than a few feet out into the water! It was like the city didn’t exist and you were all alone in this little bubble! It was so beautiful to witness!

The Chickens Get a New Sign

Not a great surprise, but with the Leafs out of the hockey playoffs the chickens changed their sign. They are all about love this month with a special shoutout to Pride Month! Apparently the chickens escaped their yard over the past week, and the neighbours had to chase the down through the neighbourhood and bring them back to their coop! I would have LOVED to have seen that! Chickens on the loose in Toronto, who would have guessed???

Best Buddies

A trip to the beach would not be complete without running into some of Grace and Benson’s best buddies along the way! First we met up with Gabby for a little romp, but Benson absolutely adores who we met next…Judge is a beautiful dog and lives next to the beach. It is inevitable that he is sitting out on his balcony and whines and barks as soon as he sees us! He came down for some play, and Benson is just in love with him. I love watching those two boys roll around in the grass together! Grace can be pretty hit and miss these days though, too cool for that apparently.

Puppy Love

On one of our trips over to the park at the start of the ravine, we ran into not only one but TWO adorable little puppies!!! One of them was a three and a half month old Australian Sheppard and the other one was a four month old Golden Lab! How fun is that?!? Of course my daughter and I had to get right in there for some cuddles! Benson LOVES puppies, and it was so sweet to see him lie down on the grass with those two little puppies climbing all over him!! Grace was her usual uppity self and had no time for them…She has taken this attitude lately with puppies that if they get too close or try to play with her she growls at them, scaring not only the owners but the puppies too! But she really doesn’t mean any harm, she is just letting them know her boundaries and she would never harm anyone. It just sounds like a big deal…

The Rock Snake

One of the kids in the neighbourhood had a brilliant idea to start a rock snake to see how much it could grow! I love walking along the boardwalk and seeing all the painted rocks! There are some stunning rocks and cute messages and it has really gained a lot of traction! We painted a few rocks and have added them to the snake, but we are still planning on painting more!! What a great idea and fun way to bring people together!

Overall it was a really great week for us! We had a lot of fun walking around and finding new things to explore! The dogs really missed the dog park and were super excited to see all their friends after a few days! The forecast looks a bit cooler over the next week, so we will be sure to get down there more and continue on new adventures!!!

You can still donate and join us on the challenge HERE! It is for charity and you get the bonus of getting more active and healthier!! Win win!

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The post Woof Walk Challenge – Week 4 Update! first appeared on Help! I've Got Pets.

This post may contain affiliate links at no additional cost to you.  By making your purchases through the links on this website HIGP may make a small percentage at no direct cost to you. HIGP only promotes products we use & truly believe in. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Please refer to my Privacy and Disclosures for further information. HIGP thanks you for your support!

Glen Stewart Ravine

The pups and I spent a lot of time exploring the Glen Stewart Ravine over the past week. The ravine is a stunning walk where you feel like you are in a different world, never mind in the middle of a big city! We are incredibly lucky and blessed to have this ravine a short two block walk away from our house!

The Start – Glen Stewart Park

When we are planning on going over to the ravine, we usually start by heading over to the Glen Stewart Park which is at the south end of the ravine. There are usually a lot of neighbourhood dogs out in the park at any given time of the day so Grace and Benson get a nice visit and play in at the start of our walk!

The Ravine

After Grace and Benson have had some play time with their friends we head north through park and up to the start of the actual ravine. The very north end of the park is closed off for construction now so we have to loop around to the street for a short bit. The dogs always get really excited when they see where we are going! It is a great option for a nice walk in the city on the hotter days when the beach isn’t an option.

Wildlife

Besides birds and typical city wildlife such as squirrels, there are BIG warning signs when you head in about the wildlife in the ravine. There are coyotes in the ravine and likely some fox visitors as well. This can be something to keep in mind in particular if you have smaller dogs. My daughter and I have heard them howling at night in there on some of our evening walks, something you definitely don’t expect to hear in the city!

The Scenery

As I mentioned above, the scenery once you get in the ravine is nothing short of breathtaking! It is like you walked into some sort of a fantasy world! The ravine is lush and green, with giant and rare trees such as Red Oak and Red Maple. The city sounds are non-existent. Some parts of the 1.3km trail are dirt path, but much of the trail is an elevated boardwalk with railing to keep people and pets from venturing off the path. There are also several spots on the trail where you can take staircases up back into the neighbourhood. If you take the whole trail to the end, you end up back on Kingston road. The dogs love the ravine with all the new and interesting smells! There is also the Ames Creek which runs through the ravine where the dogs love to stop and have a drink. It really is a great option to keep everyone cooler on hot days and still get our walks in!

Kiera Gets Leashed

If you have already read the post where Kiera gets leashed then you know what comes here! Kiera is one of the dogs that we run into on our morning walks over to the dog park. And for some reason she is quite taken with me, and will ignore and run away from her walker to come find me! Over the past week she has started becoming a little possessive even, snapping at other dogs I pay attention to! It really is unusual since she is not my dog and apparently doesn’t even do this with the owner…The result is that poor Kiera gets leashed when we are in the dog park! I feel so bad about it, but she is still allowed some play with her buddy Benson while we work to try to stop this behaviour.

Play Time With Frost!

Frost is a huge long-coated Collie that lives a block over from us. Grace and Benson have known him since they were first home and they are all really good friends! When we walk by his house and he is outside, we are usually invited in for some play time! We had been over at the Glen Stewart Park and were headed home one day and Frost was out! We went in with Zoey, who lives a couple houses down from us, and everyone had a great play! Grace in particular is enamored with Frost and it is so great to watch the two of them bounce around and play!

Benson Gets in a Fight

One of the downsides of the dog park is that even with well behaved dogs there is always the risk that some tempers will flare. Benson had the zoomies and was running full force around the park, with a couple other dogs running with him. When Sully joined in, I thought nothing of it. Sully is a GIANT Irish Wolfhound who’s head comes up to my chin when he comes over to say hi and get a treat. Benson and Grace have known him forever without any issues. So when his body language with Benson changed and he stiffened up and went into attack mode I was really surprised. I was screaming for Benson to come over, but he just couldn’t manage to get away from Sully and had to fight back to protect himself. It was really scary to see two big dogs fighting with each other like that. The walker got Sully leashed and off Benson, and the big guy came running right to my side. He had cried out in pain at one point, so I checked him over and was relieved nothing was bleeding. But looking in his mouth, he was bloody on his gums around a few of his teeth. Sully was about the same. The next day when Sully came sauntering over to greet us I was really nervous, but him and Benson went nose to nose without any issues! I was really relieved and there were no incidents on that day, almost like it never happened.

Rain came overnight, so the dogs have little interest in going out right now being that they are divas and apparently can’t get wet…unless it’s in the lake or creek! Last week certainly had no shortage of adventure, and we are looking forward to seeing what the next week brings!

The post Woof Walk Challenge – Week 3 Update! first appeared on Help! I've Got Pets.

This post may contain affiliate links at no additional cost to you.  By making your purchases through the links on this website HIGP may make a small percentage at no direct cost to you. HIGP only promotes products we use & truly believe in. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Please refer to my Privacy and Disclosures for further information. HIGP thanks you for your support!

Temperatures Heating Up

It was a hot, hot week for the most part which slowed us down a bit as my dogs aren’t physically able to be out for long periods of time in extreme heat. Their black double coats ensure that they heat up really quickly! As such, the risk of heat exhaustion is a real possibility to take into consideration when out and about. We went on shorter walks as a result, and limited our time to earlier or later in the day so that they were not out in the mid-day heat and sun.

The Result

Even with the less frequent walks we were able to hit the 50km mark! It really is amazing to me to realize how much we are actually walking now that I am tracking it! I have gotten into the habit of making sure to check my Fitbit before we head out the door and right when we get back (I use a Fitbit Charge for my tracking!).

The Chickens

Benson makes sure that we go on our morning visit to see the chickens and bunnies we found in our first week! He particularly likes it when they are out of their pen and roaming around the yard as he gets a good and close view! I think one peck on the nose would be all it takes to scare the big guy though, as anyone who has read the recent post on Benson is aware that he is scared of just about EVERYTHING! But brooms in particular…

Well Behaved Dogs

Since Grace and Benson are more tired after their walks, I am finding that their behaviour in general has improved. They are much calmer in the house, and MUCH less destructive! They just don’t have the energy to get up to no good! And on walks their behaviour has improved as well, although they still like to get down and wrestle but not nearly to the same extent! I think that they were bored a lot of the time before so this has been a great solution for us all around!

Cooler Days Ahead

Temperatures dropped overnight and are expected to remain cooler for the next couple of days. I am sitting on the couch under a blanket but it is MUCH more comfortable for my bears. I hope they are ready for it…because I plan on taking advantage of this to add more kilometers to our roster!!! I expect that all of the dogs at the dog park will be full of energy today and we will see more play time instead of everyone heading to the water to stand in it and cool off!

Donate

There is still time to donate to our challenge if you haven’t already done so! It is for a great cause, and you can read about it in my Woof Walk post HERE! There are also links to sign up for the challenge, and I still have some promo codes to give away so you could be able to do it for free! Promo codes are limited so be sure to sign up to get yours before they are gone!! Alright guys, you ready to go for a walk???

The post Woof Walk Challenge – Week 2 Update! first appeared on Help! I've Got Pets.