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!

Wonky Summer Weather

Besides the heat, it has been raining cats and dogs! Almost every single day we have had torrential downpours that last as little as an hour or even several hours! This has put our schedule off a little…Benson definitely reminds me, sitting in the living room grunting at me when it’s walk time!

We have still managed to get out and about though, my dogs don’t really care if they are wet or not. Unlike me…But we have been finding enough opportunities to squeeze our walks in!

Meeting Up With Our Buddies

Grace and Benson have definitely gotten to know the dogs where we walk! Usually heading down to the beach in the morning and the ravine park at night, we run into who we consider the regular crew often! If we miss a day for weather or another reason, the excitement is palpable when we do run into our buddies again!

Today little Kiera looked like she was trying to ride Benson’s back she was so excited to see him! And I usually get quite the warm welcoming committee as well…Since I’m known to often have treats on hand! I actually made a new conquest this week as well!

Hara is a rescue dog that belongs to one of the walkers at the dog park. Typically quite skittish, it surprised me when she started coming to me for treats and rubs! Similar to Kiera…Where the dogs will come to me before the walkers! She even tried jumping up into my arms yesterday! I have to admit, I love the attention from all the dogs as I find it quite therapeutic.

Benson Gets Leashed!

We all know the story of how Kiera started getting leashed around me. Well, after finding the dead squirrel near the bushes in the park he found half a PIZZA in the bushes! Since then, I simply cannot keep him from running in there and coming out covered with burrs!

If he does it once, that’s it. Out comes the leash!! Grace even had a moment over the past week where she took off into the bushes and I couldn’t find her! At one point all I could see was her nose poking out. She was hiding from me! She finally came, covered in mud and burrs and it was HER turn to get leashed!

I’m really not sure what the fascination is with that particular park! We haven’t been going quite as much as a result. And when we do go I tend to stick at the end where there are NO bushes! I’m tired of spending over an hour a day combing burrs out of their fur…

More Allergies

It really has been quite the year for us and allergies. I thought the dogs were better and haven’t had Benson on Reactine as much. But all FIVE of the animals started shaking their heads over the past week! I bundled ALL of them into my car and off to the vet.

Finding nothing wrong again with their ears, the vet suggested allergies as the likely culprit. With Benson, his ears were inflamed but no sign of infection at least. He got an ear treatment and will need to go back in tomorrow for the second one.

With Grace, she has been chewing her front legs to the point they are scabby. And licking her belly non-stop. Smelling very sour even immediately after a bath. Allergy shot for her…but she seems much better and perkier now on our walks as I think she is much more comfortable! The cats all have drops too…

Grace Protests

The past couple of days have been HOT. And humid. Making walks a lot less comfortable. So as soon as Gracie finds a cooler spot in the shade or on the grass she FLOPS down on her side and refuses to move!

She also finds that she gets a lot of attention from passerby’s by doing this…She is a smart gal that one. Too smart sometimes…

Coaxing with lots of treats usually gets her up and moving again, but there were a couple occasions she absolutely refused to get back up! And she has learned if I drop the leash and walk away she’s free to run the other direction. So a lot of time on our walks was spent sitting and waiting for her highness to decide to move again!

Swimming Time!

To beat the heat, as soon as we get to the beach both dogs are running for the water! Grace spent most of this morning’s walk out paddling around. Guess what my floors are looking like right now…

Benson surprised me today by actually getting almost fully into the water as well! It’s relieving that he is getting more comfortable with the water because I can’t imagine how uncomfortable this heat is making him. But again, my poor floors!

The Water Fountain

In one of the parks we walk through there is a water fountain, but I haven’t seen it on since moving into my house two years ago.

One day last week as we headed home from the park I noticed it was on! Grace and Benson spent a lot of time checking it out and wading in it! I can imagine they thought it was just a giant water bowl!

Queen Street

Quite often when walking home from the park I will take the dogs down Queen Street. Grace thinks this is the BEST because she often gets bombarded with attention! I had thought my dogs would get less attention as adults than they did as puppies, but this has NOT turned out to be the case!

Grace will swing her bottom onto anyone walking behind her…beside her…in front of her…And the LOOK of pure joy on her face when she gets some attention! This is where I really think that I am going to end up taking her for training to be a therapy dog!

It looks like the weather is cooling down the next couple of days, so hopefully we can manage some longer walks. But we are still loving the challenge and having new adventures! I have some ideas where I want to explore over the next week, so stay tuned for that update!

The post Woof Walk Challenge – Week 9 Update! first appeared on Help! I've Got Pets.

Morning Walk Time

Today they started poking their heads up to look at me whenever I moved after 9:00. These dogs love their routine!!

At 9:30 the chaos begins!! Benson will start hopping off the ground and jumping up at me, whining and crying like crazy! Grace just barks at me nonstop! Then I finally drop the “w” word…and that is usually when the wrestling begins…it is pretty much a daily occurrence as anyone who follows us on Instagram knows!

Getting The Dogs Into Their Harnesses

Getting them into their harnesses is also no easy feat! Benson tries jumping at my face while I wrestle it over his big bean! His newest party trick is when I bend over him to fasten the buckle under his chest he sticks his face into my dog walking bag to steal a whole bunch of treats!

Now that Benson is leashed up, time to work on Grace! Her weird habit is as soon as I am leashing Benson she putters over to the food bowl and starts mowing down! I really, really don’t like it that she does this though because bloat is a serious issue with Bernese Mountain dogs and they shouldn’t be eating right before a walk…

Using a treat, I have finally enticed Grace to the door! I can get her leashed up pretty quickly though. Then we are ready to go!

Wild Animals

The morning walk is always the WORST! Grace and Benson turn into full on wild creatures at the end of their leashes and it isn’t unheard of for it to take me twenty minutes or so to get to the end of my block! Benson will start out by trying to grab the leash out of my hand. I still hang onto it though and we end up in a tugging match and he tries dragging me out into the street!!

When he gets enough of that and we get going again we cross over to the other side of the road…and that is when it happens! The first time anyways. That big goofy brain of his tells him it’s WRESTLE time! In the middle of the road!! I’m lucky there isn’t a lot of traffic at that time of the morning…

Making it to Queen Street takes us a lot of work! And I don’t know what it is about Queen Street but it is like they KNOW they have a bigger audience and the shenanigans go on! And always in the MIDDLE of the road!! My dogs have held up traffic and city busses! No one really seems to mind though, everyone finds it pretty amusing when I am begging my dogs to get up off the road and to the sidewalk!

I’m usually already pretty tired of fighting with these two by the time that commotion is all over! But they eventually snap out of it and walk well…for a bit anyways! I know I could get them gentle leaders to curb this behaviour but it really does make people smile and laugh. And when they are walking, they walk really well! They are just really playful and young and I think it might almost make me sad if they outgrow it!

Typically the walk from that point on to the beach goes relatively smooth. Benson must think his name is “Drop it!” and “Leave it!” because he has gotten into the habit of grabbing things off the road! By this time, we’ve made it to the chickens and bunnies and the dogs DRAG me across the road to see them!

Today they were really good on the boardwalk at the beach. A lot of the time they find the boardwalk another great place to have a full on wrestling match! So when we make it along that strip without incident I consider myself lucky! Until we hit the horse poop…that Benson tried to eat…

At The Dogpark

When we got to the dog park today we went in at the smaller side as we usually do and walk over to the big area. This is always when Grace races as far away from me as possible to do her business! Today she did it almost right down at the water! And while I was picking up after her Benson raced along the fence to the opening to the rest of the beach!! Using the touch command to get him back to me, we headed over to the other gate.

Who do I see on the other side of the gate?? None other than Kiera! She is Benson’s best buddy and the two of them will play nonstop! She just laid down on the other side of the gate waiting for us to get through! Then the wrestling begins!

Wondering where the other dogs were and the dog walkers, I walked further into the park. Kiera at my heel of course! This dog is OBSESSED with me! As soon as she hears or sees me she is at my feet on her back for a belly rub! And then she will dutifully follow me around the park the whole time!

This behaviour has started getting a bit much though. She is resource guarding me sometimes! She snapped at two dogs I was paying attention to the other day…Her dog walker had to have a talk with her owner about it! She was a rescue so they don’t know much about her background, but the owner can’t quite believe how protective she has become of me since she isn’t even like that with her!

So my poor girl Kiera got leashed today. They were at the extreme other end of the dog park and Kiera just vanished…Her dog walker was running around the park looking everywhere for her! Out comes the leash for the rest of the walk! I feel really bad about it, and I have suggested maybe I start visiting the park at other times but that is just such a good group of dogs! Kiera pulled and pulled trying to get back to me…but by the end of the walk it looked like she was doing a lot better. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow!

Swim Time

Moving down the beach to Grace’s favorite swimming spot usually comes next. There were a couple other dogs in that part of the park today, but not as many. As soon as we hit that spot Grace makes her typical beeline for the water!

Someone has built a “stick library” box for the dog park which is a really cool idea! Usually sticks are scarce in that park and you have to look high and low to find one! With the addition of the library there are always sticks to be found along the beach now!

Mom Gets Hurt!

Seeing a big stick by the water, I bent down to pick it up. Another smaller black dog came over, super excited that I was going to throw some sticks! I held it up to throw it…Benson decided this was the opportune time to jump up and try to grab it! But he missed…and got my fingers instead…

Usually I can nip this behaviour in the bud (pun intended) before it gets started, but he was BEHIND me! It was a sneak attack! I felt the pain in my fingers though let me tell you! I threw the stick and checked out my hand to see the damage…

Benson managed to puncture my middle finger, and it was already bleeding quite freely. Well, that was it for THAT walk! I started to head towards the exit and we bumped into the dog walker groups again. I love all those dogs and lavish them with attention so they came over for some pets. But I needed to get home and get myself cleaned up!

Home Time

Walking through the park on the way home, I expected my dogs to act up as they usually do but surprisingly there were really good! No wrestles, no pulling, no chasing squirrels! I was almost home and Benson decided he was going to pull a Grace and just lie down in the middle of the sidewalk…and when he did the leash clipped my finger and got it going all over again…

Treats generally work to get Grace and Benson going again but as soon as he had one he just laid right back down! When these dogs make up their mind on something there is about NO way I can budge them! I am terrified that one day one of them will end up getting hurt on a walk and I will have no way to get them to the vet or help…

Finally, we made it back home! I got myself all cleaned up and the dogs went into hard nap mode. As soon as I picked up my laptop to do some work Grace climbed up to try to push it off my lap as is her new habit but otherwise they have been really quiet. But it is now almost 3:00…which is when I take them out for their other big walk of the day…Fingers crossed that this will be an uneventful and pain free walk!!

The post Kiera Gets Leashed – Today’s Walking Adventures 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!

Taking my coffee out to the back deck, I was enjoying listening to the birds singing and the quiet of the neighbourhood. Then I hear commotion going on behind me…

Benson Has An Emergency

Benson has a penchant for stealing and playing with (chewing and destroying…) the little plastic starting containers that plants come home in for planting. I just had a delivery of flowers a couple days ago so have been wandering around the yard planting. And Benson steals whatever he can get his paws on, tossing them up into the air and then shredding them with great enthusiasm!

When I turned around, I was startled to see Benson shaking his head, pawing at his muzzle with FOAM flying out of his mouth! Looking around frantically, I noticed that it was not one of the little pots he had grabbed…but somehow he found one of the plastic hanging basket hooks I had taken off…

There were bits of the hard plastic of the hook on the deck…meanwhile Benson is continuing to shake his head and paw at his face…My first thought is that he swallowed a large piece of hard plastic and he is choking…And there is nothing in my first aid kit to help with that…

Sticking my whole hand down Benson’s throat I could not find any trace of plastic in there. I tried the Heimlich maneuver. I was shaking as I grabbed my phone and dialed the vet…It rang, and they did not even say HI before putting me on hold…Meanwhile, I was busy leashing up the dogs thinking we were off to the vet and grateful that I have pet insurance.

Getting impatient, I hung up my phone and called the vet back again after no one picked up when I was on hold the first time. They put me right back on HOLD again before I could even say anything! I was having an EMERGENCY over here! It was really disappointing that they wouldn’t even give me the chance to explain that I was on my way in potentially. I understand they are busy and can put you on hold if you are simply making an appointment but as of that moment for me I needed someone on the line immediately…

Then I realized that Benson had stopped shaking and foaming and wasn’t pawing at his face anymore either…in fact, he was looking at me with his head tilted like “What’s wrong mom? What’s the fuss about? What’s going on I thought we were going for a walk???”…

Okay…so hanging up with the vet and checking him out again, he was totally fine…totally normal…Okay…Off to the dog park I guess and watching his bowel movements for a few days it is…

Walk Time – Stalker Cat

By now the dogs were super excited, since it was WAY too hot yesterday to do much with them. The sidewalk wrestle was on as soon as we got down to street level!!

Almost to Queen Street, and the dogs noticed a HUGE black and white cat coming down an alley towards us. I’m talking Whiskers size huge!

Being really familiar with cats (since we have three plus Hamish), the dogs got really excited and started hopping and barking!

This cat was having none of it…he fluffed himself right up and came towards us in full stalker mode, all hunched up…I’m thinking “This cat is going to rip their faces off…he’s in full attack mode here!” and tried pulling the dogs away.

We got away from the alley and the cat was freaking FOLLOWING us! It was stalking us! And I know cats can be MEAN when they are fired up like that! My dogs are big but gentle and I didn’t want anyone to get hurt…or lose an eye…

Two ladies were walking down the sidewalk towards us and noticed the cat following us. One of them went and tried to scare it away but this cat was not going ANYWHERE! Finally, using their treats as a lure I was able to get away from that cat!

Almost At the Beach

Happily on our way down the home stretch to the beach…and what does Grace do? Finds something in the gutter of course! She had her prize and was doing her best to keep it from me…so I knew she had SOMETHING in there! Reaching into her mouth, I pulled out none other than a rib bone…ugh.

And of course, the dogs HAD to drag me across the street to see the chickens by the beach! The chickens and bunnies are a must visit on that route! They were right up at the fence today and Benson just about turned inside out he was so excited!

Dog Park Time!

Home stretch to the dog park now…wrestling on the board walk was at a minimum today which is nice. After we were at the dog park for a few minutes our buddies started showing up! My girl Kiera came running and JUMPED right up into my arms as it has been a few days since she’s seen me! Then she started resource guarding me…

By the time we were done at the dog park, the dogs were EXHAUSTED after some heavy play and walked very, very slow but dutiful on the way home. There were no shenanigans, they just didn’t have it in them!

And Rest

With the dogs being so tired, they hit the floor HARD when we got back into the house! I took another look in Benny’s mouth, and realized that the hard plastic of the hook cut his gums around two of his teeth and realized that this was likely the reason behind his earlier distress. But I will still be keeping a close eye on him over the next couple of days just in case.

Everything is now quiet. It has started to rain which my garden has been in desperate need of! Grace is curled up in her bed and Benson is lying at the front door watching the rain. I can hear kids out playing in the rain which brings back fond memories. Although the morning had it’s fair share of misadventure, it is turning into a good day indeed.

The post Today’s Tales of Misadventure 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!

The Clothing Crisis

I had already been up for a while and I like to take the dogs out around 9:30-10:00 for their morning walk. My daughter was continuing to give me an extremely hard time about her supposed clothing crisis but wanted to come with us as well since she loves to walk and run with the dogs.

Grace needed to go out. My backyard is currently a mud pit after my failed attempt to grow grass last year, and the turf has not yet been put in (I was obsessed with grass last year but after everything I tried after I saw what it looked like when the snow melted I gave in and called in the turf installers…). With the yard in its current state, Grace has gone on backyard strike and had not gone to the bathroom since supper the night before.

Benson, Grace and I headed out the door, leaving my daughter in bed. Within two houses, Grace emptied a lake out of her bladder and had already had two massive number two’s. I got to the top of the street and got a call that my daughter was ready to come…back home we went to grab her.

The Kid Decides To Join Us

She put on what she claimed were her “least dirty” pants that she claimed she had worn no less than five times already (she had only been here for four days from her dad’s so I’m not quite sure how her math was working). She had on a clean sweatshirt. I told her that I was not sure why she was so insistent on clean clothes since it is muddy outside and she would probably get dirty anyways. Little did I know…

We set off, everyone finally happy. I love to explore our neighbourhood and there are still many streets that we have not yet ventured down. Our original plan had been to go over to the ravine but we decided against it with how wet everything was.

We were walking down the sidewalk towards an unexplored street. The ravine was on our right, and there is a guard rail beside the sidewalk. That is when it happened. The first time anyways…

SQUIRREL!!!

Benson saw a squirrel! His brain turns to mush when he sees a squirrel. I was walking behind him and my daughter with Grace. He HOPPED straight sideways over the barrier into the ravine. I don’t know if you have ever seen such a big dog hop like that with all fours off the ground, it never ceases to amaze me when he does it.

At this point, my daughter had been pulled up to the guard rail, Benson was on the other side of it on full alert as the unsuspecting squirrel stood about ten feet away.

Now, my eleven year old daughter’s 70lbs is no match for Benson’s 115lbs of pure muscle. I usually walk him because at a year old he tends to forget himself and act like a tiny little puppy. On this day, she insisted that she would be able to handle him…

After a moment of stillness, he lunged after the squirrel. The guard rail is about the height of my daughter’s knees. She stood no chance. She was flipped right over the guardrail, landing on her belly on the other side in the mud. Then he started dragging her through the mud.

More Dirty Clothes

I stood there in shock for a moment. Was this really happening?!? Finally as they moved towards the hill I snapped out of it and yelled for Benson to stop, jumped the guard rail and grabbed his leash to stop him. I realized my daughter had his leash wrapped around her forearm, so dropping it would not have been possible.

As she laid there in the mud I thought it pretty funny that she was so bothered by finding clean clothes for the walk! She had mud all up the front of her, up her arms and into her hair! I had to laugh, I couldn’t help it, it looked like something out of a cartoon the way she flipped over.

Benson tried to pull me towards another squirrel on the way home, but he was short leashed for the rest of THAT walk! And we never did make it up that new street either…

We headed home, and Hailey (now walking the much calmer Grace) skipped ahead of us. At a certain point my big boy decided he HAD to catch up! He dragged me right down the street, barely managing to keep upright.

Cleaning Up

Relief was what we felt when we got back through our front door. We had a good laugh about it and the clean clothes situation in particular! My daughter went and scrubbed off and changed.

Fast forward to the afternoon. I like to take the dogs to the beach in the afternoon, and have been trying to get the dogs down there as much as I can since the off leash area will soon be restricted to the dog park again instead of the entire beach. Also, Benny boy is going for the big snip in a few days which will take him out of commission for a couple weeks…

I had told my mom the story of the morning walk. She wished me an uneventful afternoon walk…I think that she cursed it right then and there…

The Afternoon Walk

The walk to the beach went without a hitch. The walk along the beach was pretty perfect too. I let my guard down. I was wrong to do so…

We decided to walk back through the park to get home. We ran into a lady who had dog treats and wanted to give Grace and Benson some. I have run into her before, and said yes that was fine.

The dogs were excited and took the treats. The woman walked with us and talked with us for a bit (socially distanced of course). Then it happened. Again.

More squirrels!

Benson…oh sweet boy Benson. He spotted a (you guessed it) squirrel! The lady who had been walking with us for a bit threw a bunch of treats for the squirrels and one in particular caught the big guy’s eye. He went to the end of his leash. Time stood still…

Then all of a sudden he lunged. He was dragging me across the mud. I was leaning back, holding on for dear life as he pulled me across the muddy grass. I thought I had won as we came to a standstill. But I should have known better.

He lunged again, and my feet went right out from under me. I realized what was happening and surrendered to it. I landed on my back, with my left cheek taking the brunt of the fall. Even before I hit the ground I was laughing. I stayed on the ground for a minute. Me landing there seemed to halt Benson’s squirrel brain. I picked myself up, nothing hurt but my dignity.

The lady who had been walking with us (and FED THE SQUIRRELS NEAR US) looked at me with disgust. He is really just a big puppy though, and prone to setbacks here and there. Today was a day full of them though.

Making Our Way Back Home

We slowly made our way back home. My daughter and myself were laughing like two clowns about each of us getting taken down by the Mighty Benson that day. I went upstairs after getting home and took a look in the mirror and had to laugh. There was mud and lots of leaves in my freshly washed hair.

It has been raining too hard to venture out so far today, but the rain seems to have stopped now and the sun is attempting to come out. Grace still has not gone to the bathroom and it is mid-afternoon (I joke that she must be part camel). As I think about the walk looming ahead of us I can’t help but wonder what today will bring…

The post The Day of Dog Walking Disasters… first appeared on Help! I've Got Pets.