Woof Walk Challenge – Week 6 Update!

Wow, time flies, I can’t believe that we already completed week 6 of the Woof Walk Challenge! We are now close to 170km towards our 1000km goal! With our walk pace picking up, we should be able to hit 200km next week! So proud of my pups! Read on for where our adventures took us over the past week!

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Ear Infections

Sadly both dogs developed ear infections last week, requiring drops from the vet. My dogs are prone to ear infections so I caught the signs of ear infection really early making treatment easier. Since ear infections can get serious fast, when I called my vet they wanted me to come in the same day but their appointment schedule was full!

However, since my dogs have been diagnosed in the past, my vet was able to refill one of their older prescriptions without requiring me to come in which was great! I really love my vet. I was able to pick up the drops the same day and start treatment. Unfortunately that left the beach off the table as an option for our walks since Grace couldn’t go in the water until treatment was done.

Glen Stewart Park

We spent a good amount of time at the Glen Stewart Park over the past week! There is a group of regulars who meet in the park after the work day is done, and it is great to see our friends regularly! Since it is not an overly long walk when we go to the park (they spend much more time playing and running with their buddies) I take a few balls over to toss for them. Benson has this really funny habit of running to the top of the hill with his ball, lying down and letting it go then chasing it all the way down the hill! It is really cute, I have tried to get it on video a few times but he never seems to do it when the camera is on him of course!

The dogs always seem to end up with each other’s balls, but Benson is OBSESSED with his hot pink one! If his Ridgeback buddy Reina gets too close when he has it he will defend it and refuse to part with it! But for some reason Zoey, a much smaller Bichon he has known almost from day one, comes by he will let her steal it from him! It has become somewhat of a game, Zoey drops her ball and follows Benson around until he drops it and she nabs it at lightening speed! And once she has that ball GOOD LUCK getting it away from her! I have to resort to tossing treats near her and hope to get my foot on the ball IF she drops it!

The Dead Squirrel

This was definitely the highlight of the week for Benson! We went over to the park as usual, and things were going the same as always. We tend to hang out on the side of the park where there is more shade for the dogs since the heat in the sun can be pretty intense. I was chatting with the other dog owners and my dogs were wandering around sniffing and checking things out. One of the other owners goes “Oh, he is heading towards the squirrel” causally, without mentioning it was DEAD and in the park!

One of the owners, laughing hysterically, said it was like slow motion watching me turn and start to run towards Benson before his grisly find, screaming his name the whole time! But he was just too far away from me to grab a hold of him…and you guessed it…he FOUND the dead squirrel…Once he had that scent in his nose there was about no way that he was going to actually listen and come to me…

Benson grabbed his find and proudly started showing it off to the entire park! He ran up the hill and ran excitedly back and forth with the unfortunate squirrel dangling out of his mouth! Every time he would burst out of the bushes the other dog owners would collectively groan and laugh. By this time Grace got in on the action too and was running and trying to rip the squirrel out of Benson’s mouth! All the other dog owners were frantically trying to keep their dogs from joining in! It was chaos!!!

Finally….finally…I managed to tempt Benson to leave his prize at the top of the hill and come for some treats…One of the other dog owners went up the hill to grab the squirrel with a poop bag and put it in the garbage…Not sure why someone who found it first didn’t just do that to begin with!

While the other owners continued to laugh one joked that I would need to clean his mouth out…I retorted I was going to spray it out with the hose…at least it wasn’t THEIR dog right?? No puppy kisses on this day, and my daughter would scream if he came near her with his dirty mouth! Benson thoroughly checked both the spot where he found it and where he left it the next day but finding nothing it was business as usual!

The Ravine And A Grumpy Tween

I have written about our travels through the ravine for other updates, and it was really hot last weekend so we made sure to make a trip up to the top of it. It is so beautiful in there, I just love when we go exploring. It was really nice and cool in there, and they love wading in the creek and having a drink from it. My daughter had a Facetime sleepover the night before though, and didn’t go to bed until 3:30…so she was tired and cranky the ENTIRE walk! She said her legs wouldn’t work anymore at one point but I was determined to get this walk in, and she ended up sitting on the curb for a while on the way back home and refused to walk either dog. We made it, and she came right back into the house and went straight to bed! She doesn’t like the longer walks like I do…

Bath Time!

Between the dead squirrel and all of Grace’s swimming, the dogs have been in desperate need of a bath! I had been planning on doing it last weekend but the ear infections I didn’t want them getting wet until I had that cleared up!

Yesterday another Berner owner was at the park and when my dogs got close he actually commented that my dogs stink! I know they did…Grace in particular gets a rather strong and sour smell in the summer after swimming in the lake which isn’t always the cleanest…It’s been really gross lately with lots of algae…My neighbours have also commented in the last couple of days how much my dogs stink! And this is OUTSIDE! I laugh and comment that I definitely know when Grace enters the room!

After the last of the drops went in last night, I wasn’t waiting any longer to bathe my dogs!!! So this morning, instead of taking them out at the usual time I lured them upstairs with the dried sardines and liver treats…you know, the stinky and irresistible kind…Grace was up first since she smelled SO bad! I tossed a few treats into the tub, and when she got her front legs in I lifted her bottom and swung it in! Then when she was done it was Benson’s turn!! He is an escape artist though so I have to shut the glass shower doors around him…Half an hour later and the smell is gone!!!! Today at the park no one can comment that I have stinky dogs…I even used my blue shampoo on their chests to get the white the brightest it can be!

That wraps up week six of our Woof Walk Challenge! I can’t wait to see what the next week brings! It is heating up though so I will need to be mindful of how long I am walking them at any given time, so shorter more frequent walks at odd hours will likely be our game plan!

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