This week was all about making the most of your down time (you may not think you have any. . .but trust me, you do!) It was fun trying to find a few minutes during the day to get the dog moving and then incorporating some kind of stretches for the injured human too!
Cali is so easy! If you pick up a toy, she is ready to go. We did a few romps around the back yard on several days. Sometimes she chased the ball, sometimes I tried to race her to it. Sometimes we both just laid in the grass and looked up at the sky 
On the days that the weather didn't cooperate with us, we played in the basement. One of her favorite toys, her Kong Wubba (similar to this, only hers is a cute lion) has a great squeaker and I can always get her to chase me around the pool table with it. She has amazing stamina when she wants her wubba!
Another favorite game is hide-and-seek. I toss her toy across the room and then I run down the hall into one of the rooms. She's pretty good at finding me, but sometimes I start giggling and make it to easy for her! This challenge showed us that she really does need more play time – sometimes we just assume that she is getting older and doesn't need as much play time, but she still LOVES to play! We had a lot of fun this week (even if I still was mostly stretching during my portion of the "exercises")
Speaking of stretches – I had high hopes of showing you some yoga stretches with each post, but circumstances beyond my control (LIFE) seemed to get in the way. I went to the chiropractor/physical therapist/massage therapist on Monday and got another beating treatment (i'm still sore!!) in addition to that, I have been doing these poses.
I love the fact that many yoga poses are named after animals Cat and Cow are excellent stretches that everyone should do every day just to get your spine moving, and child's pose is one of my personal favorites (even though it is a little bit painful for me right now) – it's great for opening up the hips and the lower back.
I have been dealing with an extremely tight hamstring in my left leg, which is causing me lots of pain in my knee and hip so I have also been lying in the doorways of my house doing this stretch. I know it doesn't look like much, but if you have tight hamstrings, this is a great way to lengthen them in a relaxing and pain free way.
So there you have it! A few fun things to do with your dog in your spare time, and some easy stretches! I can't believe that three weeks have already gone by! What have you done with your dog?
Tagged as: Cat, dog, dogs, health and wellness, outdoors, training
