K9 Kamp Weekend Warriors

by Carrie Boyko, CEB

© Carrie Boyko
Tanner Pulls Toni Through the Pool

© Carrie Boyko
Splash!

Here in Florida the water temperatures are still balmy and the heat remains intense. Swimming is the only real refuge from our hot, humid temperatures. This weekend Tanner and I took to the pool for a bit of canine vs. human racing. Our K9 Kamp assignment was more or less a tag game with our pups, but my modification allows me to give Tanner a good workout. With a gimpy knee, I seem to be doing a lot of modifying. 

© Carrie Boyko
Tanner Gets His Workout

Racing with Tanner requires some strategy. He's pretty fast in the water, but I'm faster, especially after I get a good racing dive in and start out ahead. The downside is that IF he catches me, I'm likely to get scratched by his paws in his enthusiasm. My solution to this dilemma is simply to swim along the bottom. It totally confuses him and he sometimes even turns back and looks for me. When I come up at the other end of the pool his facial expressions are just too funny. I wish I had a photographer to capture these, but all I can share are pictures I've taken of Tanner and my daughter swimming recently when she was home for a visit from college.


Our tag games have tuckered us both out and tonight he's looking like an over-fetched snoozer. It's all good. We've had fun and we managed to get our time in over the weekend while things were not as hectic. 


By this time next month I won't be willing to swim; I'm a total sissy when it comes to cold water. It needs to be 80 for me to swim without a wet suit. Go ahead and laugh. I'm a warm sissy! 

© Carrie Boyko
Bonding Time

K9 Kamp has been a lot of fun for us. Our hosts Koly and Kelly have asked us to share something we learned from this experience. My answer to that is probably not what they want to hear. Unfortunately I've learned that it's time to get my knee looked at. I've been telling myself it would heal, but 10 months after the injury, I'm still finding it difficult to run, so I guess I need to drag myself to the orthopedist for a good once over.

I've also learned that athletic events are not Oliver's forte. He loves to chase me in a good run, but he's pretty clueless about tug. I guess that could be a safety mechanism; after all, he only weighs 10 lbs. so what chance would he have against me? 


We did determine that no matter what rambunctious activity I'm doing with Tanner, Oliver wants to be there to watch. He keeps his distance if we get splashy, but he doesn't want to miss a thing. He ran up and down the pool deck while we swam, occasionally barking as if to tell us we were nuts! He's probably right but that's okay. We had fun. Thanks to Jodi and Peggy for hosting. We'd love to do it again. Happy tails!

K9 Kamp Heats Up!

by Carrie Boyko, CEB

© Carrie Boyko
Tanner Demonstrates "Go Jump"

This week's K9 kamp had me, Tanner and Oliver back in agility training and having some fun with our workout step. I'll have to admit I had to dust that bad boy off after storing it under my bed sometime ago. We also discovered our core ball and wondered if we'll be getting an intro to Treiball via kamp. Hmmm.....

The good news is the dogs still remember the "Go Jump" command and they seemed totally entertained watching me step up and down. Despite my travel to Barkworld, the boys and I were able to pull off a reasonable hour plus to just make the minimum workout. Whew!


As I write this post I am waiting on my return flight home, ready to get back to a good dog walk after a few days of hobnobbing with fellow social media enthusiasts. What do you suppose Koly and Kelly have in store for us this week? Whatever it is, I'm glad to be home and dig in again. Happy tails!

K9 Kamp Week 3 Challenge: Tug and Tone for Pups & Owners

by Carrie Boyko, CEB

© Carrie Boyko
Tug Starts: Tanner vs Rookie Lauren

Dog mom confession time: I have to admit I'll be passing off the sprints to other family members, mostly Tanner. I'll do makeup work in other ways, so hopefully I still qualify as a participant. 


Since the Tug game is at the heart of this week's workout for Fido, I thought I'd share a couple of photos of Tanner giving our friend Lauren a workout. I've been itching to show these off, just for the fun of it. Who do you think won this Tug game?


Have you been over to Peggy's Pet Place or Kol's Notes to check out the K9 Kamp challenges? We're having fun participating, and we also get in on some great giveaways. You can too! Check out the giveaways at Peggy's Pet Place and then get to the challenges.  This week's challenge involves:

• Tug of war with Fido (Tanner gets dibs on this game)
• Run sprints
• Push ups 
• Lunges (get a good laugh at Oliver's version)

I was surprised and pleased to discover I could do the lunges successfully, even with my nagging knee injury. The sprints still are not working for me, but Tanner was more than willing to run mine and his. "Thanks Tanner boy; you're a good workout partner." We've logged about one and a half hours of tugging, push ups (did I mention my sore shoulder--no wining!), and lunges. I got my sprinting in the form of biking, my latest favorite way to exercise with Tanner and Oliver.


All in all, another successful week of K9 Kamp, but I think Tanner is doing a better job of doing all the challenges than I am. Currently he's napping it off after a good swim. 


If you'd like to get Tanner's tips on Tug of War for Wannabes, head on over to his blog at 5 Minutes for Fido, where he has offered secrets for doggie tuggers. No humans allowed!

Fetching Fun with Tanner at K9Kamp!

by Carrie Boyko, CEB

© L. Glavin
Tanner's Fetch Skills Excel

© L.Glavin
Tanner Brings Home the Toy

This week's K9Kamp challenge, proferred by Kol's Notes and Peggy's Pet Place, asked participants to play fetch with their pups. Tanner heard the F word and was off to the French door, looking for a Fetch toy to get started right away!


We're home without family for several days, so you get to enjoy pictures of Tanner playing fetch alone, instead of me running along side. That's all well and good. I don't run right now since an injury on a New Year's vacation put a damper on my romping. Biking, fortunately, is still working for me. Yay!

© L. Glavin
Leave It. Wait.

Tanner and I decided that an hour of Fetch is simply not enough. He expects a good 20 minute Fetch game EVERY afternoon, so we're easily over the 3 hour mark already. I managed to pull off a few fetch games where I raced Tanner in our pool. That was a fun game for sure. I had the advantage of taking a nice long racing dive and swimming under water, so he was surprised to see me surface next to the prize and snatch it before he got there. Hehehe! A few rounds of that game had both of us ready for an afternoon dog nap, in which Oliver and Patches, our cat, all joined in. Is this the Napping House of children's book fame?

© Carrie Boyko
Tanner Races with His Orbee-Tuff Ball

At the dog park, Tanner enjoyed a rocking Fetch game, with Oliver chasing after him. They got a great exercise session there, despite my inability to join them in the run. My arm did get a workout though, and I'll admit it was feeling the after effects the next day, even when using a launcher. 


Between you and me, without the launcher, I'd be out of business. Even Tanner knows that I throw like a girl. I can hardly get it 30 feet and that's just not much of a sprint for a big guy like my Tanner. Friends at the dog park sometimes say he runs like he has Greyhound in him. 

All in all, K9Kamp was a success here this week. We had fun, got some exercise, and refocused our efforts to eat more fruit. With Summer nearly over, fruit will be drying up soon, so I need to get ahead of the game. Berries are a favorite here with the boys too. It's time to go get a snack now. Fruity Yogurt Chillers anyone? See you at next week's K9 Kamp update.