Join Active Dog Lovers at FitDog Friday!

by Carrie Boyko, CEB

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Today we're ushering in a new adventure for All Things Dog Blog. We're all about high activity here, both physical and mental. Having recently discovered FitDog Friday over at To Dog with Love, I finally took the time to inquire about participating. 

Our friends, Diane and Rocco, are sharing a fun run that they did last weekend. Diane took some Vine videos of Rocco's enjoyment of the event and you can definitely see that this good for both mom and pup. Activity is healthy!

The theme of this FitDog event is quite obvious. All the blog posts that are linked up each week will be related to activities, whether physical or brain work. If you're looking for new inspiration on how to keep your dog's body and mind at peak performance, this is a great event to check out. Today I'm sharing the code for the Blog Hop so you can see all the other posts that are shared here. It's as simple as clicking one of the thumbnail images below.

Feel free to drop in at any of these blogs to read their stories and say hello. Be sure to let them know that All Things Dog Blog sent you. I'm the new kid on the block! 

Pssst!  You can keep up your FitDog Friday activities with some of the great prizes to be won at Fido's Freebie Friday giveaways. Check out items like poop bags, bag carriers, an awesome camera, training treats and a travel bed. Don't miss it! Happy hopping! 

The fun and games continue every Friday with FitDog Friday, the weekly Blog Hop brought to you by To Dog With Love, SlimDoggy and Peggy's Pet Place.  If you're a blogger, we invite you to link up old posts or new ones that help promote a healthy, active lifestyle for your pets. The more FitDogs the better!

Get Fit! Natural Balance Photo Contest

by Carrie Boyko, CEB

With such soaring numbers of pets growing overweight, Natural Balance has taken action to help promote a solution. As an NB Insider, I'm proud to say they're not just throwing a product at the problem and stopping there. They've taken a thorough approach to offering resources, tips, ideas, and you'll even be hearing from me on this topic.

Knowing that extra pounds often lead to heart disease, diabetes and other health problems, your pet needs your help to get him fit and healthy. Unlike humans who make their own food choices, our pets depend on us to provide a balanced diet and adequate exercise, while still allowing a few extra calories to reward them for good behavior and training work that are important to our bonding. We believe bonding is important too!

To help you get started on the road to your pet's perfect weight, Natural Balance is sponsoring a photo contest that you'll hardly be able to take a pass on. The payoff for both you and your pet's health, could be enormous:

Who:      Overweight Dogs and Cats
What:     A Photo Contest!
Where:   The Natural Balance Facebook Page: Facebook.com/NaturalBalanceFan
When:     April 23 - May 7 (2 weeks to submit your photos of 'Fat Fido' and 'Fat Fluffy'
Why:       Terrific prizes and inspiring information and resources, more below...
How:       Your entered photo will be judged by Natural Balance's judges

Here's the prize lineup:

• 6 finalists (3 dogs and 3 cats – all chosen by Natural Balance based on pet’s need of transformation) will win a 6 month supply of Fat Dogs or Fat Cats Food & treats.
• 2 winners (1 dog and 1 cat – chosen by fan voting on Facebook) will win the following:
  o   A one year’s supply of Fat Dogs or Fat Cats Formula
  o   An interactive pet fitness kit--wowzer!
  o   A feature of your pet on www.NaturalBalanceInc.com
  o   A $200 VISA gift card to spend on your pet--double wowzer :)

Selection of finalists and winners:

• May 9 – May 15:  3 dog and 3 cat finalists announced; One week voting period on Facebook for winners
• May 21:  Winners announced (1 dog and 1 cat)

I'll be sharing tips and strategies with you during the contest, as well as some of my own activity ideas that may be a good fit for some of you. In addition, the resources from Natural Balance are terrific. Be sure to visit this link for a ton of great ideas. Watch for more on this healthy-living plan to come. Join me as we all work to have healthier pets.

K9 Kamp Seeks to Help Dogs and Owners Get Fit

by Carrie Boyko, CEB

Two of my blogging comrades, Jodi and Peggy, have taken up the challenge of helping Fidos and their families get healthy and fit. It's a great goal and I'm totally behind it, so much so that I've donated a prize for their grande prize package and I will be participating in the challenges with Tanner and Oliver. They both voted 2 paws up to get involved!


Today I'm here to share some of the K9 Kamp info with you in hopes that you'll join me and my pups in some of the fun. If you're worried about whether you'll be able to handle the "challenges", please don't. I've already been down that questioning road and learned that all the challenges are flexible. Just like some of you, I have my own exercise and health challenges, so our hosts tell me we can all mold them to suit our abilities and our dogs', as well.


K9 Kamp begins Thursday at Kolchak Puggle and Peggy's Pet Place, and will run through October 13, 2011. Starting with the first challenge on Thursday, there will be increasingly more vigorous activities, along with variations for folks like me who are nursing injuries, or have other challenges to work around. I have to avoid activity during the afternoon heat here in Florida, but the challenges will allow me to pick the time of day or the location, so it's all good. I get the impression we can also substitute more suitable activities, when those suggested don't work for our Fido or us. Safety first! 


In addition, your pup hosts, Koly and Kelly, and their human companions, Jodi and Peggy, will be offering great information on diet, exercise and low-calorie treat options for all participants. This is sure to be a fun event. Those who make an effort to complete each week's 1-hour challenge will get appropriate entries into the drawing for the grand prize, as well as the opportunity to win weekly prizes. Sounds great, huh?! 


Each week's challenge will become increasingly more vigorous, yet it sounds like all will remain do-able for even the least active participants. I guess all that is to say that it will start out very tame and build slowly, mainly to make sure that safety and good health are the focus. The idea is to build a habit of engaging in healthy activity and eating right along with your pup--your companion throughout the events.


Having two pups, I had to ask if switching off was acceptable. The answer was yes. I guess that means I'll be getting double the exercise of the boys, but I'm sure we'll find ways to work that out. 


Before I move on, let me tell you about your hosts, Jodi and Kelly. Jodi is the voice behind Kolchack Puggle. She's quite the dog gourmet and is always busy whipping up something in the kitchen for Kol and his new housemate, Felix. Peggy is known for Peggy's Pet Place. Her most recent claim to fame is the publication of her new book, Dieting with My Dog. Her adorable pup, Kelly, is on the cover.


Since both Jodi and Peggy have a strong interest in healthy weight and diet, they have come together to bring us the K9 Kamp challenge, a series of fitness challenges that will last about 5 weeks. Since Peggy and Jodi plan to include diet and healthy eating tips as well, we'll be able to tackle our personal health from both sides during this series of weekly information sessions and activity challenges. All of this will culminate with a grand prize package, as well as the weekly drawings. I wish I could tell you more about that, but all I'm allowed to say is "WOW--Great swag!" The sponsors, including myself, are all listed at both sites, so check them out for some hints on the prizes. You'll find Jodi and Peggy's blogs at the links above and here are their Facebook and Twitter pages:


Kolchak Puggle's Facebook
Kolchak Puggle's Facebook
Peggy's Pet Place Facebook 
Peggy's Twitter handle

I'll post my progress on my own Facebook page also, so if you're wondering how Tanner, Oliver and I are doing with the program, you can check up on us there between our progress reports. 


Each new challenge will begin on Thursday. Your first challenge will be posted at the hosts' blogs sometime today, and you'll have one week to complete this and each of the challenges. Since the tasks are all intended to be fun and active, the idea is to bond with your dog while working off some calories together. Don't stress out, though; it's only an hour out of your week. No worries; just Fido fun!