Because the summer has been so hot, it’s been difficult to create opportunities for Karma where he maintains his conditioning. For instance, long walks are greatly reduced And throwing the ball for more than a few times can also get tricky. So much for building stamina and getting his heart rate up.
Ah, but thankfully a water workout disguised as fun is a near-perfect solution. This past weekend Karma and I went back to Riverbend Park in the morning before too many people got the same idea.
We picked up the green trail just left of the waterfront at the information building. In less than five minutes we came upon a perfect “beach” that would let him play safely in the water and be off leash (shhhhhh!).
As luck would have it another woman, Sarah, and her Standard Poodle, Lilly, had the same idea. Now Lilly was a MUCH better swimmer than the Karmalicious but the competition was good for them both.
Sticks ended up being the preferred fetch “toy” and was a catalyst for increasing cardio and getting the dogs to really go for it. I had started off with his preferred water toy from Ruff Wear but a moment of distraction allowed it to float on down the river out of reach. I imagined it going over Great Falls later in the day, captured in the background of a family photo – Ha!
But I digress. We stayed for just over an hour and Karma let me know he was done by coming out of the water more often and laying in shallow water. He was a tired and content boy the rest of the day and I believe he got a decent workout out of it.
