[nagdu] Exercising with Your Dog

[Gary]

Hi Abigail

I do walks and hikes with Bogart. Generally on the harder hikes I in the
foot hills I use two trekking poles and let bogart run off leash. On easier
trailes through the forest I really enjoy him guiding me so that we can lead
the hike for my girlfriend. In the city we hav a huge area of forest, some
is leash optional and some isn't. So as we move through these hikes when we
need a leash I put him on harness and have him guide me. Since these hikes
are hours long it is probably good to calm him down a bit and guide for
awhile. 

Other exercise is really just walking with him. After work I take a 30 to 40
minute walk in harness to get him exercise and practice guideing. (wworks to
get me exercise too) Besides that I try to get him to the off leash park a
couple of times a week since he really likes playing with other dogs.

In the house we play tug of war, play with some balls and do  a bit of
wrestling. The wrestiling I have to watch because sometimes there gets to be
too many teeth flying around me but he really has fun especially when he is
on his back all flailing legs and teeth. 

Have fun.

Gary

Hi 



-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Abigail Lanier
Sent: Friday, July 22, 2011 11:19 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: [nagdu] Exercising with Your Dog

Hello everyone,

I should probably start by introducing myself, as I am fairly new to this
list. My name is Abigail and I have been working with my black lab, Alexa,
for a year and a few months. I received Alexa from Guiding Eyes for the
Blind.

My topic of interest for writing this e-mail is that I'm interested in what
types of exercise other guide dog users do with their guides. Alexa and I do
a lot of walking as it is, that just being my main mode of getting around.
She also tags along when I attend a yoga or pilates class at the gym on the
campus of my university. The school I am enrolled at is in the mountains of
North Carolina and there are lots of hiking trails near by that we like to
go on. Some of my friends have even claimed that Alexa is better at
navigating the trails than people.

Does anyone like to run or jog with their guide dog, and if so, how does
this work for you? I've attempted to run with friends before, while working
Alexa, but she seems very concerned at this prospect. I suppose it's because
when we are moving at a drastically faster clip than we would be walking she
doesn't have time to alert me to obstacles. Additionally, I've become very
interested in swimming, and not just as a means to cool off. The few times
I've been to the pool at our student rec. center I've left Alexa at home.
Being a lab, she really loves the water, and I'm afraid that if I was to
leave her in a down stay, tethered to a chair or other object, that she
might try to pull said chair or object into the pool because of her
excitement. That or that other patrons would begin petting her with out my
knowing.

I'm curious what other people's thoughts and suggestions would be.

Abigail
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