WELCOME TO
"FOR THE LOVE OF LABRADORS"
My goal with this blog is for you to enjoy your time here. Most of the posts talk about my experiences raising my two yellow Labrador Retrievers, some are just for fun, and others share the best dog related information and products I have found.

Use the tabs above for quick navigation. I have imbedded links for as much as possible so that you can find the resources easily from this blog. The links in the side bar are for websites that have been helpful to me. I hope that you find them useful for you and your canine "family member"

Friday, February 02, 2007

When in doubt - take the dogs swimming!

The past couple weeks have been very busy and stressful (see the end of my last point for the reason), so, this week was coming to a quick close with too many things still on my list of things to do.

One of those things was to give the dogs a bath. They were smelling a bit "gamey" and with how much my husband and I like to snuggle up with our dogs they were a bit over due for "freshening up."

So armed with my things to do and the shopping errands mapped out for most efficient maneuvering around town I started my day. The dogs got their run at the park, the groceries list was tackled and I was soon headed back to the house to finishing the laundry and bathe the dogs. As I turned down the last long stretch back to the house I realized that the water reservoir ponds were just a quarter mile away and I could kill two birds with one stone. Great exercise and a bath all at the same time. So I quickly turned around, and we were at the ponds in no time.

The dogs were thrilled and I was smiling myself. I needed this as much as they did. We all enjoyed a fun game of toss and fetch. I kept it short as the water is still quite cold but they loved every minute of it. Needless to say, although such a venture is not without it's charming wet and cold moments for me, I was drier than if I had given them bathes at home.

After a good rub down and a spritz of coat conditioner spray (Buddy Splash Spritzer - Lavender & Mint) on our return, the dogs and I were further down the list of things to do much easier than I had initially thought.

So next time you find your self debating "do I really have time to bathe the dog(s)" make it fun for both of you and take your dog(s) swimming.

2 comments:

carmilevy said...

What a great idea! My wife and I are researching a new dog for our family. The kids have wanted one for so long, and so have we. So we'll likely take the plunge once the weather warms up.

This entry - and your entire blog - makes me smile.

"Sunshine" said...

Good luck with your plans to "take the plunge". You won't regret it. I hope some of the insight and resources on this sight help you plan before adding this very special "family member" to your life. If you have any specific questions don't hesitate to comment here.

My only unsolicited advice is to carefully consider the time commitment you are able to make and the breed of dog that roughly matches that. Or choose your favorite breed and go into the venture well aware of the time commitment that goes with it. For example the whole family should be involved in the training classes from day one. Any good trainer should know this as well and ask you to bring your children to the classes.

Then realize that within each breed of dog there is always a range of temperament i.e. Nutmeg - calm, easily trained, vs. Shelby - reactive, more of a challenge to train. Both are great dogs but the demands have been night and day different. And obviously being from the same litter is no gaurantee, my experience the perfect case in point.