If you’re not familiar with my black Labrador-Retriever cross then I’d like to introduce you to Teddy; my 3-year-old former Guide Dog puppy that my partner and I adopted last year. He is the sweetest, friendliest, wiggliest dog I’ve ever met and I protect and spoil him at all times like he is my child. Other than biscuits, he doesn’t want much and is happy so long as you let him cuddle into you. He also occasionally sits on me which wasn't an issue when he was a puppy, but now he weighs 34kg so it gets uncomfortable very quickly. He’s too cute to turf off though so I just have to sit there with numb legs until he eventually decides to move.
The problem with Teddy being so content with very little is I fear he’s not getting enough exercise. He thoroughly enjoys walking the same routes and they’re not always lengthy walks. I can see how much exercise I’m getting thanks to my fitness tracker but that doesn’t mean a whole lot for Teddy as he’s not always by my side. Fortunately, Teddy now has a PitPat: a fitness tracker for dogs that securely attaches to their collar and monitors how much walking, running, playing and resting a dog does each day. You just have to sync it to a free app via Bluetooth and you get to see your dog’s daily stats and whether they’ve met their daily target.
After inputting Teddy’s information into the app, his target exercise goal came out at 80 minutes which doesn’t seem like enough for Teddy but it’s completely doable. For the most part, he gets at least 80 minutes of walking a day and further playing time with our other puppy so he’s a very active dog. He isn’t one for chasing things and was never allowed a ball until he was withdrawn from training so, if you try to play with him, he looks at you in utter confusion and makes you fetch whatever it is you just threw for him. I swear the majority of my steps are a result of me throwing a ball and then running after it myself.
Teddy does have his mad moments though which typically happen in a forest I run with him in and when it’s snowing. He has a habit of running at top speed all over the place before stopping and staring at me with a look on his face that never fails to make me laugh before running around again. He doesn’t go far but if there’s water, you can guarantee he’s going to end up in it and I’ll have forgotten a towel.
Before Teddy wiggled his way into my life, I would very much avoid exercising beyond walking to the fridge and back. I understood the importance of exercise, but walking from my house to the end of town just to come back again seemed rather dull. Having Teddy with me makes that walk a little bit more exciting (and challenging when he decides he wants to go one way but I want to go the other way) and it makes running so much more fun. I actually enjoy being outside now which amuses me greatly since I was the kid who would build a fort in their bedroom and sit in there for days on end reading book after book. I’m actually not alone in preferring to be outside and exercising more thanks to my dog, it’s quite a common occurrence for dog owners.
I’m so happy I decided to adopt Teddy when he was withdrawn from training. I can’t imagine my life without that weird little dog taking up all the room on the couch, getting his head stuck in the laundry basket and staring at me with his big brown eyes until I give in and feed him copious amounts of biscuits. He’s a happy dog who is probably currently hatching a plan to break into the room I keep his food in and eat it all again. He would’ve gotten away with it if he hadn’t burped.
Disclaimer: This post is in collaboration with More Than. The PitPat was sent to me (and Teddy) for review. All opinions are my own.
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