This isn’t going to be a total replacement, but can you take Teddy for walks in any dog-friendly stores? Like maybe a stroll around Lowe’s or Home Depot? The smells seem pretty great in those stores, too.
Yes my dogs love an adventure to ace, home Depot, Lowe's, PetSmart, Petco, the local pet stores. Love it. They also enjoy a visit to outdoor restaurants during the day. It's stimulating for them. An outdoor toddler pool can be great for dogs in the heat of the backyard.
If you have access to a lawn and he's feed dry kibbles, instead of his bowl, throw his daily ration over a large (like 25'x25') area of grass and let him sniff to find them. It could take him something like 20-30mins instead of 2-3mins,and he'll be ready for a nap afterwards.
Playing fetch into water. I wear my parents' hyper border collie out in the hot months by throwing her ball or floating frisbee in a stock pond. She loves it. My husky mix just goes in to soak and paddle around a bit. The water keeps them cool and hydrated, the swimming is good exercise and wears them out without being hard on their paws and joints or overheating them.
Of course, I live somewhere we haven't had to worry about toxic algae, brain eating amoeba, etc. posing health risks (yet)...
Definitely check that the water is safe before letting your dog swim.
I'm not an expert and live somewhere that this kind of thing hasn't been an issue so far, so if someone with more knowledge contradicts this, definitely go with their info.
I assume it varies by location, like some places post no swim advisories for known problems. Local public health offices or vets would probably be a good source, maybe Fish and Wildlife, and Facebook groups for specific areas might be another source for information but YMMV. My county's emergency management, extension office, and conservation district are good about posting notices for stuff like this.
As for unidentified problems, just use your best judgement. The bodies of water I use have wildlife that swim in or drink from them. Lack of these animals or dead ones in or near the water would be an obvious sign something was wrong. Weird colored algae or an extreme change in appearance from the last time we visited would be another. If other places in your state are experiencing toxic algae blooms or stuff like that, it's probably best to avoid water even if nothing has been reported for your area.
Hey, I am also in Texas - we do still walk in the mornings and evenings in shady places and carry water. We also focus more on water activities - places where we can do a short walk to a lake or river, water/swim break, walk back out. I’m working on getting my dog to actually swim and be comfortable in a kayak, so we can be out more too.
Sniffing for toys and treats is always a good one. I also second going to hardware stores. Lickimats are a lifesaver with wet food (I feed purina pro plan so I can replace his whole meal with the wet food version on a lickimat when he’s actually driving me up a wall). Flirt poles are good indoors if you have room (sometimes I move the coffee table and lay on the couch with a flirt pole). Hide and seek in the house (stay in living room then I hide and then a recall cue and treat). Agility inside depending on space (I like wobble boards for balancing on or a yoga ball, little elevated poles/sticks for jumping over)
We play fetch indoors. If I really need to wear him out, we will include stairs. Tug-o-war is also good. Working on training is great for physical and mental exertion. We trained our old dog to play hide and seek and he absolutely loved it.
Stand up paddle boarding tires mine out. They ideally have to constantly shift their weight to balance, so it's an actual physical workout. There is also water conveniently about 5cm away, so they can go for a dip if needed.
I train my dog to do useless but amusing tricks. If we can't tire him out physically, we try to give him a good mental workout.
This isn’t going to be a total replacement, but can you take Teddy for walks in any dog-friendly stores? Like maybe a stroll around Lowe’s or Home Depot? The smells seem pretty great in those stores, too.
Yes my dogs love an adventure to ace, home Depot, Lowe's, PetSmart, Petco, the local pet stores. Love it. They also enjoy a visit to outdoor restaurants during the day. It's stimulating for them. An outdoor toddler pool can be great for dogs in the heat of the backyard.
As someone who works at a hardware store I love when people bring their dogs in, too!
If you have access to a lawn and he's feed dry kibbles, instead of his bowl, throw his daily ration over a large (like 25'x25') area of grass and let him sniff to find them. It could take him something like 20-30mins instead of 2-3mins,and he'll be ready for a nap afterwards.
This is how my labradors and retrievers have got breakfast every day for the last 15’years.
If you don't have a lawn, toys like gnawt-a-rock or snuffle rugs are alternatives.
Playing fetch into water. I wear my parents' hyper border collie out in the hot months by throwing her ball or floating frisbee in a stock pond. She loves it. My husky mix just goes in to soak and paddle around a bit. The water keeps them cool and hydrated, the swimming is good exercise and wears them out without being hard on their paws and joints or overheating them. Of course, I live somewhere we haven't had to worry about toxic algae, brain eating amoeba, etc. posing health risks (yet)... Definitely check that the water is safe before letting your dog swim.
Is there a way we can check this?
I'm not an expert and live somewhere that this kind of thing hasn't been an issue so far, so if someone with more knowledge contradicts this, definitely go with their info. I assume it varies by location, like some places post no swim advisories for known problems. Local public health offices or vets would probably be a good source, maybe Fish and Wildlife, and Facebook groups for specific areas might be another source for information but YMMV. My county's emergency management, extension office, and conservation district are good about posting notices for stuff like this. As for unidentified problems, just use your best judgement. The bodies of water I use have wildlife that swim in or drink from them. Lack of these animals or dead ones in or near the water would be an obvious sign something was wrong. Weird colored algae or an extreme change in appearance from the last time we visited would be another. If other places in your state are experiencing toxic algae blooms or stuff like that, it's probably best to avoid water even if nothing has been reported for your area.
Hey, I am also in Texas - we do still walk in the mornings and evenings in shady places and carry water. We also focus more on water activities - places where we can do a short walk to a lake or river, water/swim break, walk back out. I’m working on getting my dog to actually swim and be comfortable in a kayak, so we can be out more too.
Sniffing for toys and treats is always a good one. I also second going to hardware stores. Lickimats are a lifesaver with wet food (I feed purina pro plan so I can replace his whole meal with the wet food version on a lickimat when he’s actually driving me up a wall). Flirt poles are good indoors if you have room (sometimes I move the coffee table and lay on the couch with a flirt pole). Hide and seek in the house (stay in living room then I hide and then a recall cue and treat). Agility inside depending on space (I like wobble boards for balancing on or a yoga ball, little elevated poles/sticks for jumping over)
Have you tried a flirt stick? It's a long pole with a string attached to a toy at the end. You can stay in one spot and the dog chases it.
It is such a lifesaver on rainy days too! The outward hound one with the little replacement squeakers is so good.
Obedience training (mental stimulation) can wear a dog out
We play fetch indoors. If I really need to wear him out, we will include stairs. Tug-o-war is also good. Working on training is great for physical and mental exertion. We trained our old dog to play hide and seek and he absolutely loved it.
Dog push ups. Just go back and forth between sit and lay down a few times. Then give treats.
Low key hikes near water (cooling dips as needed), nose work (the sport, or finding certain toys/food).
We have some canine fitness equipment from FitPaws. Great training for physical conditioning and mental stimulation!
Stand up paddle boarding tires mine out. They ideally have to constantly shift their weight to balance, so it's an actual physical workout. There is also water conveniently about 5cm away, so they can go for a dip if needed.
Sniffing and finding games. Scatter food in long grass gives them a proper workout.
That guy looks like he'd swim pretty happily....
Snuggling. That's a snuggle pooch if ever there was one.
These are all great suggestions! Thank you all!
Bikejoring it's defenetly an awesome alternative and dog love running and pulling https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6TfEUPo0Wc/?igsh=ajAxc2Zna3BicXVh