The worst thing about being away for nine days was having to leave Callie behind. When we travel, Callie is in the good hands of Carter Patrick Carrigan, pet sitter. So we know she’s well cared for, but it was hard to leave her behind for so long.
Coming home, it was amazing to see how much Callie had calmed down in nine days. Most of this was because she’s a little more mature. She did get daily doggie walks with Carter, but not the three or four mile walk she gets most mornings.
Before we left for vacation, Callie was still bouncing off the walls. She had moments when she would lie down with her little stuffed “stinky” puppy (security object), but the next minute she would be jumping on Barbara and me, the furniture, Okie-Dokie the cat, and anything else she could find.
But yesterday Callie got her three mile walk, and in the evening, she was a different doggie. We were able to give her the run of (most of) the house, and she was extremely well behaved.
She took a little nap in my office in the afternoon. Then she took turns playing with several of her toys. She ran up and down the hallway a few times, but she was very calm.
Then in the evening, she was free to go from my office to the kitchen. She relaxed and played with toys in the kitchen for a while. Then she flopped down on the hearth in the den (while we watched Cleveland beat the Yankees) and just relaxed.
Some of the “new Callie” is just a puppy growing up and maturing. But some of it is a result of the daily exercise she gets. We had a similar experience with Jamie (“My Doggie Says… Messages from Jamie. How a dog named Jamie ‘talks’ to her people”). Jamie also ran at least three miles every morning, and it helped her to be a very relaxed and mellow Golden Retriever.
One difference is that Callie’s vet doesn’t want her to run until she’s fourteen months old, to give her hips plenty of time to become strong. She is only about ten months old, so Callie is walking three miles, or more, while Jamie was running three miles every day. But for a puppy, a three mile walk seems to be enough to help her be a calm doggie.
If you’re not used to running, or walking, three miles every day, think of your daily doggie walk as a partnership. You’re helping your dog stay calm, and your dog is helping you lose weight.
Here’s a fun article about how you and your dog can have fun losing weight together.
I liked your post and wanted to suggest that people call their vet before walking their pup for an extended period of time. I took my 25lb. 13 week old pup on a 3 mile walk and later found that the vet recommends going a mere .25 mile with a dog that young. Oops!
You’re right; you do have to be careful with puppies. Our vet wanted us to wait until Callie was 14 months old before we jogged with her. Before that we kept it down to a walk. In Golden Retrievers, I think the issue is to not aggravate any potential hip problems.