#dog Archives - Becoming Elli

Having a dog in my life definitely adds more steps to my day! I find that I am more motivated to take longer walks as well as getting outside for a short walk during the day.

Welcome to Peanut, a 9-year-old Shibu Inu mix. She’s my granddog. Her full name is Princess Peanut Brittle and she is living with my husband and myself after a couple of minor incidents when my grandson was playing with her dog toys. While she is a lovely sweet dog, she really can’t be trusted with a baby who crawls and grabs dog toys and fur. All of us agreed that we didn’t want any major incidents!

Peanut taking a break in the sun shine

Peanut is good on the leash without too much pulling

Walking at Hudson Springs Park

I love how she looks like a little fox when she is all curled up

Peanut looks like a little fox when she is all curled up

Peanut taking a walk near the dog park in Streetsboro

Morel Mushroom hunting

She definitely loves the walks and I have to admit, I do too. It’s a great time of year to start doing more steps and very good for my mental health. Last October my dog Lady passed away and I’ve missed having a dog presence in the house. It’s not the same if you are a dog person.

Lady also did really well on a leash, especially with the help of a gentle leader. I found that I was not as interested in getting out and walking without a dog in my family.

Peanut’s very good riding in the car as well so she doesn’t mind driving to new trails and parks.

Trails so far since April 24:
1) Lake Trail Park
2) Thomas Heritage Park
3) Hudson Springs Park
4) Barlow Community Center Trail
5) Silver Springs Park

This weekend I am dog-sitting my daughter’s dogs while she takes a trip with her girlfriends to Nashville. I’m wondering if I have four dogs in our household, will I get four times the number of steps? We’ll see!

Do you have a dog that you walk on a leash? Does it help you get more steps each day? Leave a message below! I’d love to hear about it.

I just realized that walking the dog adds lots of steps to my daily totals. I knew that, of course, but when I looked at my Fitbit numbers, there was the proof.

Remember when I got my puppy, Penny? I wrote about her last summer when she was a baby. Now Penny is about six months old so still a puppy but she’s more like a pre-teen these days. She keeps me very busy with taking things out of her mouth and stopping her from chewing on things.

My expensive She Fits sports bra no longer zips because Penny chewed the zipper. She also got the back of my newest pair (and most expensive) pair of running shoes. Fortunately, I caught her with the shoe early enough to save the shoe.

Walking the Dog Adds Lots of Steps

As Penny has gotten older, her ability to walk has obviously increased so she requires longer walks. Besides chewing on things, she also requires more exercise. I’ve noticed that my daily steps increased once Penny came into the house. Penny became a member of the household in mid July of this year and you can see that my monthly steps have consistently increased as she’s gotten older.

The thing about having a dog is that she has to go out for a walk regardless of the weather. We had our first real snowfall recently and Penny was enchanted. She loved the snow and frolicked the whole time we were out walking. It actually made having to be out walking in the snow a lot more enjoyable. I would not have gone out first thing in the morning for a walk in the snow.

Walking in the cold is not great but I make a point to carry gloves and a hat so that if it’s colder than I expect, I’m prepared. This comes from not being prepared when it was cold and wet.

I’m hoping that Penny will eventually be able to run with me. I know that’s going to take some training but it would be fun to have a running companion.

Life with Penny is turning out to be a lot of fun and a lot of steps.

Tag: #dog

Peanut: My New Dog = More Steps

Walking the Dog Adds Lots of Steps

Walking the Dog Adds Lots of Steps