Swank Pets Dog Blog

So it seems like the Winter months are slowly coming to an end, but we’re still getting plenty of rain down here in San Diego. So if its raining here, I know it must be raining a lot more across the country…sorry to rub it in. Anyway, I don’t mind the rain every now and then, because I know we can enter a drought any time. But if it rains for more than 3 days in a row, I’m not going to be a very happy camper. Worse, the rain puts a big damper in outdoor dog activities. Forget about taking your dog to the park or a stroll along the beach. Heck, its even tough to take my dogs to use the bathroom when it rains. Every time I take my dogs to go potty on a rainy day, I end up having to wipe their feet down and drying their fur. Its becomes a big pain in the you know what when you repeat this 3 times a day for multiple dogs. Someone really needs to come up with an invention that keeps a dog completely dry when they go out on rainy days.

Anyhow, since we have to keep our dogs indoors on these wet and gloomy days, I figure I would come up with some fun things we can do with our dogs indoors.

1. Watch a movie with your dog: This is one of my absolute favorite things to do on a rainy day. First I pop in a great DVD, hop on the couch in my PJ’s and a blanket, and then have my dogs all curl up around me. What more can you ask for on a rainy day? Oh yeah, some pizza or ice cream wouldn’t hurt either.

2. Give your dog a bath: I hate giving baths and my dogs hate receiving them…but they need to be done. I know I said these topics would be fun, but I know you’ll be happy once you have a clean smelling dog once again.

3. Teach your dog some new tricks: I know you’ve been wanting to teach your dog some tricks, so what better time to train them. Staying indoors while training your dog can help alleviate any distractions that you would normally get at say a park. Later on, when you think you’ve gotten the new trick down, take the real test by bringing your dog to a dog park and having them repeat the trick with more distractions around them.

4. Make a photo album or scrap book of your dogs: Gather up all yhe photos of your dog.  You know, the photos of your dog sleeping, playing, dressed up in small dog clothes, or just plain being silly.  Seeing that we are in the new millennium, I’m sure most of your photos are digitally archived on your computer somewhere. There are two ways you can approach this scrap book. If you have a photo printer, you can simply print out all your photos and head to Michael’s to buy some scrap booking supplies. Or, seeing that we live in the computer age, maybe you can try out some digital scrap booking. It looks like you can take your digital photos and place them on digital backgrounds provided by www.scrapbookgraphics.com. I haven’t tried out this digital scrap booking, but it looks like the wave of the future as far as scrap booking goes.

5. Play some fetch!: Okay, this will probably only work if you have a smaller dog or a very large house. My house isn’t that big, but my dogs are quite small. I can toss a ball or some small squeaky dog toys down the hall way or into another room all from the comfort of my couch. This way, I can catch up on all my latest shows (Thanks DVR!) and get my dogs to exercise at the same time. If you really keep this up for 10 minutes or more, I guarantee your dogs will get a good workout…along with your shoulder. If your dog doesn’t know how to fetch….then now is the time to train them!