I have a confession. Yesterday was the first day I took Mia for a walk in about… oooh.. a few weeks. I feel bad. I’m a terrible catdeerdog mama. My little girl loves, and I mean LOVES her walks. But you guys, it’s been so effin’ cold. And as you know, my little girl IS a Chihuahua. She’s a lover of the heat and the sun.. not so much of the cold and the gloom.

So, what to do when those of us live in certain areas of the world where winter throws herself upon us? Well, sometimes we bundle up and walk quite briskly. After all, a walk is important for a dog, no matter the breed or size. Yes, even Chihuahuas and other toy breeds need walks. It’s not only good for physical exercise but also mental stimulation, bonding and obedience training.

Of course, there are those times when it’s well below freezing and our little part of the earth is covered in ice and snow. Well then, we ain’t walkin’ those days, people.

What do we do then? I work from home, and I can see that Mia is bored and needs mental stimulation.

Well, we have a selection of toys to choose from… the new red puppy toy is named Patch. Yes, I name her toys, and she learns the names very quickly. :)

Maybe she has TOO many toys though.

It’s quite amusing to see her play with a tennis ball.. she is quite often very cat-like.

And per our New Year’s goals for the year, we decided to do some fun training. Mia didn’t come into my life until she was over a year old, and she had some issues adjusting to being… well, a dog. She was frightened of everything and everyone, didn’t know how to walk on a leash and wasn’t really house-trained. The biggest issue I noticed though was that it seemed like she didn’t receive much love or attention in her early puppyhood, so I obviously still make up for it by spoiling her incessantly.

Occasionally though, I crack the whip and make her hit the books and learn something new. ;)

Our most recent accomplishment is loose leash walking by my side or even a little behind me. I used to allow her to walk ahead of me and roam and stop wherever she wanted, but I nipped that in the bud to try to get a better handle on her behavioral issues with other dogs. She picked that up after one session, and now we both get more exercise walking a steady, brisk pace.

Although, training her can be quite a challenge sometimes with her short attention span.

She wistfully looks out the window willing it to be warmer so we could go for a walk instead of posing for pictures.

So, I bought a hula hoop the other day to begin our ‘jump through a hoop’ training! I often think if she had the proper training as a puppy, she would have been a natural at canine agility courses. There has to be some Jack Russell in her… certain characteristics comes out quite often when she plays. :) She’ll be seven years old in June, but she still acts like a puppy. She’s actually quite a fast runner too.. I’d love to see her run with a Greyhound or even an Italian Greyhound. I often call her my little ninja because she is so very light on her feet. Jumping is no problem for her. She often leaps into the air onto my lap or across the sofa from a standing position.

Obviously, she still gets a little skittish of weird, inanimate objects she’s never interacted with, but we started slow. I first coaxed her to just walk through the hoop while I held it on the floor. We’ve only been working on this for about 10 to 15 minutes for a couple days, so treats are involved at this stage, of course. And, we always end on a positive note. Sometimes, I wedge the hoop in the doorway of my office to make it easier for both of us to concentrate.

Here you can see she’s waiting and speculating. I can just see her thinking, “Will the hoop stay in place and not fall on me if I crawl under it?” There are times she tries to figure out alternate routes still, but like I said, it’s only been a couple days.

And look at her go! She’s doing great so far! This is not the best picture though.. I had to do some photoshopping to sharpen her. I was trying to coax her through and snap a picture at the same time. She was too fast for me, but you get the idea.

That’s my baby girl! I ♥ her so much. She’s so freakin’ smart… the attention span of a goldfish, yes. ;) But damn, she’s smart and a quick learner.

So there you have it. We’re having fun.. she gets treats and mental stimulation as well some exercise. I get to help her blossom even more into the smart, awesome little dog I know she is. We’ll keep practicing. If all goes well and she gets really good at it, I’ll take video. My ultimate goal would be to create a little agility course for her! *fingers crossed*

It looks like it’s gonna be a warm weekend (mostly rainy but still 60s!) in the Columbus, Ohio area, so get out there and play with your pups!

Have a great weekend!