Mochi's Workouts

We've got a couple of older dogs staying with us so now Mochi really has a house full of curmudgeon's to deal with. Even Sal isn't willing to play with her because of Mochi's size. That means the job falls to me to wear her out.

Mochi is a teenage dog still working on learning impulse control and she's living with a house load of dogs in the 7-14 yr range. It can get pretty hairy at times trying to keep the peace with so many grumpy oldsters around. Mochi never fights or even growls but she also doesn't listen real well when the other dogs tell her she needs to leave them alone.

Mochi loves toys so much and the new dogs brought a bunch of new toys as presents for the canine crew. So her and I played fetch for awhile but that kind of backfired since all the other dogs became fun police.

So out in the backyard we went and this time I got out the tail teaser - a long stick with  a rope on the end and a squeaky toy at the end of the rope. She thought this was an amazing game and I was able to really get her working hard. I think prior to ending up at the shelter she was kept inside a lot and she is really out of shape. This tail teaser play will help condition her since it's a bit like doing wind sprints in circles and figure 8's. It will also help with her weight loss.

Checking out a kid in the park

Waiting for picture time to be over so she could check out the tennis game ahead

She was plenty tired after about 10 minutes of that but I decided it still wasn't enough so off we went for a walk. Walking can be really REALLY exciting for Mochi and on this walk it was like we hit distractor after distractor. It was more than she was ready to work on. This walk there was a bunny, followed by the smell of steak grilling in a yard that she really wanted to investigate. Next was a crow hopping along and taunting her. Then another walker with a dog she wanted to meet, and finally, two kids hitting a tennis ball back and forth across the street. She tried to let me know that she really REALLY needed to chase that ball and that she even might die of a heart attack if not allowed to go after the ball. She keep looking at me like I was crazy not to understand that here was a ball bouncing all over the street and needing to be chased. She was moaning and doing these little  terrier whine/screams at the frustration of not being allowed to go after it. Luckily at that point we were back by our house. Clearly our walks need to be not about exercise but about getting used to things so they aren't so exciting and distracting. Because right now everything is exciting and distracting to Mochi - sights, sounds and smells.

"Do you smell steak? Cuz I smell steak -  next house back yard - let's GO!" 

It was a lot of work but she is now lying on the couch, head resting on her favorite donut squeaky toy, sleeping. A worn out Mochi is well worth the effort!