It's a Dogs Life on the Trails

Today was a great Saturday.  I slept in and refuse to disclose the time I actually got out of bed.  Once I woke, I made breakfast sandwiches on ciabatta rolls and Jon, Winston and I headed for the trails for a hike.  We went around 2-3 miles and had one minor scare.  We were running and playing on some bike trails and bike bridges when Winston's leg slipped through the crack in the wood.  We kept him calm and Jon was able to get his leg out.  We were just really lucky that he was moving pretty slow on the bridge before falling through, or his leg could have been broken.
After that little scare we headed back and Winston was able to roam off leash for a while.  We worked with Winston about always staying on trail.  We have been trying to keep him from roaming off the trails to be good stewards and preserve the natural areas.  His only weakness has proven to be squirrels.  He can't resist chasing them no matter how hard we try.  After our hike we sat on a rock for a while enjoying the quiet.  Winston enjoyed his new water bowl that doesn't fold onto his face while drinking.

Jon couldn't help but spoil Winston with a little treat that was in our backpacks.  It's a Dogsbar.  They come in two flavors Peanut Butter and Blueberry.  Winston had the peanut butter flavor.  Winston isn't very treat driven and he has been known to be temperamental with eating.  He just has certain flavors and foods he likes and is ok not eating for a couple of days if he doesn't like the food.  He doesn't like crunchy dog treats and doesn't like hard bones or even rawhides.  He will occasionally eat a pig ear but it's rare.  So, I was skeptical that he would eat this Dogsbar.  I hoped that it wouldn't be a wasted $3.99 from Petco.

The cool thing about Dogsbar is that they donate a bar to a dog in need with each purchase.  It's a pretty awesome company with a great mission.  Their bars are gluten free, organic and made with awesome ingredients.

They come in a bar that could easily be mistaken for a granola bar that we would eat and honestly I'm sure we could eat them and they would probably taste better than some of the energy/fiber bars that I have had for people!  Winston refused to take the entire bar and initially showed little interest in it.  I think this was more related to the fact that we rarely feed him from our hand and he isn't a big fan of treats.  But once we broke it apart he was willing to try it.

After he tried a couple of pieces of it he was hooked!  He loved it and ate the entire bar.  I will be purchasing a few more of these bars in the future.  We may even try a blueberry one!  I think they would be a great energy boost during a long hike.  I try to remember that if I allow Winston to be off leash he is typically running a lot more miles than I am hiking.  If we are hiking I always try to be mindful properly feeding and watering Winston.  He is dependent on me and I don't want him to get sick drinking questionable water he finds along the trail. 

 I'd love to hear about your adventures with your dogs!  

Happy Trails!