Weekend walks and mental breakfast

Today was indeed a big day, lots of activity. We worked out, had wrestling practice, a birthday party, walk at Lia & Big D's house, etc. What that meant for the dogs is that they were in and out of their crates a lot. Not too bad for them, because they wound up getting mental breakfast about four times. Mental breakfast is something we instituted as a compromise. First, we thought that they needed to have breakfast, so we were feeding them the same amount as their dinner, only in the morning. There were two effects from this, one positive and one negative. On the one hand, the mutts were much more eager to get in their crates in the morning, particularly Chili. On the other hand, they really started packing on the pounds. We wouldn't be good owners if we knowingly fattened our dogs up, but we wanted them to enjoy getting in their crates, so we decided on mental breakfast. This is about five kernels of dog food in their crates, just enough to keep them interested in getting in the crates. It's perfect. On days like today, though, they've had enough mental breakfast to add up to a meal.

We also went for a quick walk today, which was also great. They do love a weekend, because that's when we really have time to get out and pound the pavement with them. No matter how long or short the walk is, they still come back exercised and happy (probably because of that whole three second memory thing). I think tomorrow we're going to go downtown to some of the state parks and get a nice long walk. Very exciting, and the perfect way to spend time with our 12 legged family.