What a beautiful weekend it was in central Florida!

Is your dog overweight? Did you know that if your dog is 30% above his normal weight, he is considered obese? Do you realize that by allowing your dog to become overweight, he may be facing serious health issues? Like people, extra pounds put additional stress on every organ in the body and the consequences can manifest in sickness and in worst case death

…when you’re happy, sad, angry, excited, upset, not feeling well, pensive – all the emotions we can elicit. As guardians, we’ve become more in-tune with our dogs’ feelings and subsequently they are more in-tune to ours. Our dogs will react based on our feelings and emotions and learn behaviors based on our actions. So be good! It’s been said that dogs are manifestations of their owners, you and me. They tend to take on our personalities, energy, and sometimes even our physique.

It rained this morning, and as I tried to get Beau out for his morning walk, I started thinking. What is it about rain that dogs hate? Mind you, not all dogs hate it, but most of the people I’ve spoken to have the same comment that their dog just won’t go out when it’s raining. It takes some hearty encouragement and a match of wits to get them to go out even for a few minutes to pee, let alone take a walk.

One of the most important things to remember though is not how to do the various strokes. You will learn those strokes as you practice. What’s more important is to find a quiet time when both you and your dog are “in the mood.” Your dog must want to receive a massage, and you must be in the proper frame of mind to give a massage. You should be as stress free as possible, and not thinking of the kids, or what you have to cook for dinner, or how your day was at work.

Did you ever think about the drama that takes place when you feed your dog? Does he sit nicely and wait for his meal? Does he have his paws on the counter to see what you’re doing? Does he dance enthusiastically in anticipation? Or, does he show no interest? All my dogs have been food enthusiasts – I’ve never had one that showed no interest but, I’m sure some are.

Now that our website has been revamped to reflect our upcoming canine health and fitness center, we wanted to do the same for the blog. The previous Rocky’s Retreat site had a blog page, but it was never really used. That’s about to change!

We are the only Orlando dog boarding and Orlando doggie day care center that has an indoor heated pool for dogs. See it for yourself by scheduling a tour!

Rocky's Retreat | 2826 Shader Rd. Orlando FL 32808 | info@rockysretreat.com | (407) 295-3888