Fitness and Fitbit Update
First a quick update on my fitness regime and new Fitbit. I could put on FB “in a relationship” as it is a commitment. We were doing so well and I hit my 10,000 on Saturday and Sunday- Maya got even more chasing the ball.I got lots of praise and feedback from my new pal, but I also got a chill and allergies with all the walks to and in the park. Now in bed with a cold in the head- so annoying. Staring down my Fitbit guiltily at only 4,000 today and 6,000 yesterday. I knew it would be bad, but I could not help checking. Hopefully better for another trip up north this weekend with pups.
Feature Fit Dog: Handsome Harper
Today we wanted to feature new community member handsome Harper. Harper is a 4 year old, male Bulloxer aka Bullboxer- half Bulldog, half Boxer. He is incredibly fit as you can see in his video here:
2014: A Dog Odyssey
The slow motion video was shot with an iPhone on a tripod using an app called “SloPro”. It simulates a high speed camera, allowing for smoother, slow motion playback. Very cool.
Guest post from talented owner Wm. Perry:
“The Bulldog in him makes him a huge, muscular, barrel chested, 85 lb. bouncy Boxer. He has the clownish, goofy traits of a Boxer and the stubborn, aloof traits of a Bulldog.Harper loves to jump and he is very good at it.
I can hold a stick above my head and he can jump up and snatch it. I’m 6 ft. tall. Unfortunately, I can’t encourage extreme jumping any more. Last summer he injured his cruciate ligament in his back leg in a bad landing. It took months to recover so we have to be careful now.
Harper is a very athletic dog. I try to give him at least one hard workout per day, using a variety of balls. The actual workout, minus the walking to and fro, is about 20 minutes. Harper instinctively chases squirrels and cats, as well as skateboards, rollerblades and any sort of ball. He runs very fast. He won’t play fetch except with 2 balls at a time and then one ball he loves. I have the two soft, orange balls you see in the slow motion video. They are for warming up. Then I have two heavy, white, lacrosse balls. The bounce high and go far. This is the real work out. This gets him panting. Then it is water time. Then I pull out the (magic) large, orange, plastic, indestructible ball you see him chasing in “Harper’s Magic Ball”. He’s had the same ball for four years and it never seems to lose its appeal to him. He chases it all over the park, getting increasingly wound up over it until I take it away. Then it is water time again. I have to be careful not to let him get dehydrated. He can play past his endurance. When I leash him to leave the park he lays on the ground and refuses to leave. He rolls on his back and puts his feet in the air. That’s the stubborn bulldog in him.”
We suggested that Harper Try Swimming and then Dock jumping. Swimming is also great exercise but easy on the joints and he might just love dock jumping and not risk his ligaments landing.
Check out Harper on his YouTube Channel HERE
Harper looks like one strong and fit fella. Swimming is a great idea for any dog that has a joint problem – good thinking. Thanks for joining the Hop.
Thanks for hosting the hop. Love it.
It sounds like Harper would enjoy lure coursing too with all his prey drive.
Oh good idea Mr. N! Lots of running would help burn off all that extra energy.
Sounds like a guy that would love running with my mom.
Certainly loves running, but I think you and B keep your Mum busy enough LOL
On behalf of Harper, thanks for the profile. I like your selection of images. And, thanks for the comments
For lots of pictures and videos of Harper go to Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iperryon. Images of Harper is all I show to the public, I keep my personal info private for Facebook Friends.
Or go to youtube
https://www.youtube.com/user/myvideoscrapbook
or
https://www.youtube.com/user/iperryon
And yes, I would love to try Harper at dock jumping but there aren’t many opportunities in downtown Toronto. Luring is another great suggestion but I don’t see much of that in Toronto. I’ll check it out. I wish one of our lakeside dog parks in Toronto could install a dock for jumping, maybe at Toronto Cherry Beach.
Wow Harper is quite a fit dog for sure! He can do a lot of healthy activities. Lucky Harper!
Wow, love that app and the video! We’ll have to try that. I think Harper would LOVE dock diving! Harper is one handsome dude!
Brown dawgs love swimming. They highly recommend it. 🙂 Sorry to hear about the cold. Hope you are on the mend.