Engaged Dogs; Walking & Training

10/03/2025

Friday’s are for Engaged Pack Walks for these friends 🥰🐶💙

Happy Friday friends!!

09/28/2025

Does your dog know paw, high five, or wave?
🐾Paw= place your paw in my open palm (human hand is palm up so dog can put their paw into your palm)
✋🏼High Five= press your paw against my open palm (raised in a high five just in front of their elbow/ shoulder area)
👋🏼Wave= wave your paw towards my open palm (similar to High Five,) without touching it/ from a short distance

These cues can be super fun for building confidence, part tricks, and photo taking!
Checkout some of our Engaged Dogs working on “Wave!”

09/28/2025

Want to learn some tricks to get cute photos of your pup?

Slide 3 is a video of Luey’s Engaged Walk today sharing some of my favorite tricks to get cute photos of all the Engaged Dogs.

Not said in the video but also important to remember is that training should be fun and enjoyable for both the dog and the human!

09/24/2025

09/22/2025

Identifying pain in our dogs can be exceptionally challenging.
Dogs tend to mask the outward signs of pain, partly because their communication is subtle and partly due to survival techniques or not wanting to appear weak or injured to others.
Penny Grace has been struggling with a limp/ stumble/ indicators of pain/ something going on for approx. 2 months now.
Like any new behavior, it became important to track her symptoms and identify any patterns to help us better understand what was causing her seeming pain and resulting intermittent limp.
While it originally seemed to follow the pattern of arthritis (presenting worse in the morning, worse after long periods of inactivity/ rest, worse after significant exercise,) the symptoms more recently became inconsistent and peaked last Monday when we had orthopedic X-rays done to determine what’s going on.
Simultaneously, PG has been on an anti inflammatory for pain to minimize her discomfort until we get to the root of what’s going on.
The preliminary X-rays showed some irritation in her right front leg pinky toe and potentially a tendon on her left leg.
We have instructions to rest, take the Remadyl, and recheck in 2 weeks.
Penny is normally extremely active, walking miles every day, spending hours outside every day, often pack walking with her friends, so she is a bit annoyed to be limited but she is appreciating all the extra puzzles, lickimats, and cooperative care training (which comes along with shredded cheese and hard boiled egg rewards😆)
It’s important to pay attention to our dog’s body language and communication, to trust our guts, and to have professionals who can help support you and your pet when life throws the unexpected at you.
Send some love and positive energy for continued healing

09/21/2025

“Our dogs have shorter REM cycles (lasting approx. 45 minutes, with approx. 10% of total sleep spent in REM) than us humans (approx. 90 minute cycles with 25% of our total sleep spent in REM/ the restorative, deep restful sleep) completing approx. 75% of their sleep needs overnight. This means our dogs must have adequate opportunities for good quality rest throughout their days.
Dogs’ sleep requirements vary based on age, breed, and activity levels.

Age is a key factor for determining the amount of sleep a dog needs.
Based on a wide review of the recent canine sleep research, consider the following recommendations based on age*:
Puppies (under 2 years old): 18-22 hours a day
Adult dogs (2 to 6 years old): 9-16 hours a day
Senior dogs (7+ years old): 12-20 hours a day “- from our latest blog post “Is your dog getting enough quality rest to set them up for success?”- read more on our blog, linked in bio

09/20/2025

“One of the most common errors we dog owners make is assuming that our dogs need more exercise when they demonstrate chaotic energy or begin demonstrating more mouthy and impulsive behaviors, even though we are pretty confident that we have already satiated their physical and mental enrichment requirements.

While ‘a tired dog is a good dog’ is true to some degree, just like with toddlers, there is a balance in all things. An overtired dog or a dog who is unsure how-to self soothe can often look like a dog with energy to burn. The difference between the two is that while you can exercise many dogs to the end of the earth, you will be doing so in an unproductive and potentially even harmful way at a certain point. (Think overstressed joints, poor form, or more reckless behaviors when overtired for example.)…
Capturing and rewarding calm behaviors:
Aim to capture and reward calm behaviors your dog is naturally offering as often as possible.
You can make this easier to do by keeping treats and/or kibble in jars throughout your home and a few in your pocket or a treat bag at all times. Your goal is to always be looking for behaviors you like and want to see repeated that you can mark and reward those as often as possible. Keep in mind, the more we do of this up front to set a really solid foundation and to communicate clearly, the less management we will have to do in the long run.“- from our blog: Skill Breakdown: Teaching your dog(s) to settle
Find it on the website, linked in bio

09/16/2025

Athena (tan hound mix on left,) recently joined her sister Echo (black and tan coonhound mix on the right,) in Engaged Walks to help her build confidence and neutrality.

It’s evident from Athena’s smile that she is enjoying herself thus far.🥰🐶

Echo + Athena both now know the Go Find game, the Name Recognition Game, and they are able and willing to walk (mostly) calmly together.

Scroll through to see them working hard 🥰🐶
Want to learn more about the aforementioned games? Read our blog!
Find it, on the website: www.choosetoliveengaged.com

09/13/2025

The variety of artwork throughout SWDC is one of the many things that makes this area beautiful and unique.

We also love that it enables us to get some fun photos of our Engaged Dogs!
Do you have a favorite mural or piece of artwork in SWDC?

09/10/2025

These Engaged Dogs have been appreciating witnessing the ways in which our community is showing up, speaking out, and demanding change.

09/06/2025

WE LOVE DC 💙