Lisa takes her Collie Blaze’s health very seriously. Blaze, Lisa’s gorgeous 6.5 year old Collie, is a puppy mill dog. Lisa makes sure that Blaze stays healthy and fit to avoid common Collie health problems and issues he may be prone to due to having been bred at a puppy mill. Lisa and Blaze go on hiking trips, bike rides, swim, and do Agility.

Despite being over 6 years old, Blaze is still a ball of energy. He can go on a 15km cycling trip with no problem.

Keeping Blaze in shape is what motivates Lisa to go out and exercise with him. Lisa grew up with a very overweight dog in the family, whose quality of life suffered due to his unhealthy weight. And while Lisa didn’t want their dog to be unhealthy, she had no say in the dog’s health as he was a family dog. So now that Lisa has Blaze, she makes sure that he is in his peak physical condition and stays in the ideal weight range.

Lisa and Blaze’s favorite activity is hiking.

I love it and he loves it. He is offleash running around swimming, playing with his 2 buddies we hike with. It’s beautiful out there, not a soul for miles. Just me, my friend and the dogs. We do about 5-8kms those days (and we do it about 3-5 days a week)
– Lisa

They also swim regularly, which provides many benefits:

Swimming is great on the bones and muscles, its a low key activity meaning its not hard on his joints like running, but is much more tiring.
– Lisa

When cycling, Lisa chooses not to use a bike attachment for Blaze. Blaze runs along off-leash as Lisa cycles and when needed Lisa ties the leash to the bike. This system works for them, so they have no need for a dog bike attachment.

Many dog owners are hesitant to get their dog into a dog sport like Agility because they feel that the dog is too old or too slow or not well trained enough. The key to remember is that Agility is first and foremost about fun, and Lisa gave some great advice to dog owners who are considering getting into Agility:

We have just started. So we are still in classes. I started Blaze the day he turned 6. So I say to owners who are afraid, don’t be. Classes are lots of fun, no dog is too old to start.
– Lisa

Lisa and Blaze switch things up when it comes to keeping fit so much, that Blaze doesn’t get a chance to get bored from any one activity. This is a great idea for dogs who may be easily bored of a certain activity – pick a few fun dog exercise activities to do and switch them up. When your dog seems to stop enjoying one thing, move on to the next. It never hurts to try new things.

Doing all of these activities with Blaze keeps Lisa fit as well. After all, it takes one fit human to keep up with a fit Collie.

There may be a day when all this fun activity has to stop for heath reasons for him. So I want to make the most out of his days for him and I.
– Lisa

Thanks a lot to Lisa for sharing her and Blaze’s dog fitness experiences and tips with us. If you have a dog, tell us how the two of you keep fit by sending an email to info@1fitmutt.com. Check out some photos in the gallery below: