Keeda encountered a kangaroo up close for the first time and, of course, felt the need to chase it, going “deaf” to my calls (aka ignoring me) in the process. She first bolted after a female kangaroo with her joey. We didn’t know where she went at first and I was starting to get worried, straying to look for her. Then I get a call from C saying Keeda is back with him.

Apparently he was standing there, keeping a lookout for her and suddenly hears these long “POOF — POOF — POOF” stamps against the ground. He sees the two kangaroos leaping through the bushes. There is a crashing, rustling sound behind them and whaddaya know – it’s Keeda, chasing after them.

When I got back there Keeda was so tired and out of breath that I thought she learned her lesson. We gave her water and moved on, on the lookout for any more kangaroos in case she takes up the chase again (though I was hoping she was too puffed out after the first time).

Unfortunately we didn’t see the big male in the bushes until after he moved. And Keeda was off again. This time I was really scared. This was a huge male, muscly and tall. I immediately went after Keeda, calling after her, but alas she was already gone. I chased after them, but they were too quick and disappeared from sight within seconds. Then everything went quiet. I was calling out to her with no response and then I hear this high pitched whimpering and yelping in the distance. My heart sank and I thought “This is it, this kangaroo turned around and clawed or kicked her to death.”

Keeda post-chase

I kept calling and searching for her, but by this time she was silent and I was fearing the worst. I came upon a little cliff/hill top and see Keeda trotting toward me, seemingly unhurt, puffed out more than before. She came up to me, nuzzled my leg, and crashed in the shade under a bush with this panicked look in her eyes. I checked her over, running my hands over her paws, legs, ribs, back, everything, and thankfully found no blood or tenderness. She drank a full bowl of water and we had to sit there and wait for her to get her breath back again.

C said he suspected the roo may have leapt down this little cliff-edge/sharp hill slope type of thing and Keeda may have followed. The drop was too high and sharp for a dog of her size and she may have fallen down, which is when she would have yelped. I’m not sure if this is what happened, but I suppose it’s possible. Thankfully after 10 minutes or so Keeda seemed good as new (if more tired) and we continued our hike at a slower pace, me making sure Keeda was always nearby and didn’t have a chance to chase after more kangaroos. I thought about putting her on the short leash I had with me, but by this time she was so puffed out and I doubted she’d have the energy to chase after a kangaroo again. Besides, she would never catch one and needs to learn that it’s a fruitless (and potentially dangerous) exercise eventually.

Keeda and I on the hike

Either way, after the male roo chase incident it was a good hike. However I noticed the ground was too warm and suspected Keeda wouldn’t have been too comfortable. Thankfully there were always large patches of shade on the trail with cool ground where Keeda could trot along comfortably, but if that shade wasn’t there she certainly could have burnt her paws. Next time I’m definitely either buying her dog boots for this reason or perhaps we will stick to the dog beach in the summer and do most of our hikes in the fall and winter, when it’s cooler.

Has your dog ever encountered a kangaroo? How did he/she/you react?

Stay safe on your hikes – watch out for kangaroos!

Some photos from the trip:

And a couple of videos:

Yesterday my boyfriend and I found our first cache. We were so excited! We looked through the logbook signatures and they dated all the way back from 2006! I thought about how fun it would be to start going geocaching with Keeda. She’d get to go on nice hikes in different environments and we’d hunt for treasure. We’ll definitely start doing this when I start driving.

Have you ever gone geocaching?

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:

First, we played catch in the backyard. We used her favorite rubber wheel toy, which she loves to sink her teeth into.

Then, we cycled to the nearby oval. It was quite hot, but she kept up:

Next, we goofed around a little. Keeda crawled under my legs to rest in the shade.

Then played some catch at the park with her favorite deflated rubber ball:

And did some running. We didn’t go for a proper leashed run today as it was very hot, but we ran around the park.

We then went for a hike at the sand dunes:

Where we did some more running. It’s great for Keeda to run up and down sand dunes. Hill training is great for dogs just like it is for human runners.

And more goofing around:

It was a great outing overall. Keeda’s never been a fan of the heat and looked thoroughly exhausted by the time we got back home. I made sure she cooled down properly, checked her paws, put out a fresh bowl of water. I’ve been reading about dog collars that you’re meant to put ice into to keep your dog cool on hot days, maybe I’ll find one and buy it for Keeda.