In early January, I resumed biking Sonic – she is attached to my Springer thingie which is attached to the bike – in my training building. It is a bit on the boring side riding around in big circles, but she is a lot calmer about it inside than when we ventured outside last spring for a few kamikaze rides down our dirt road. She likes to carry a large toy while she trots along with me. We are up to 25 minutes of trotting, and have been managing to get this in 3 times a week. We have also gone out for a 30-40 minute off-leash run in a neighbors field one day each weekend this month.

Last winter, I got a dog gym set up in an unused area upstairs in my big training building. There are cavalettis set up all the time, my big red peanut, a Bosu ball, half of an extension ladder, and various other pieces of equipment. I used it consistently from January – April 2015, and then we moved outside for field training, and that consumed us. We have resumed 3 times a week strength workouts, where we do each piece of equipment or exercise for a short amount of time (currently 35 seconds) and then move on to the next exercise – kind of modeled after the Curves for Women workout I did for several years. The dogs love it, as there are lots of cookies involved. I was told that good core strength makes the whelping process easier on an expectant mother, so I’m doing my best to improve that for Sonic.