Finding my "spot" in Illinois and Personal Play: A Follow-up to Decompression Walks (Patreon)

Hey Everyone! 

So I just wanted to do a quick follow-up on a real-life decompression walk hunt. Last week I talked about the importance of the decompression walk for your dog (and you!).

Monday/Tuesday I drove 16 hours to the St. Louis area. I arrived at around 3pm and by 4 we were en route to stretch our legs. I found a local bike path by looking at google maps and asking the front desk. I walked each dog about a mile there but it was busy and close to the road and I find road noise to be very averse (for me!) so I decided to try another spot. I had seen a lake nearby and while I was leaving the trail I rolled down my window and asked a biker if he could recommend anywhere that might be dog friendly. He said the lake was just a few miles down the road and he sees dogs there frequently. So off we drove!

Within a few minutes we reached this beautiful State Park in the video above. I found the hiking trails and surveyed the  parking lot; a few cars but mostly with people in them talking on the phone or eating. That meant the trail would be pretty empty - my favorite kind! 

I threw a longline in CoolWhip and off we ventured. The trail was perfect and we didn't see a soul. 

In the video above, a few seconds in  you can see me doing a little personal play with Whip (I only got a little on tape, but did quite a bit of play zoomin with her). Personal play with your dog is play without a toy or food. Whip LOVES to be chased, or even the thought of being chased, as well as to chase me! Generally, chasing your dog is not something I recommend but you can see right away that I recall her with a low whistle and she flips on her heel to get back to me. Because her recall is pretty stellar, I'm comfortable making some silly movements at her that get her going into the zoomies. A lot of times I'll have her do little bit of zoomin and then produce a ball from my pocket, call her and have her tug as a reward. Or, she'll be zoomin one direction and I'll run the other and she'll turn heel and chase me down. But sometimes I just do a little bit of play like this, then end the session by calling her into heel and feeding her in heel position for a few steps. My point is, I like to have a way to play with my dog that doesn't involved food or toys if I don't have those available. It could be that your dog loves butt scritches, or chasing snowballs in the winter, or chasing you (whip loves this game and we play it often!). Think about what would work for your dog and practice it as a fun reward at home. 

And find your spot. Where ever you are. Everyone needs a "spot" that's theres :)