According to NationalWalkYourDog.com, “National Walk Your Dog Week was founded in 2010 by Celebrity Pet Lifestyle Expert and Animal Advocate Colleen Paige, to bring awareness to the ever increasing problem of canine behavior issues and canine obesity in America. Walk Your Dog Week aims to improve the health and well being of America’s dogs and sends the message to unchain your dogs!”

In honor of this week, I thought I’d make a collar for Mindy.  I have been thinking about making collars for all three dogs for a while now.  Woody and Ellie are wearing the same collars I bought for them 8 years ago.  That’s a testament to the durability of the collars, but they’re both starting to look a little worn.  I learned a lot about dog collars when we adopted Ellie.  I think we went through 6 collars before I found one she couldn’t remove and chew in half.  The last one I bought for her had a lifetime warranty, and wouldn’t you know that’s the one that worked out and she’s still wearing it today.

I found this tutorial on Pinterest and wanted to see if I could make Mindy a customized collar.  I chose a colorful piece of fabric that would stand out against her black coat  The tutorial is very well written and she has lots of helpful photos.  But even with that, it took me a couple tries to get it just right.  I learned more about my sewing machine than I ever thought possible and about being very, very patient.  3 hours later it was finished.  Yea!!  My hope is that the next two won’t take as long.

As you know I love walking my dogs or any dog for that matter.  Even though we take the same route every day, the dogs treat it as an adventure every time.  They know when I’m getting ready to go – I put on my “woof” ball cap and lace up my shoes and we’re ready to put on leashes.  They possess the same level of excitement every day (pure joy) – I think they have a lot to teach me about finding joy in the every day.

About a year ago, we were almost home from a walk when a freak thunderstorm and lighting struck.  Ellie, who is deathly afraid of loud noises, decided we need to run home.  Since that day, I’ve only been able to get her out on a walk a handful of times.  We play ball in the backyard for exercise, but she’s been missing out on her daily walks.  We discovered recently, though, that she will go on a walk if Mike comes along.  So we’ve been going most nights around 7:30p.  Ellie has to be lead dog, so Mike takes her and I follow with Woody and Mindy.  It’s really good to see Ellie enjoying the walks again and Mindy and Woody are high-fiving over the fact that they sometimes get TWO walks a day.

I love that the collar worked out because now I can make some for Christmas and Valentine’s and 4th of July and …

Until next time,

I love my new collar, mom, and my new bed, although, Ellie keeps stealing my bed.  Maybe she needs her own.  Soon.