Walkees

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Swifto for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I may have dated myself when I gave the title of this post "walkees." For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term, it was coined by Barbara Woodhouse, a very well known dog trainer that had her own TV show. This post is not about her but taking your dog for a walk. 

For me living on a large country property, all I have to do is let the dog out and he runs around and then wants to come back inside. In fact right now he is curled up on his bed near the wood stove. It was not always that way. About 15 years ago I lived in the city in and I had bigger dogs. They had to be taken out for walks otherwise they would have gotten very much out of shape just running around in our small backyard. There were times that I could have used a dog walking service but there was none in the area. 

I found out later that most of the dog walking services were limited to larger cities. New York City has several and Swifto Dog Walking is one of them. They offer a last minute service that can get a dog walker to your door within an hour.  

Something you have go to keep in mind is that your dog will need to be taken out for a walk not once a day but at least twice a day or more. The walk is not only about exercise but also about elimination.  

Flea problem in the winter

For those of you that think that flea problems with dogs end when the summer is over then your flea problems are just beginning.

The heated home in the winter months is a haven for hatching out flea eggs. The rooms are warm and dry, just what a flea needs and wants to survive and propagate. One of the best ways to control fleas is to kill them while on the dog. There are 2 major spot-on flea products, Advantage and Frontline Plus. I have used Advantage in the past with great success, but I never tried Frontline Plus. The major reason I used Advantage over Frontline was the cost. That has got to be the major reason why I don't use a spot-on flea product year round. There is probably an advantage to my dog's health from not having his skin covered in pesticides 100% of the time.

If you want to find out more about the flea life cycle than check out this page from Ohio State - flea facts

The page has some really fascinating facts to ponder. For example, did you know that cats and dogs have different fleas? Adult fleas can live up to one year without eating (blood).