Making New Year’s Resolutions is a common pastime, and breaking those resolutions is just as popular! Maybe by the time you’re reading this, you’ve already broken your 2022 resolution?
This New Year, try going into it with your best friend: your dog!
If your New Year’s Resolutions are working out, eating healthier, drinking less alcohol, reading more, or spending more time with loved ones, your dog can help you stay on track this year.
Lucky for you, your dog doesn’t need to go to the gym to stay fit, they don’t drink, they can encourage you to experiment in the kitchen, and they would love nothing more than spending more time this year with their best friend.
Here are some ways to incorporate your dog into your New Year’s Resolutions:
Walk or Run with Your Dog
Start with the basics and enjoy a Walk or Run with Your Dog! There are so many paths and trails in Bend for you to enjoy with your dog.
The Deschutes River Trail is a great place to walk or run with your dog.
You can start out at the Good Dog Park and let your dog get some sniffs and potties out, and then you can jog along the river 12 miles to Benham Falls, or turn around at any point along the way. Leashes are required May-September on most parts of this trail, but off-leash the rest of the year.
For a more mellow stroll along the Deschutes River Trail, start your walk at Riverbend Park and walk along the river until you get to the second footbridge, then cross to the other side of the river and travel up to the footbridge at Farewell Bend Park. This walk is about 5.5 miles, so if you’re not down for the whole trek you can turn around whenever you feel.
Skijor with your dog
If you are looking to enjoy the snow before it melts, Skijoring With Your Dog might be the activity for you! Wanoga Sno-Park is a great place to strap on some cross country skis or snowshoes and hit the trail.
This trail is groomed often, so it’s a safe place for your dog run, but remember that hiking boots are not allowed at this park to keep the trails nicely groomed. Keep a look out for snowmobiles if you let your dog off leash!
Bikejor with your dog
If you have a little more need for speed, Bikejoring With Your Dog by your side is a really fun way to bond!
We all love Phil’s Trail for riding a bike with your dog, but Storm King Trail is also an incredible ride within that same trail system! The Storm King Trail allows for your dog to be off-leash September-May, so if they aren’t yet trained to stay connected to you as you ride, this is a great option to get them trained to run with you.
Swim with your Dog
In the summertime, Swimming With Your Dog is one of my favorite activities! Swimming is not only a great way to lose weight, it’s also great for the joints, bones, and muscles!
If you don’t want to go too far, the Deschutes River is an amazing place to swim with your dog in the warmer months.
If you’re interested in a little more of a journey, Crane Prairie Reservoir is the place to be! The water is often warm, and the views are always stunning! You can play fetch in the water, paddle board, kayak, or take a dip together.
Eating Healthy
If your goal is to stay in shape, Eating Healthy might be on your list of New Year’s resolutions, and there are a lot of foods that you and your dog can snack on together that will nourish you inside and out!
- Squash and pumpkins are healthy and delicious for you and your dog to eat. They provide a lot of vitamins, fiber, and iron so they are great for your immune & digestive systems. Your dog can enjoy gourds cooked or raw, cubes or pureed. Find some easy recipes here.
- Carrots are high in fiber, beta-carotene, and Vitamin A and are low in fats and calories. They are good for the eyes, skin, coat, and gut. They are also great at helping your dog keep their teeth clean. Give your dog a carrot to gnaw on and it works as a natural tooth brush.
- Apples are high in fiber and Vitamins A & C, but low in fats and proteins. They are a great snack for a dog of any age, but especially benefit older pups because of their low fatty content. Always be sure to remove the core and any seeds before snacking.
- Grains are full of nutrients and provide, antioxidants, fats, and carbs, which support healthy skin, coat, immune and digestive systems.
Whether you’re feeding kibble, dehydrated, raw, or some mixture, Salmon is the leanest of all the proteins. It has very little fat, but is high in protein in Omegas. It’s great for the skin, coat, and immune system.
Cutting back on Alcohol
If one of your New Year’s Resolutions is to Cut Back on Alcohol, your dog can help. This is a little easier said than done living in a beer town. There is a brewery or beer bar on every block, and now cocktail bars and wineries are popping up in between! Is there anywhere to go with your dog and enjoy a non-alcoholic beverage?! You bet there is!
The Midtown Yacht Club is a local beer bar with endless taps and extra drinks in the cold cases, but did you know some of those cold cases are filled with juices, sodas, CBD drinks, and non-alcoholic beers? I love visiting my favorite food truck and having a blood orange Pellegrino or a Rogue CBD seltzer. You and your pup can either sit outside in the sunshine, under the covered patio, or inside watching the game.
Mother’s Juice Cafe has an awesome outdoor patio where you can sip on a delicious juice or smoothie. I am a big fan of sipping on the Pink Lady while my dog and I watch other pups walk around the neighborhood.
Spoken Moto not only has delicious coffee, but they also have a real nice dog friendly patio where you can enjoy live music in the warmer months. And did I mention Broken Angel has some of the best vegan breakfast you could dream of?
San Simon is a great place to go if you want to feel like your drinking a cocktail. Their mocktails are yummy, and their outdoor patio is in the Tin Pan Alley so it’s a great place to bring your dog along without having to worry about too much foot traffic exciting them.
Read More
While sipping on a non-alcoholic beverage, be sure to bring a book along to fulfill your New Year’s resolution to Read More!
Jan Fennell’s The Dog Listener is for anyone interested in changing the way they interact with their dog, how they use their body language, and how they look at the practical training methods.
Both The Other End of the Leash & For the Love of a Dog by Patricia McConnell are excellent looks into the dog-human connection and our shared characteristics that bind us.
One of my all-time favorite writers, Alexandra Horowitz, writes several books about the science of dog, and looks into their biology, physiology, psychology, and history of evolution to better understand them. My two favorites are Being a Dog & Inside of a Dog.
More Time with Your Loved Ones
Spending More Time With Loved Ones is a New Year’s resolution I make every year, and several more times throughout the year. I end up losing time with loved ones as I get caught up in work and life. Like my dog Link. So we make sure to set aside time each day, and each week, to spend uninterrupted time together.
When we want to stay near home and keep things low-key, we go for observation walks, play his favorite games, or enjoy tTouch in the living room.
Observation walks are just what they sound like; walks where we both observe our surroundings. My phone is silenced and out of view to minimize distractions. On these walks, we rely on our senses to take in the environment around us. It sounds simple, but in today’s world it’s more rare than it should be.
Some great bonding activities you can do in the house or yard are fetch, tug, or soccer. Soccer is something Link loves, so I know it’s a great bonding activity.
No matter what your New Year’s resolutions are, it’s always nice to have someone to share it with. It gives you motivation, company, and someone to high-five when you reach your goals.
We here at The Dog Guide Bend, we hope you and your resolution partner find everything you hope for in the New Year!
Author: Dena Vogt
Dena has worked in animal care most of her life, specializing in dog care. She and her RottenChow Link own & operate Adventure Pup in Bend, OR