when i get bored at night, i go for a night ride.

Side planks are worse than doing crunches to one side. One arm push-ups too. At most you should be doing 1/10 isolating one side or the other.

These would be a much better use of your time.


http://www.imtakingcharge.ca/wp-cont.../exercice5.jpg

We had agree not to let out cat out if we live near a canyon (we do - see plenty of coyotes on my morning ride) and not to declaw him when we got boy-cat from the shelter. We used to think we coouldnt get new furniture until the kid goes to college. Now its that and when boy-cat passes on...

We have had that identical experience with pound puppies in the past, and I always gravitated toward dogs like that out of sympathy. Unfortunately, once they learn that behavior (or fear?) it is incredibly hard to do anything with.

We work with a ferret rescue, and it is really common for someone to get a fuzzy, teach it to be rough, and then get tired of getting bit. They can be very gentle if raised correctly, and a nightmare if not. I tell my wife that I would like to get a pet store one once just to save it the trauma. We know we will wind up with it eventually, why not cut out the middle man?

So sad, I'm sorry to hear about your cat's passing. I know the pain. My Whippet was 15 yo when he got his angel wings. For all pet parents, enjoy each minute you have with your furry kid - they are not with us as long as we'd like.

i gotta imagine this is better in a pool.

Haha, try it once and see how you feel the next day. The lack of weight it places on your hips, shoulders, and knees compared to similar exercises alone should make you think.

Madness.

What is that called? And why is it better for your abdomen?

Sounds like a number of you are already doing strength training. All I ever do for exercise is ride my stupid bicycle. No wonder my upper body is as weak as coasting's.

Hey, didn't somebody say that belly on the floor was cheating?

Before circuit training class I was doing ~ 200 bicycle crunches and 50 pushups about 3 days a week.

When you get an animal from the shelter, you don't know their history. How long has your friend had the dog? Maybe when you enter, if you can't hand feed the treat, throw it in front of you. Eventually, the dog will know you are not going to harm him. A dog trainer might be a good idea to help train the parents.

Yeah, I rescued Moose from a shelter - they were about to terminate him - he was an out of control, adolescent male rottie. First 3 days in my house we were at war - he wanted to be alpha as he was accustomed to in his previous home, and I wasn't having it. They apparently treated him like a lap dog, constant affection with no boundaries, and once he hit 1 year old and about 85 lbs and strong as a bull they realized "oops, he's no lap dog, he's a monster" and abandoned him to the streets. Dumbasses!

I got him under pretty good control eventually, but it would have been far better if I had him from a pup and he never knew those bad habits. Last rescue dog for me . . . I hate to be that way but I can't devote my life to trying to correct or live with the mess some other dumbass human created.

I didn't go into it too thoroughly but they have spent a lot of time training themselves and working with a trainer. Close as anyone could figure he got cracked in the head by a male hard enough he never got over it.

Just found a HBO documentary about, intially, good dogs with bad personalities. A Dr. with 5 Rhodesian Ridgebacks splitting time between his functioning farm and estate in town eventually put one of them down after multiple single bite attacks against humans. Knowing the difference between a free roaming farm dog with a job in keeping with their breed and an indoors family dog, I see why.

Those are great additions to a core stabilization program, but work different muscle groups than planks. Pelvic tilts on a swiss ball are another good exercise.

Kudos rescuing Moose. The problem with people is they don't do their homework about a particular breed. All pups are cute, but they sometimes can outgrow your vehicle.

My neighbor had a Golden Retriever she had no control over when walking the dog. The dog pulled her down the stairs and landed on her face. Another neighbor has a GR who is also strong. She has no control over that dog either. They apparently haven't taken the time to train the dog.

Even with shelter dogs/cats, try to ask as many questions as possible to get some idea what the animal is like and their background. This time of the year people buy pets because of their cuteness and don't stop to think if that animal will fit into their lifestyle or what's really involved in the care of the animal. I think it was Truckstop who didn't think it fair to get the IG or Rat Terrier because they are not home that much and the dog would be alone. She gave it some thought. It's a big responsibility having a pet, not to mention the expense. Dogs do ok by themselves, better if you have 2. They are pack animals.

I had a purebred Siberian Husky that was the moodiest dog I ever met. She would go from being very playful to vicious with little warning. We went through several trainers with no luck, and our vet tried different medications to calm her, also with no success. We nearly had her put down... until we took her to another vet. The diagnosis was a shock... she was a true hermaphrodite. Once all the hormone inducing bits were removed, she became the sweetest dog.

I'm not tending to any animals ATM.

I did see this owl the other morning, however. I tried suddenly raising my arm and waving it in the hopes I could video him launching but no dice. He was just like meh, another stupid human.

It seems to me if I had only a modicum of upper body strength I would be better able to power over small hills without losing as much momentum.

Learned a new word today. At least not one that I've read since grade school science class.

I haven't gotten the motivation to get it out of the car, remove the dork disk, or flip the stem just yet.

slacker

I did take Izzy to the shelter to get his second round of shots this morning. After that I replaced some watch batteries and managed to ruin one of my watches. :( Wife is going to be upset, it's one that she got me. :o

Thanks for the expressions of sympathy about the cat. It sucked at the time but it was inevitable.

Niner grew up with Labs and really wants one. I think they are too dopey. I grew up with Husky/Shepherd crosses that had a little more self respect.

The big advantage to the cat was that it was very low maintainence. Food and water in dish, litter in box - cat is happy. Gone for the weekend? No problem, lay out an extra water bowl, pile the food a little higher, let the tub tap drip a bit - cat will figure it out. Didn't need a cat-sitter unless we were gone for more than 3 days, and the sitter would just reload the food and water and make sure the cat was still alive.

Dogs take more work.

That being said, the new house will have a larger yard and a dog is probably in the cards.

The childless thing... I'm really quite OK with that. I'm not good with small children. Once they hit 9 or so they are OK, but I don't do babies. And not having kids means I got to have a race car. And cool bikes. Etc.

DG

Maybe you should just take up golf.

Weekend project.