Living a Better Life with Dog Ownership

Stormy looking all innocent

One of the Best ways to enhance your life is through dog ownership. Stormy, our lab mix, came into our lives about two years ago and he has been such a Good addition to our family. Stormy is a workout partner, lacrosse player (as long as there are two balls in the game), watch dog (such a baritone bark), super snuggler and homework helper.

Dogs do so much to make our lives Better but today I want to focus on two ways Stormy has been Good for our family, as an excellent workout partner me and a true companion for Hockey Guy.

A Boy and His Dog

Stormy loves all of us, a lot, but really his favorite person is Hockey Guy. Sure Runny Daddy has started to run with him a little and takes him down to the creek for adventures. And yes, I am the one that walks him in snowstorms, buys him high end dog food and upgrades him to a suite at the dog hotel while we are on vacation, but the person he really loves the most is Hockey Guy. This is pretty cool because being the only kid in the house, Hockey Guy always has someone to hang out with. 

So much love here

Stormy being an athletic dog is awesome for Hockey Guy. Since Stormy is mostly Labrador Retriever, we realized last summer that he is really good at lacrosse. He can run a ball in, catch it mid-air, he'll guard you if you have the ball and most of the time when you shoot that ball into the net, he will bring it back to you. Although most of the time it is Best to have two tennis balls going in case he takes the ball off to his own sidelines.

Which one is the Better athlete?

Stormy is also a really Good study partner. I am sure you have heard news stories about dogs being taken into public libraries to help little kids learn to read by reading to dogs. This is such an awesome concept and one that we adapted into our own family. Hockey Guy worked really hard this year in school and studied harder than he ever has. His Best study tool for Social Studies...Stormy. Hockey Guy would think that he was finished studying but we would send him back to his room with Stormy to read aloud to him facts about whatever region of the world the test was on. If Stormy could talk, he could probably tell us all a lot about Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia. A few extra minutes of studying made Better by our sweet dog.

Class clown or study buddy?

Workout Partner
Stormy is also an awesome workout partner for me and gets me walking 30-60 minutes 7 days per week. Being a young lab mix, he has a lot of energy. We both walk fast so he really helps give me a Good workout. There are times when I just need a 15 minute break to relax and think and luckily Stormy is always up for a walk. I come back from our walks with a clearer head and refreshed. 

Walking Buddies

Next Steps to Adding a Dog to Your Life
If you have been thinking about adding a dog to your family the next thing you will want to do is find a reputable rescue or breeder. If you want to go the breeder route, I just learned about a really Good resource called PuppySpot. Puppyspot has information and breeder connections for all breeds of dogs, but the Best thing about PuppySpot is their no puppy mill promise. All of their breeder partners are vetted and you can be sure they they will not tolerate any puppy mills associated with their website.

Not sure what dog breed might be right for you and your family? Puppyspot can help with that too. PuppySpot has really Good descriptions of all the dog breed on their site. I can tell you that their Labrador Retriever page is spot on, especially that "high energy" part.  

Happy to share how dog ownership has been Good for our family and the Joy that Stormy has brought to our lives. Feel free to share in the comments your own Joy of dog ownership, I'd love to hear your stories.