Everything You Need For This Years Muddy Dog Challenge

The Muddy Dog Challenge is a run with the option of a 2.5KM or 5KM obstacle course that you can take on with your dog by your side, alone or with friends and family, to raise money for Battersea dogs and cats home. The event’s purpose is for each muddy dog challenge participant to fundraise for every cat and dog stationed at Battersea, allowing them to receive the love and care they need and deserve.

Tips For Your Muddy Dog Challenge

Wether this is your first time as a muddy dog challenge participant or you’re familiar with the challenge and have come back for more, we have all the tips you need for that 2km or 5km obstacle run! The events take place through September and October and all proceeds go to the registered charity in England raising money for cats and dogs in need of a safe environment.

Training For Humans

You can choose to take a nice walk or an energetic run through the course, or do a bit of both. We recommend going out for a few short walks or runs, and gradually increasing the distance up to 2.5 or 5Km, to ensure you are prepared for the obstacles. You’ll also need to be prepared to jump, crawl, duck and clamber over the obstacles! If any obstacles are too tough for you, you can easily skip them however we encourage you to try as best as you can to optimise your experience.

Training For Dogs

It’s important to ensure your dog is ready for the Muddy Dog Challenge, as it will be a lot different to a normal walk in the park for them! However, do remember, although each obstacle has been designed specifically for dogs, you are able to take them around any obstacle that they aren’t able to do on the day. A dog and human team can be incredibly fun and theres tons of obstacles to tackle with your dog alongside you, it’s a great bonding experience and fun day out for you both. The website has links to videos to show you what to expect on the obstacles so you can be prepared for you and your best pal!

First aid and veterinary cover is available on the day to keep you and your furry friend safe throughout the fun whilst you try and raise money for less fortunate animals.

A few tips from the muddy dog challenge website to prepare your dog for the challenge are: to check with your vet so they can recommend the intensity of training for your dog and you can tailor the training programme to your dogs specific needs.

Another is to develop the length of the walk based on the breed of the dog. Make sure the length of the walk is in line with what what your dog can comfortably complete.

It’s important to start training at your dog’s current ﬁtness level, so it’s a good idea to start out slowly. This is especially important if your dog is older, has health problems or is overweight. A good start to every session is with a calm, casual walk. Just like humans, dogs need to warm up too.

Listen and watch for signs of fatigue and make sure you have plenty of water with you for you and your furry friend. You should pay close attention to your dog’s footpads for signs of wear. It’s best to avoid hot surfaces and trails with sharp rocks. It’s best to exercise at cooler times of the day and avoid extremely hot and humid days to keep your dog cool and at a safe temperature.

Off-lead exercise is normally recommended, but due to our event being on-lead, we advise that you practise this method when building up your training regime. We strongly recommend that you use a harness to reduce any tension around your dog’s neck. A harness is a much safer option than a collar and can aid your dog through the obstacles much better.

What To Take With You To The Muddy Challenge

There are certain essentials that will come in handy for the challenge that support both you and your pal! We’ll start with things that benefit us through the muddy terrain and then we get into supporting our furry friends.

A large and refillable water bottle is a classic, you need to stay hydrated through the day to keep up your stamina to tackle those obstacles, accompanied with snacks to fuel your body are of course essential so you can keep your energy going throughout the event day.

A change of clothes is standard, as you don’t want to be travelling home in muddy, dirty attire. Paired with a new set of clothes, clean shoes would be useful compared to boots coated in mud!

If you own a Go-Pro and like to film memories they can be taken and used during the event, it’s a great way to memorise the fundraiser and what you have achieved. This is also great if you want videos of your furry friend tackling obstacles and enjoying themselves.

Last but not least is some good quality, and large wipes to cleanse yourself and feel refreshed afterwards. Rinsing stations are available, but it’s always good to have good quality wipes on hand.

For your furry friend a good, strong lead is ideal to keep them close and ideally paired with a harness so they aren’t restricted round their throat, allowing them to freely move around with straining.

Water, food and treats are a must to keep your dog going, they need all the energy possible and the best way to give them that is through hydration and good nutritious meal. Of course treats are perfect for rewarding them after they complete and obstacle!

The site states participants must be aged at 8 years old on the day of the event. All participants purchasing an adult ticket must be aged 18 or above on the day of the event. To ensure the safety of all participants children aged 8-17 must be accompanied by an adult aged 18 or above. Doggy competitors must be 1 years old on the day of the event.

The event is proudly supported by seresto a flea collar brand supporting our animals and you can check the muddy dog challenge website for updates featuring news events!

Whole Body Wipes To Clean Off Afterwards

Good quality wipes are a must for an event like this, with mud all over you and your dog you’re going to need some big wipes to cover all of it! Mammoth wipes offer biodegradable wipes, with two per pack allowing you and your furry friend to have a wipe each. The wipes are 25 times bigger than standard ones and can easily clean you both down with just a single packet.

The wipes are safe on skin and and contain antibacterial liquid to keep you safe from anything nasty hiding in the dirt.

The muddy dog website states they try to be as sustainable as possible by:

We no longer provide single use plastic water bottles but instead use refillable water containers which are filled with tap water for our participants, volunteers and staff.
Volunteers and staff are encouraged to bring their own refillable bottles and all our cups for our participants are biodegradable.
Our medals are now made from wood and bamboo.
Race pack envelopes are recyclable and none of the contents are plastic wrapped.
We limit single use signage wherever possible and the majority of our cable ties are reused at future events.
We have recycling bins at all our events.

At such a sustainable event its important to take sustainable, biodegradable products with you to keep to the events wishes and helping the environment. Battersea dogs and cats home promote caring for our environment which benefits our animals.

Wipes are one of the biggest things causing environmental disasters in the UK, so it’s best to come prepared to help out the environment! They cause sewer blockages and don’t break down, whereas our wipes are biodegradable and don’t contain any plastic. The packaging is made with bamboo and is also biodegradable, making them friendly inside and out.

The wipes are priced at £4.99 per pack and when purchasing you can donate one (or more) packs to the homeless, to support another wonderful project benefiting those in need. You can purchase the wipes here on our website!

Mammoth wipes can be found online @ www.mammothwipes.com