As dog owners, we all know that having a good exercise routine for your dog is important. Taking them out for their daily walk or playing with them regularly can help to keep them healthy.
But it’s not always clear on exactly what type of exercises you should be doing with your dog or how often. Whether you’re scouring the web for dog treadmills to ease your dog into an exercise routine or you’re looking for advice on what type of exercise is best, we’re taking a look at what the veterinarians really say about exercising your dog.
Be Creative With Your Exercising
While it is advised to make sure that you walk your dog at least once a day over varying distances depending on their needs, there are plenty of other ways that you can exercise your dog. For example playing fetch in the house, running up and down the stairs with them (or encouraging them to do so), playing tug of war in the garden and even treat training adventures with obstacle courses can be fun and creative ways to keep your dog entertained while giving them the exercise that they need.
A Healthy Dog Is A Happy Dog
Dog health can be significantly impacted by their exercise, and for those who are left at home on their own regularly, weight and happiness could start to become a problem over time. Anxiety medication for dogs can help very much. In fact, dog health and welfare became a BVA (British Veterinary Association) priority as a direct result of dogs being left alone for long periods of the day.
Understanding that a healthy dog is a happy dog is important and that this can also impact your own health and exercise regime can help to increase the amount of time that you spend exercising your pooch.
The Right Amount Of Exercise Varies From Dog To Dog
As you may have expected, the right amount of exercise that your dog needs will vary depending on the breed of dog, size, age and energy. You may have a German Shepard that is very lazy and a Chihuahua with boundless energy that no number of walks can calm down. Their weight and their health will also have a strong impact on the amount and type of exercise that you should be doing with your dog – for example, if they’re senior and have arthritis, then they may be less willing to exercise than what a puppy looking to explore their surroundings will be.
The rule of thumb is to exercise your dog for about an hour a day, however, you can assess this based on your dog’s energy levels and increase or decrease based on their needs.
We can all agree that exercising your dog is important, particularly when it comes to the health and happiness of our pets. Understanding your dog’s individual needs and adjusting their exercise and walking routines around this can help to keep them fit regardless of their age, size, weight or existing health conditions.
