exercising the dog

[kigndano]

hey guys

recently ive been trying to substitute multiple play sessions throughout the day for exercise instead of one long walk.

i was just wondering if this is something that can work out for the dog as far as getting him tired out enough.


thanks

[luckypenny]

It depends on his energy level. I personally like the long walks in the morning and/or in the afternoon (when I have more energy) and reserve playtime for the evenings. I find walking both a great method of training (we incorporate sit, stay, wait, leave it...lots of leave its ) and relaxing at the same time. Both dogs spend the rest of the day sleeping, but they're not as young as yours. Evenings are reserved for playtime when the whole family is home and we can take turns.

[mummummum]

When my grrrl's were young I did both You may find training (as described by Luckypenny) will go more smoothly if you give him 20 minutes - 1/2 hour of off-lead zoomies time with lots of running, chasing the ball etc. first. Getting the "wired-for-action" bizness out of his system means that he can focus more readily and is less likely to be bull-headed.

Obviously the weather mediates alot of when we do, what we do. Puppies and dawglets don't have alot of self-awareness about their physical state (they fall asleep face first in their food dishes for crimminy sake ! ) so it's our job to monitor them for heat/ cold effects, hydration and tiredness.

[breeze]

I do both
playtime.......walks and training.......,then playtime and training
it veries on the day depending what she is like when we wake up in the mornings. Sometimes it is too hot outside for a long playtime so we cut that down, to play and train, sometimes in the house.

I find that Bree gets tired when consintrating on training, aparently it takes a lot out of a dog

[Ford Girl]

Dear lord share this secret with me! The only thing that ever tires Dazy out is a full 8 hour day at daycare (and they have to give her rest periods or she doesn't stop) or when we go camping and she's offleash for hours and hours at a time.

On regular days when she's not at day care and we are not camping she gets 30 mins offleash in the morning, and 20 - 30 mins off leash right after work, and then 30-60 mins after supper on leash/training.

Some days I am so tired from it all, but...if we don't exercise her she never settles, and I mean never!!! Drives me nuts. Some days I just want to be lazy....what did I do with all my free time before we got a dog?

[allymack]

something that i use to tire out my is biking him( took a bit of training to get it to go smoothly, just let him get used to the bike and being near it then try going up and down your street nice and slowly, and when your going to speed up use a word or sounds, i use a clucking kinda of sound, that people use on horses and he will soon associate that sounds with speeding up) but i bike him so he is at a jog or a bit faster for about 30-45 mins, then i let him laze around the house( or do training) but it is also possible to put him in the crate and have him sleep in there( but i find he stays more tired if he stays out becasue he will be trying to sleep and people wil make noise,so that wakes him and he has to fall asleep all over again haha) and then he will sleep most of the day away and he will chew on him bone ( or kong with peanut butter) and then after supper we will go up to the park with some other dogs for about an 30-45 mins which will tire him out for the rest of the night and thats useful for training! hope this helps!! - ally

[Longblades]

If tiring out to get a calmer dog is the goal then mind games work wonders. Obedience and agility where thinking is part of the exercise are good. With some breeds, ESS are a good example, the more exercise they get the fitter they get and it is very hard to tire them with just physical activity.