Exercise in Dogs: How Much is Enough?

[@kyraandfriends146]

Mine love getting out and about. My smallest can tire himself out around the house, or enjoys a shorter walk around the streets or to the beach. One of my larger dogs enjoys over an hour of physical exercise, or a good run on the beach chasing a ball... My other large dog can go for hours. We once walked over 8km over 4 hours, along with stopping at a creek to cool down, walking up and down hills etc and she loved it. She seemed to have all her energy back an hour after returning home and would have been happy to go out again 😂 She was given a day break after that. I definitely think it varies on the dog, breed and how often the dog is exercised as well.

[@suhaylett]

Very timely Donna, thank you

[@azogal53]

Great vid, Donna, which raises questions about my dog -- a 3yo adopted Maltese/poodle, very athletic and high drive. She is ball obsessed and loves about an hour of ball chasing daily, all at top speed. She runs and walks w/us about 1 hr. per day. We enjoy hiking and swimming. She's Level 2-3 on Sue Ailsby's program.Ball obsession is such that she really doesn't want to socialize or play w/other dogs. Question: how do I wean her off the ball obsession? If we don't bring it to the park, she gets frantic and still can't concentrate on anything else.

[@dogsexplained]

Use the Premack principle to pair another activity with the ball as you walk along. Maybe have her find a dropped glove, or do some tricks or jump over logs. Slowly decrease the ball use as her interest in the other activity builds. Or you can go cold turkey. We did this with my parents ball-obsessed BC. Choose an interesting location (lots of visual and scent stimuli like a forest trail) that is different than your normal routine and go with other dog buddies. The BC did redirect at first to sticks etc but over time she learned to be a dog-sniffing, running and doing recalls like the other dogs. What also helped was to keep a faster pace (whether walking or riding a bike) to keep her body moving so she had to keep up rather than a slow pace which allowed her time to think too much.

[@azogal53]

Very helpful suggestions. Thanks again for a video that came at the right time for us -- just as I was beginning to believe she was "out of control" with the ball obsession. Many thanks, Donna.

[@PlaidJaguar]

Thanks! Some stuff I didn't know. Especially the bit about fetching and cortisol. I do a ton of fetching and tug of war with Demo, but I'll start adding other types of exercise in the future.

[@lowremedy2294]

dam i have a red nose pitbull and a irish wolf hound cross german shepard i work them out every few days for maybe 40 mins to an hour and a half maybe more i really let them dictate how much they want to train obviously if there aching or sore they don't train i give them a good few days rest to recover from sore muscles. but they seem to love it, its high intensity, they get exhausted, they get a rest when they want it. i mean both dogs are super fit it blows my mind the level of stamina these dogs have especially the wolf hound cross he's 12 years old and still jumps round like hes 3 no problems at all. the pitty is almost 5 years and he is strong, fit as ever, and loving life.

[@dogsexplained]

How much exercise is enough for dogs?

[@suhaylett]

I have several clients that come here with dogs where they cannot concentrate on anything if a ball is in view. A lot of owners do not realise that this is not a brilliant way for a dog to behave and it can as Donna says turn into an obsession. I usually start off teaching a fun scent game which is good exercise and also brain work, owners can do this even if the dog is on a lead they can drop something ,walk on then send the dog back to find it.

[@ClaudiaEstanislauIAAD]

thanks for the video Donna :D

[@Shoonam]

Great video! I just didn't get one part: "15 minutes or more is recommended" - 15min of what? Quality exercise? Like hikes?