Dogs require both mental and physical exercise every day.
In the wild, dogs get both types of exercise while hunting for food. When dogs first became our companions, they also got a full day’s worth of activity. Those dogs helped us hunt, herd, pull, protect, and a wide range of other tasks.
The modern pet dog however, is often given all of his food in large silver bowls. He spends his days at home alone, with very little to keep him occupied. When dogs do not receive proper exercise, they get frustrated and devise ways to entertain and challenge themselves.
This is when they become destructive and chew up our house or belongings.
Bored dogs may also decide to escape and go find adventure elsewhere.
Some dog owners may lock their dog up in a room or crate to prevent these destructive or dangerous behaviors. However, that only suppresses the symptoms. The underlying issue of insufficient exercise and activity still remains. Dogs that are locked up for long periods of time usually develop behavioral issues such as non-stop barking, separation anxiety, and dog aggression.
To prevent destructive and aggressive dog behaviors, it is important to exercise our dog well, every day. Here are some fun dog exercise ideas.
Dog Exercise Activity 1
Teach our dog something new.
Learning new commands and new tricks is a fun way to exercise a dog, both physically and mentally. It can also be a lot of fun for us!
All healthy dogs are capable of learning new tricks, whether they are young or old. It is good practice to continue teaching a dog new commands throughout his life. This will help keep him sharp, and help keep us sharp too.
Dog obedience training is best achieved through reward methods. Through the use of rewards, we can encourage a happy dog that is more willing to work. Through reward training we can build a stronger bond with our dog that is based on cooperation and trust, rather than fear and dominance.
Dog Exercise Activity 2
Give our dog a job.
Dogs are happiest when they get to engage in activities that they were bred for.
I have a Shiba Inu and a Siberian Husky.
The Shiba Inu is a hunting dog. They were used to track and flush out small prey from bushes. My Shiba Inu is happiest when he gets to exercise his hunting instinct through chase games, such as flirt-pole and the water hose game. The laser dot game has similar chase properties, but it can cause dogs to develop behavioral issues. This is because the laser dot is not something tangible that the dog can ever ‘catch’.
Siberian Huskies can hunt and they can also work. They were bred to pull people and goods through heavy snow. They are also good hunters because their original breeders, the Chukchi, would let their Siberian Huskies free in the summer to hunt for food on their own.
A popular Siberian Husky sport is dog sledding. One or more dogs are attached to a sled, and they pull it across snow and ice. Some people even compete in dog sled racing.
The Iditarod is one of the most famous dog sled racing competitions. However, it has also received criticism from animal rights groups because some dogs have died or have been injured during the race.
Some Siberian Husky owners take up dog skijoring. This is a winter sport where a person on skis is pulled by one or multiple dogs. If snow is not available, we can consider dog carting. Instead of attaching a sled to our dog, we attach a cart.
There are a variety of other dog sports including dog agility, flyball, lure coursing, and many more. In any dog sport, it is important to use the proper equipment, to train our dog on what he is supposed to do, and to always keep him safe.
Do not push our dog too far, too fast, and always put his health and welfare first.
I do not do pulling activities with my Siberian Husky because she is a three legged dog, and carrying heavy loads would put added stress on her leg joints. However, she has the job of keeping my backyard free of pests.
She is very good at keeping away voles and other earth critters. She also likes playing chase games, and relishes in chasing after the squirrels that live nearby. Sometimes, she helps to re-landscape my backyard. She is allowed to dig in a designated hill area in the backyard, and sometimes, I will bury some food toys for her to dig up.
Dog play is very important for helping a dog stay happy and balanced. Set aside some time every day and engage our dog in activities that he enjoys and has been bred to do.
Dog Exercise Activity 3
Walk with our dog.
Walk with our dog at least once every day for about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Two walks a day is even better. Do it once in the morning before we leave for work, and once in the evening when we get home. Leash train our dog so that he does not pull or bite on the leash while walking. This will help make neighborhood dog walks a pleasant and happy experience for everyone.
Walking in a nearby park can also be a fun way to exercise our dog. Make sure to pick a park that is appropriate for his temperament. If he is aggressive towards other dogs, then only bring him to parks that have fewer dogs. My Shiba Inu is reactive to other dogs so I visit the park earlier in the morning when it is less densely populated.
Most parks have a mix of on-leash and off-leash areas. Frequently the high-traffic areas are all on-leash, while the side trails are off-leash. Make sure to follow the leash rules even if our dog is not aggressive. There may be other on-leash aggressive dogs around that may get into a fight with our dog if he invades their space.
For the safety of everyone involved, have our dog close to us at all times. In this way, we can easily call him back if we should meet up with an on-leash dog.
An alternative to neighborhood walks is to put our dog on a treadmill. Treadmills have become popular recently because they are often used by Cesar Millan, The Dog Whisperer as a form of dog exercise.
Treadmills are a convenient form of exercise that saves us the time and effort of going out, as well as helps us stay warm and dry during inclement weather.
However, neighborhood walks help us build a much stronger bond with our dogs. During walks, dogs get to explore the environment, smell social markers (urine) left by other dogs, and get comfortable with new objects and people. This type of exploration provides invaluable mental stimulation for our dog and helps build confidence, which treadmill exercise never will.
My dogs love to smell and explore. They especially love going to the park because there are many new and interesting smells there.
Always supervise a dog carefully when he is on a treadmill, and make sure not to over-exercise him, especially during hot weather. A treadmill may be used to occasionally supplement neighborhood walks, but it is not a replacement for it.
Dog Exercise Activity 4
Find our dog some canine companions.
No matter how hard we try, we will never be able to play like another dog. Dogs have thick skins, large teeth, and are extremely agile. They also have good control of where they place their mouth and how hard they bite.
Both my dogs love wrestling with each other, playing chase, and playing tug.
I do not rough-play with my Shiba Inu, because he is a highly excitable dog, The few times that I played Tug-of-War with him, he started leash biting during walks. He also started acting rough with other people, which can be dangerous, especially for children and seniors.
Now I institute a no rough-play rule with all people. However, he still gets to fulfill his needs for wrestling and biting with other dogs.
For single dog households, we can consider dog daycare. This will socialize our dog with a variety of other dogs, in a highly supervised environment. In this way, he gets comfortable with new dogs, gains confidence, and is less likely to show dog-to-dog aggression.
An enclosed dog park is another option but there are many risks associated with it.
I exercise my dog morning and night and she has to do tricks and work on new behaviours in order to get her supper. No meal is free in our household. It’s either in some sort of toy that gets her mind working, or it’s me making her follow commands for it.
But still when I leave for the day she’ll steal spatulas off the counter to destroy, or open cabinets and take plastic dishes out to rip a part, and if she’s in the back yard for extended periods of time she’ll be digging.
I give her 45 minutes of hard biking morning and night (part of it on leash, part of it off leash), we’re in a training class once a week, she has a dog play date (8hours+) once a week, and goes to daycare for a full day once a week. Also every Sunday I take her to the farm to run and play with the farm dog and I’m teaching her to hunt gophers and pheasants (lots of digging, crouching, following my directions).
I have a camera indoors to watch her too and it doesn’t look to be separation anxiety, it looks to be 1000% boredom. She’s mainly napping and relaxes as soon as I leave, she’ll chew her bones and toys left out and then she’ll nap some more. But randomly she’ll go into the kitchen and take stuff, or rip through the couch. I had to leave work the other day to stop her from chewing a knife she took out of the sink :/ So needless to say she’ll be losing kitchen privileges soon and I may have to crate her while I’m gone again.
All of this started up in intensity after we had a foster puppy here for 3 weeks which has now went to a new home. She hadn’t destroyed anything, or acted out in months before that. She’s a year and a half old Collie mix.
She doesn’t exercise like a normal dog either. She doesn’t enjoy fetch, she’ll get it because you threw it and knows that’s what she’s supposed to do but will stop returning it and reacting to you throwing it after 3 throws. Kind of like, “You threw it away THREE times, YOU go get it.”
The only activities she’ll get into are using the flirt pole, hide and seek, biking, or hunting.
With my dogs, large changes to their routine/environment can cause stress and anxiety, resulting in behavioral changes. Losing a playmate is a big change, and she may also be missing the puppy.
A similar thing happened to my Shiba Inu when my Husky puppy had to be away temporarily for surgery. Suddenly, the time he spent playing with my little Sibe is now empty. To help him through the transition period, I spent more time with him and took him out more, to quiet relaxing hiking trails. When puppy returned, Shiba’s behavior went back to normal.
I also set up a fixed routine and a consistent set of rules for my dog. Consistency helps to create certainty and certainty helps him to relax. If there are changes coming up, I try to introduce those changes slowly, at a pace that my dog can handle.
LOL! Yeah I know what you mean. None of my dogs are really into fetch. Perhaps your girl is mixed with Husky or Shiba. 🙂
hi! i recently got my shih tzu puppy and he’s been staying with us for one week already. he’s two months old. He’s too hyper that sometimes i cant control him anymore. I am wondering about the touch exercise? what exactly is that? my puppy wont let me touch his face, he’s going to bite or run away from me. He wont even lie in my lap and will try another area to sleep when i try to lie down beside him.and it is so hard to have him drink his vitamins (i am using a syringe w/o needle) What do you think is wrong with him? and what should i do? pls help. thank you so much
What type of training is your puppy used to? What is his daily routine like?
With my puppy, it really helps to have routine and structure. I set up a fixed routine and a consistent set of rules.
More on how I set up structure and teach my puppy self control.
More on how I trained my puppy.
Touch exercises are desensitization exercises to get my dog to be more comfortable with touches from me and other people.
More on touching and hugging my dog.
More on how dogs learn.
More on bite training.
When in doubt, I get help from a good professional trainer.
http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/finding-professional-help
Hello, I have a question.. before your puppy was fully vaccinated how did you personally exercise her daily? And I was wondering how you set up a fixed schedule for your puppy as I am having some trouble on how to set up mine for my upcoming fur ball.. Love your blogs and wonderful companions!!! 🙂
With my youngest Husky, Lara –
1. We practiced bite inhibition exercises.
2. We did collar and leash desensitization exercises in the house. Once we are good with that we did leash training exercises in the house and in our fully enclosed backyard. We also did recall exercises in the house and backyard. Puppy Lara wanted to follow me everywhere, so it was a great time to get her used to recalls. 😀
3. We practiced simple obedience commands.
4. Lara played with my other dogs under very close supervision from me. I limit play to smaller areas so that I have good control of all the dogs and can quickly stop play if needed.
5. We did touch exercises, and then later grooming desensitization exercises.
We also did a whole lot of frozen Kongs. I put Wellness wet puppy food into a Kong toy, and freeze it up. This slows down Lara’s eating speed, gives her something very engaging to do, and teaches her to work for her food. In the beginning, she can’t get all the food out with her puppy teeth, so I would help her. This is great because it teaches her to associate people and eating with positive experiences. A puppy needs a fair amount of food, so frozen Kongs were an excellent way to keep puppy Lara occupied.
In terms of schedule, this will be different dependent on a dog’s temperament, energy level, etc. In the beginning with Lara we had about 2 hours activity, then about 1.5 hours nap time and so on during the day. We did one or two frozen Kongs right before each nap time, because they helped her to relax. At night, Lara would sleep for about 8-10 hours with one or two potty breaks during the night.
Finally, with my two other dogs we also did puppy classes. We specifically picked a fun class that focused on dog-to-dog socialization (we did SIRIUS puppy classes). I think we started at around 10 weeks, and the instructor checked each puppy for current vaccination records. We didn’t do puppy class with Lara because we figured she already has two dogs to play with in the house, but this was a big mistake. Of our three dogs, Lara is the most unsure of and most reactive to other dogs. We do a lot of exercises with her today, but I think she would have been more relaxed around other dogs if we did more to socialize her properly when she was young.
More on my first 10 days with Husky Lara.
More on dog socialization.
ASPCA article on puppy socialization.
Hi
We have a five month old Sibrian Husky and she is the delight of our home.
We walk, play, teach her new tricks, play soccer and chase and she goes to day care when we are at work, we are also embarking on obediance training, she is very quick to pick up new games and will obey every rule except recall…. Which means she has never been off leash off the property. Will this improve or will she always need to be on leash, ? we have solved the problem in a small way by having two leads, a “working” lead and a play lead which is 30 metres long so she can run on the beach or swim in the lake but we still have a way to bring her in, I think she was born to run!
Haha, yeah definitely sounds like a Husky! 😀
Both my Sibes have high prey drive and they absolutely love to run, so I only let them off-leash in fully enclosed areas. They both also have a tendency to leap first and look later.
Big hugs to your Husky girl!
I have recently adopted Australian/German Shepherd mix. The problem is that I cannot get her to play. She won’t fetch or play with any toys. I have tried walking her but I am having trouble because she pulls on the leash a lot. She does not seem to like many other dogs either. I am working on leash training her, but I have no clue how to get her to play.
How long have you had her? Was she a stray? Did they know what her background was?
It usually takes some time for a dog to get used to new surroundings, new people, and everything else. With all the big changes, things are initially going to be somewhat stressful for a new dog.
When we moved to a different house, I set up a very fixed routine for my dog, Sephy. The routine helped to create more certainty, and that reduced his level of stress and anxiety. I also make sure Sephy has his own space and quiet time, whenever he needs it, so that he can just relax and take a break from all the new stuff. We also started to do more hiking on very quiet trails, where there are few dogs and few people. The walking gave him an outlet for his stressful energy.
In terms of games, Fetch is actually a pretty complicated game. Here is more on how I trained my dog to do Fetch. I usually wait until later, after my dog has some obedience commands down pat, before attempting to do Fetch. Also, not all dogs enjoy playing this game. Sephy knows it, and he may Fetch once or twice if the stars are aligned correctly, but he is not really into it. He much prefers chasing games.
With my dogs, I first spend some time observing them. The key is to understand what things motivate them – what type of food, what type of chews, what type of activity, etc. Once I find a few things that really gets them excited, I can use that to engage them in training, grooming, get them to follow rules, and more. I usually start small, and I take small steps. With each success, Sephy and I gain more confidence, and we do a little bit more next time.
For example, with leash training, I first practiced inside the house. My dog feels safer in the house, and there are few distractions, so we can just focus on walking together without pulling. Then once we are doing well in the house, we move to the backyard, then to very quiet areas in the neighborhood, and so on. By carefully managing the environment and training exercise, I maximize our chances of success, which helps to create greater certainty, build trust, and improves morale.
Here is an article on how I leash trained my dogs.
To help Sephy be more comfortable and calm around other dogs, I did dog-to-dog desensitization exercises.
I have had her around a month. She was a stray and the rescue group didn’t have much background information about her and the behavior information hasn’t been correct on most things. Food is her biggest motivation so we are training her with treats. I will try some games with food rewards. Thank you for the help. Your blog has really helped to give me more ideas.
Big hugs to your Aussie girl. I am glad she has found such a good home.
I have a 8 year old Staffy (obviously as its in the name) called Narla. (Another obvious one). I want to learn her new tricks but she won’t focus, she just want the biscuit and if I don’t give it her then she barks and the neighbours get angry. Is there anything I can do to make her concentrate? Also, Narla doesn’t like other dogs (Staffys reputation is disliking other dogs and fighting). She only likes puppy’s and SOME adults. How can I get her to like other dogs so she can go and ENJOY a walk to the park and like other dogs?
I help my dog be more calm and comfortable around other dogs by using dog-to-dog desensitization exercises.
However, dogs are individuals and they may get along with some dogs well, and may not get along with others. I don’t get along with everyone that I see, and I do not expect my dogs to get along with *all* other dogs either. I pick their playmates carefully, and make sure to set them up for success during play-time, so that everyone can have a good time.
Here is more on the ‘friendly’ dog.
In terms of training, timing and patience are very important. If we give our dog the biscuit when she barks, then we are rewarding the barking behavior. This will teach her to bark more, especially when she does not get what she wants, because she has learned to associate barking with getting the cookie. I make sure to only reward my dog for good behaviors.
Here is more on how dogs learn, how I start training my dog, and the Nothing in Life is Free program.