Workouts with your dogs
1. Walking. Hands down, the easiest thing you can do.
2. Running. Dogs love it. Though it's hard on the knees, it's very effective.
3. Roller Skating. Although it's much riskier, if you are good on skates, it's really fun. It is best to do this in an area where there is little traffic or dogs. Padding is a good bet too.
4. Cycling. This is great for both of you. Ideally, you should use a special metal attachment on your bike so your dog stays close to you and won't go too far into the street.
5. Treadmill. Well, you have to take turns with this since only one person uses it. It's important to keep the dog's leash tight so it won't slip off while it's learning. This is a great option if you have a treadmill in the house.
6. Frisbee. Ideally, your dog has to be the type who loves to run and catch. Still it's worth giving it a shot.
7. Swimming. Again, it depends on the dog.
If anyone has any other ideas of what they do with their dogs to keep in shape, I'd love to hear it. Have a good night all.
Another activity is fetch, especially in a house with stairs. I did this with my toy poodle Reggie. He exhausted himself by running all over the house, up and down stairs, through the hallways. We had a lot of fun watching him try to catch a ball bouncing down the stairs.
ReplyDeleteTraining is another great workout for your dog! Training works a dog both physically and mentally. I find a good training session is just as effective as a long walk/jog for wearing my dog out. Plus, she really likes our training sessions (her tail wags almost the entire time!) Here's a recent video of one of our training sessions -- http://stalecheerios.com/blog/2009/03/dog-training-update/
ReplyDeleteAfter a 10 or 15 minute training session, she'll usually pass out on the carpet for awhile. As well, the more physical activity that can be incorporated into training, the more of a workout it is. Sometimes I reward my dog with food during training, sometimes her reward is getting to chase after a ball. Adding fetch to the training session lets her play twice as much! She absolutely loves it.
My brother tried skate boarding one time with the dog, but I wouldn't recommend this. It probably falls in the same category as roller blading and biking -- potentially quite dangerous, even with a well trained dog.
I recently found your blog through the 31 day blog challenge. I'm having fun reading through it-- keep up the good work!
cheers,
Mary H.
Thanks for your suggestion Mary. I actually signed up my dog Gigi for a dog obedience session recently and you are so right. It wears them out. It's great for them mentally and physcially. The rewarding is pretty much similar, except we incorporate clickers into the training along with food. Just this past week, my instructor told us about toys as a reward.
ReplyDeleteWell, I hope you come back and visit often. Have a great night.
Elena :)