Body and Mind: Make Your Dog’s Workout Count for Both
“Triple the exercise and call me in the morning.” That’s the simple advice I’ve given many owners for a variety of issues over my years as a dog trainer.
Dogs who are appropriately stimulated, both mentally and physically, have fewer behavioral issues and fewer medical bills. How’s that for an incentive to get moving?
But while exercise can be beneficial to a dog’s well-being, the wrong kind of exercise can actually be detrimental. That’s why getting it right means thinking about your dog’s physical and mental fitness, as well as their own unique personality.
How Important Is Exercise?
Do you know that the main reason dogs end up at shelters is for behavioral issues?
Do you know one common reason dogs have behavioral issues is lack of exercise?
Do you know that a major health concern for dogs is obesity?
Do we really need to tell you why exercise is important?
No?
Then let’s move on.
The Tightly Wound Type
Not all exercise is good for every dog. In fact, over stimulating the wrong dog in the wrong circumstances can actually make some unwanted behaviors worse. For example, take a dog who likes to obsessively “work” a fence or chase other dogs at the park. Dogs who chase as a response to a stimulus (which could be a bike, dog, skate board, garbage truck, squirrel, you name it) might be getting great physical exercise but the mental part of this activity will actually be detrimental to their behavior. That’s because the dog is learning to become a “chase junkie,” reacting more intensely and quickly to more stimuli, and he will want to do it for longer periods of time - a skill that will not be useful on walks or anything else you plan to do with your dog in public.
In fact, your dog is learning to lose control while running and excited, as opposed to learning how to stay connected to you, at least enough to listen to you while running hard. Your influence becomes weaker, undermining your training and relationship with your dog.
Anytime your dog is excited enough to be physically engaged, it’s your job to check his mental status. Can your dog still respond to you? A simple “Come!”, “Here!”, or “Down!” are easy commands that can serve as a yardstick to know if your dog is exercising in a manner that will serve your relationship well in the long-term. You can apply this test to all games your dog likes to play, including fetch, tug, and even keep away.
If your dog is learning to be more responsive to squirrels or other dogs while you’re exercising him, you’re running the risk of losing off-leash control in more and more scenarios. That's a high and potentially dangerous price to pay.
The Couch Potato
How do you exercise that lazy pal who’d like nothing more than to snooze the day away between treks to the food bowl? If you want longevity and strong rear legs in your dog’s senior years (hind legs tend to weaken first), you’ll need to implement a well thought out exercise program that doesn’t involve too many calories.
If your pup is a couch potato, there’s a good chance he also likes to eat, but don’t be fooled into thinking you have to use extra yummy treats to lure him into moving. These dogs, and many others, are perfectly willing to exercise for their regular breakfasts and dinners. Simply use their daily food as training/exercise treats spread out over the day.
A Plan of Action
Here are some ideas to help you create a balanced mental and physical exercise plan for your dog. As with any training program, I recommend consulting your veterinarian or a canine sports specialist first. If your dog has behavioral problems, be sure to include a trainer or behaviorist who has experience with a dog like yours.
Hide and Seek. Hide a food or toy item and let your dog find it after a sit/stay. This game can be played indoors or outdoors. The harder the game gets, the more energy is burned.
Benefits:
Strengthens the sit/stay command when the dog is excited.
Burns both physical and mental energy quickly.
Keeps a dog focused on an acceptable task at hand.
Teaches the handler patience while dogs use their brains to problem solve for themselves.
Fetch with a Twist. Why play mindless fetch? Use this twist to add training skills to the fun. First, have your dog do a sit/stay before tossing the fetch toy, then release the dog with a verbal cue (“Okay!”, “Break!”, or “Free!”). The instant your dog’s mouth is on the toy, give a strong recall cue (“Dog’s name!”,”Come!” or “Here!”). Then turn and run, encouraging the dog to catch up to you and stay at your leg.
Benefits:
Strengthens down/stay skills with major adrenaline flowing.
Strengthens recall command in a natural, positive way.
It’s a great workout for the handler, too!
Log Game. In a park or rural area, find a large stationary log. Encourage your dog to hop on it, then go back and forth, balancing to stay on the log while turning around. If you’re in the city, look for very low walls like the edges of fountains, wide curbs, or telephone poles on their sides (often placed around parking areas) for this exercise.
Benefits:
Promotes training interaction with you.
Enhances balance and coordination.
Provides both mental (what does my handler want me to do?) and physical (this is hard!) challenges.
Strengthens wait-for-release skills. Tasks are not finished until the handler ends them.
Boomerang. Have your dog run around an object (garbage can, laundry container, cone, tree, etc.) and then return to you for a fast reward.
Benefits:
Strengthens send-to-a-place skills (can translate to bed or crate).
Strengthens recall command.
Anchor. Have your dog stay with two front paws, two back paws, or all four paws on an object such as a rubber livestock feeding bowl, tree stump, rock, or footstool and wait to be released.
Benefits: Strengthens balance and stay and release commands.
Exercise is good for all of us, humans and canines alike, so make a plan today for your dog’s physical and mental fitness. You’ll both be glad you did.