How Much Exercise Do You Give Your Dog?

[Anonymous]

Hi, sorry for what sounds like a stupid question. I'm the OP of a thread last week about adopting a new rescue dog. Things are going well, she's doing much better on her leash and overall she's settling in really nicely. I am wondering though if we're giving her too much exercise. Is that even possible? Lucky Dog made a huge deal about us making sure to give her 2-3 hours of exercise a day and we've been really diligent about that. She gets 2 one-hour walks (which end up being between 3-4 miles each, depending on how much she's walking vs. stopping and sniffing), plus I let her out to play with our neighbor's dog once or twice a day and she usually plays about 30 minutes at a time before she wants to come back inside. The last few days she has been acting really exhausted. Again, I know this is going to sound stupid but I assumed dogs had boundless energy. I don't want to overdo it with her but how do you find the happy medium between tired and bored/having destructive energy.

Related, has anyone here used a doggy backpack on their dogs? I read on some training sites that having your dog wear a backpack can make a half hour walk feel like an hour long walk b/c the dog has to exert more energy. Taking her on two one-hour walks a day isn't always feasible for me. One one-hour walk first thing in the morning is, but sometimes it's hard in the middle of the day to find the time (I work full time from home). If you do use a backpack and would recommend yours, let me know.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[Anonymous]

We have a rescue who is 4-6 years old (a guess from the vet) and we take her on 1 20 minute walk per day, and have at least 5-15 minutes of fetch in the back yard several times a week.

What you're doing sounds good for an active high-energy dog. If your dog is not high-energy, then it may be too much exercise. Is she bored or destructive if she doesn't get out quite as much? If she is, or isn't, then that might answer your answer your question.

[Anonymous]

I've always believed strongly that tired dog = good dog.

I think the "how much" you need to Titrate a little dog to dog, also taking into account if they can amuse themselves doing other things.

Our bearded collie used to need hours of physical exercise daily. We could run with him 5 miles morning and evening and, in his puppyhood, that would barely wear off his energy. We'd then take him and toss the ball in a field for an hour. It was exhausting just being around him. If he didn't get exercise, he'd get into trouble - kitchen raiding, chewing walls, etc. He just had THAT much energy, and we were never able to redirect it. His last year of life (we lost him last spring), he couldn't tolerate walks much any more but we put in a dog door and he would literally wander the backyard, rain or shine ALL DAY.

Now, our Dane, who is now 10, has never needed that kind of exercise. Since puppyhood, I could walk her for two hours, or 5 minutes around the block (or TBH, not at all) and she would be happy. She loves a walk, but is happy to play ball or whatever. She's been like that her whole life - if it's a 6 mile hike, she's in.. If is 10 minutes of ball, she's in. If it's raining, well, she's not sure why anyone would consider getting WET, so she's happy with no exercise and to flop around on the couch. That being said, she's always been a dog who is happy to redirect energy to chewing on bones, playing with a kong, or playing tug.

If your dog is suddenly becoming tired, I'd consider a vet visit just to make sure there isn't anything else going on, but it seems to me you just have a tired (aka "good") dog. You can try cutting back on the exercise if it seems to be affecting her.

[Anonymous]

Two factors: how old is the dog? What is the weather?

When we first adopted our rescue, she had just turned a year old. She needed, really needed, four walks a day. A quick walk upon rising (10 mins); an hour in the morning; an hour or so later in the day, and 20 mins or so before bedtime.

Now that she's 3.5, she's much more mellow. She still gets a long morning walk and a walk later in the day, but she will often abbreviate her later walk to a quick spin down the block to sniff the pee spots. If it's very cold, windy, or raining, she doesn't want that. I should mention we have a doggy door. If it's cold out, she will sometimes start heading home in the middle of our morning walk.

Get into a routine with your dog. If your dog happily heads home at the end of your walk route, or play session with the neighbor, that's a sign that she's well settled and has a comfortable routine.

Also, if you are walking in snow and salt and grit, clean the dogs paws.

[Anonymous]

Definitely depends on the dog, breed, age. Our dog is a mutt, described as a shepherd/corgi mix (i.e. some shepherd features but short like a corgi), about 3 years old. She gets a 20 minute walk three times a day plus some fetch/play time with the kids in the afternoon. She pretty much sleeps most of the rest of the time and can be left home alone during the day without being destructive (we have a mid-day dog walker). Really, dogs can sleep a LOT so I wouldn't take that as a sign that your dog is getting too much exercise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a rescue who is 4-6 years old (a guess from the vet) and we take her on 1 20 minute walk per day, and have at least 5-15 minutes of fetch in the back yard several times a week.

What you're doing sounds good for an active high-energy dog. If your dog is not high-energy, then it may be too much exercise. Is she bored or destructive if she doesn't get out quite as much? If she is, or isn't, then that might answer your answer your question.

+1

Our ~8yo terrier mix rescue gets two 20-minute walks a day and lots of playtime with her toys and us every day. She does not seem to need more than that.

2-3 hours a day of exercise may be necessary for a very high-energy dog - but it is certainly not necessary for every day.

OP, follow your dog's cues - if he seems tired, then exercise him less. The thing about dogs is, they are so eager to please their humans that they will keep going even if their bodies are telling them not to. I have a friend whose golden retriever died of heat stroke following an afternoon of playing in the sun with the kids, then going for a run with my friend's DH.

Follow your dog's cues (and don't let them get overheated in warm weather).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Two factors: how old is the dog? What is the weather?

When we first adopted our rescue, she had just turned a year old. She needed, really needed, four walks a day. A quick walk upon rising (10 mins); an hour in the morning; an hour or so later in the day, and 20 mins or so before bedtime.

Now that she's 3.5, she's much more mellow. She still gets a long morning walk and a walk later in the day, but she will often abbreviate her later walk to a quick spin down the block to sniff the pee spots. If it's very cold, windy, or raining, she doesn't want that. I should mention we have a doggy door. If it's cold out, she will sometimes start heading home in the middle of our morning walk.

Get into a routine with your dog. If your dog happily heads home at the end of your walk route, or play session with the neighbor, that's a sign that she's well settled and has a comfortable routine.

Also, if you are walking in snow and salt and grit, clean the dogs paws.

OP here. We were told she is 2 years old by the rescue but not sure how accurate that is. A friend told me that rescues usually round down on the age because people like younger dogs? I have no clue. I'm going to ask the vet at our next appointment just out of curiosity. We're also guessing that she's a mix of Doberman, Rottweiler, and lab. We're opting out of getting the DNA test. And the weather is the current cold weather here in DC. She does make it clear when she's done playing with the neighbor's dog, but when she comes inside she is wound up and tries to jump on me, so there's that. I don't think it means she still wants to play necessarily but it does make me wonder. And she seems to have just as much energy at the end of our one-hour walks as she does at the beginning. But for now I think we'll just keep doing what we're doing. she's not being destructive although she does seem to like to gnaw on the corner of the coffee table when we try to redirect her from gnawing on our hands. She is not a chewer, necessarily, but she likes to nip and chew at our hands so we're constantly redirecting her in that way.

Anywho, thanks for all the input, I appreciate it!

[Anonymous]

5:44 here. Trying to jump on you when she comes inside is claiming behavior and to a certain extent dominance, although it's exuberant over-excited dominance, not aggressive dominance. If she wanted the walk to continue the behavior you would see would be pulling on the leash, refusal to recall to you, and general balking and dawdling.

My dog will often jump up on me when we reach our gate even when she clearly wanted to go home from the walk. I would practice putting her in a sit when she does that. Also make sure the walk ends on a calm note and she doesn't come flying through the door, although that can be hard to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:5:44 here. Trying to jump on you when she comes inside is claiming behavior and to a certain extent dominance, although it's exuberant over-excited dominance, not aggressive dominance. If she wanted the walk to continue the behavior you would see would be pulling on the leash, refusal to recall to you, and general balking and dawdling.

My dog will often jump up on me when we reach our gate even when she clearly wanted to go home from the walk. I would practice putting her in a sit when she does that. Also make sure the walk ends on a calm note and she doesn't come flying through the door, although that can be hard to do.

OP here, thanks, this is helpful. Yes, her jumping after playing with the neighbor dog definitely doesn't feel aggressive. It's exactly how you described it, exuberant over-excited dominance. She's becoming very good at sitting on command when she's getting too exuberant (I mostly have to use this when we're walking and she sees another dog, or when she realizes that she's heading into the car, which she LOVES). I'll start using it when she comes in from playing with her friend. In terms of the walks, she always walks easily -- and seemingly happily - up my front walk-way and sits calmly while I open the door. I didn't think of this as a good sign that she's had a sufficient walk, so good to know.

[Anonymous]

hi OP --

I have a boxer/pit mix that is about 3ish years old (another rescue, so who knows how old he is). I take him on an hourlong walk in the morning, then he probably gets 3 or 4 20-30 minute walks throughout the day. we have a backpack on him (http://www.amazon.com/Kyjen-3000-Backpack-Adjustable-Saddlebag/dp/B00MNSKLXI/ref=sr_1_4?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1423156693&sr=1-4&keywords=outward+hound+backpack) and I love it! First, it is filled with rice to give it more weight. Second, I attach the leash to the backpack and my end goes around my waist so he is essentially pulling my body weight (he has learned that we encourage pulling when he wears the backpack but not when he is wearing just a collar).

On the weekends I like to take him for a 2ish hour walk if the weather permits just to get rid of my working mom guilt haha. overall, he seems like he gets enough exercise. he can also be a huge couch potato.

another thing you can try to burn some energy is to give her some mental exercise - my dog is taking a nosework class at Spot on Training and it's a great indoor activity that is low effort on my part but really excites him and makes him work! we also give him frozen kongs for breakfast/dinner so he works for about an hour at each meal just to get some food.

like the PPs said, a tired dog is a good dog! I wouldn't be worried, it sounds like you are doing a great job with your pup

[Anonymous]

It's the weirdest thing though. I take our 3 year old terrier on 3 mile runs with me in the morning and she is like a live wire later that evening @ 6. I take her for a 3 block walk and she settles down just fine. It seems counterintuitive.