How much exercise do you (really) give your dogs?

[Psyfalcon]

These two are getting slightly old. An hour or two a week is all they really need. Sometimes they will place chase in the house, or kill the ball, or tear up my yard, but exercise does not seem to cure that.

At one year though, Buster was getting 4-5 mi walks a day, but he had no yard to sprint after a squirrel if he wanted.

And of course, some dogs, you're just building up the endurance and they'll still be annoying unless you can run a marathon a day.

 

[SpaceMutt]

I have it down to a science now - I've learned the bare minimum to keep Astro from being a merciless force of destruction (and it's not that much for a 7 month old, to me anyway). One short walk in the morning after breakfast, one short walk right when I get home or at lunch (when I say "short," I mean 5-15 minutes - basically just a pee, maybe a poop, and a bit of a walk beyond that, and turn around), and one long walk (15+ minutes), usually at night. Then 1 or 2 long park trips on the weekend, where basically half the day is spent out, and it's more running-around-after-tennis-balls-and-playing-with-other-dogs time than it is just walking.

We also do quick, 10-minute training sessions after work, and sometimes at lunch (if I come home). He was going to class 1-2 times a week for awhile, now we're between classes. He gets his food either through training or through his Bob-a-Lot, as well.

My schedule is about 10 am-4 pm, and I can come home for lunch, so it's pretty forgiving of his needs. It works for us. I've met much higher-energy dogs, but he DOES need his daily walks. Part of that is because I don't have a backyard and live on the 6th floor of an apartment building - if he doesn't get walks, he doesn't really get outside time, and he doesn't deal well with that. The downstairs neighbors don't like how loud it is when I play with him indoors, so here we are! He's munching on a bully stick now, but I dutifully took him out on a 30+ minute walk before that, despite the ridiculous cold, because otherwise he'll start eating things and knocking things over and making his own fun....

Some of it too is because I'm a firm believer in taking walks (for myself - no judgment toward anyone here!) every day, regardless of the weather. I go out in the rain, I go out in the sleet, I go out in the frigid cold (I actually love the cold, I'm weird....I even love cold rains, my friends think I'm nuts!). Sometimes Astro doesn't even WANT to be out, but I drag him along because I like to get MY walking in

 

[JacksonsMom]

I can't peg how much exercise Mia 'needs'. What does that mean anyways? Is it when she stops being obnoxious? With my two dogs Summer is pretty much never annoying and Mia is always annoying. Some days she's just pent up and it's never related to amount of exercise to me. Yesterday she was wound tight after agility- whining, throwing her ball at me, and redirecting on poor Summer. Other days she will go all day just sleeping. It's weird.

Jackson's kind of like this too. It really just depends. There can be like a week I get where he's just super chill, and enjoys lounging around, and laying around most of the day. But then there are some days where he just drives me nuts. Finding things to pick up (kids toys on the floor, etc) and run with because he knows I have to get up and take it from him, or just whining a lot, and being generally obnoxious.

 

[Kootenay]

I do try to go out for an hour or two offleash walk/hike every day. Definitely miss some days, but do get out most days. Days that I don't go out, Yarrow and Onyx (and sometimes Jasper) play in the yard. And there are those days when we go hiking for the whole day, or out for multiple hour long horse ride, etc. In the summer we spend a lot of time at the beach, me just hanging out, the dogs running and playing and swimming.

I also do many training sessions with Onyx throughout the day, more inside these days since it's cold and icky out, but in the summer we did more disc and outdoor training.

Yarrow really needs to get out and RUN to burn off energy, I can't tire him out training or playing fetch (he doesn't fetch and I find he just doesn't engage with training enough to get tired out). Before and after our walk he mostly just sleeps, sometimes him and Onyx play in the house.

Onyx is much easier in a sense to exercise, I can play games and train and she'll tire out. However, I have noticed that if too many days go by in a row where we are just doing training/fetch/disc etc, she will start getting a bit crazy. It's when her inner Malinois comes out. I think going out for a nice long run, just being a dog, is what really keeps her sane. I don't like doing too much fetch or other obsessive type activities with her, she can just start getting a bit wacky.

Jasper is super low maintenance, he can go for days without any exercise, and just sleeps, but he loves going out for his walks too.

 

[Lyzelle]

Zander doesn't "need" physical exercise, really. I mean, he enjoys it and he gets out and builds muscle and is generally happy to sleep forever afterwards, but he doesn't NEED it. He hasn't been outside the house on a walk or run in months. Inside zoomies and running up and down the stairs does it for him. He'll gladly go to bed at 9pm and get up at 5pm the next day. He will also happily run around for 5 hours or go on a couple mile jog. While he is a very active dog, he is also a lazy dog with a pretty darn decent off switch.

Mental stimulation is what we can't skip out on. Without it he gets pent up ans anxious and generally scared if everything. He regresses and becomes paranoid and unmanageable as a severely skittish dog with terrible, destructive anxiety. But with mental stimulation he is confident, happy, and laid back.

 

[Locke]

I don't really have a schedule for Smiley, but we do have a daily routine.

In spring, summer, and fall, we go for a 20-40 minute off leash walk/run/play before I leave for work. When I get home, we go for another walk/run/play that lasts anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and a half. On my days off, we'll walk to the beach and play there for a long while.

In the winter, depending on how cold and icy it is, we'll go for a 20-30 minute walk before work and after work, and play fetch in the basement and learn/practice tricks.

He loves being active, but I think he would be fine without much exercise as long as someone was home to cuddle with him all day.

 

[Torch]

Every evening after work (barring) extremely harsh weather, I walk the dogs for at least 45 minutes, usually closer to an hour. We walk at a very brisk pace and at least three times a week we walk somewhere that they can run off leash safely, like a football field or a tennis court.

On the weekends or my off days I try to take them hiking or at least on longer walks, so they might get 2-3 hours of exercise in a day.

Rhys is a lot more demanding than Henry since he's an 8 month old bull breed puppy. I'm fortunate, though, that while he has a lot of stamina and drive he's not hyper and bouncing off the walls. I usually play with him every evening, whether it's the flirt pole, tug, fetch, or obedience practice. So he gets maybe and hour and twenty minutes a day of consistent, focused exercise.

I easily work 60 hours a week but my husband is often home while I'm at work and vice versa. I know that he doesn't do a lot of activity with them but does take them out to play in the yard and whatnot. I'm also fortunate that I can bring one of the dogs to work with me when I'm in a bind. So after Rhys spends a day at work with me he's usually exhausted.

 

[Elrohwen]

I think I'm testing the limits of how little exercise Watson can get and not be a giant pain in the rear. He got a short walk on Sunday, a very short one on Monday, and none yesterday, and he's starting to drive me crazy. Both Monday and Tuesday we did a 20min training session (involving lots of tug and high energy play) and he was just more wound up and whiney when we finished - he didn't settle the entire evening which is unusual. Mental exercise doesn't really do much for him.

 

[Shakou]

5 hours a day, that's funny!

Ma'ii and Charlotte get walked once a day for 10 minutes during the fall and winter. With their age, we can get away with this, as they hate the cold due to being mildly arthritic. We go hiking on weekends if the weather is nice. Spring and summer they tend to get out a lot more.

 

[Paige]

He doesn't get out daily if I am being honest. Some months I am a super dog mom and he gets out twice a day then there are months like this month where he gets out twice a week.

 

[Fran101]

He doesn't get out daily if I am being honest. Some months I am a super dog mom and he gets out twice a day then there are months like this month where he gets out twice a week.

I forget some people don't live in apartments because for a second I was like..

"wait. So where does he poop???" :rofl1:

 

[Laurelin]

Oh man thought of this thread today. Apparently doing 60 mins of exercise a day is a 'low energy dog'. And shelties need way more than that every single day. Good thing no one ever told mine....

 

[Linds]

Oh man thought of this thread today. Apparently doing 60 mins of exercise a day is a 'low energy dog'. And shelties need way more than that every single day. Good thing no one ever told mine....

:rofl1:

Seriously, people need to stop with the placing herding breeds on a pedestal. My dogs are joining yours in the low energy category. Actually, they are even LOWER energy since I rotate them out and each one gets exercised everyother day, not including the "It's gross and I don't feel like doing anything" days.

 

[*blackrose]

Oh man thought of this thread today. Apparently doing 60 mins of exercise a day is a 'low energy dog'. And shelties need way more than that every single day. Good thing no one ever told mine....

Abrams is apparently a low energy dog. So we're my childhood retrievers, the malamute I grew up with, and my Collie/Aussie mix. Outside of "weekend activities" (hiking, swimming, park trips, etc.) I think the longest I've actually ever *walked* a dog was for 40 minutes.

Unless maybe they mean an hour total per day? Like...walks, playtime, training etc. all combined into one total sum?

 

[Paige]

I now am doing 2 walks a day because arya is crated.

 

[Laurelin]

I really am beginning to think it is more about matching personalities than anything else.

My dogs have gotten 2-6 hours the last few days but it's just because it's so nice outside! Tonight is agility with Summer and nosework class with Mia. Then tomorrow and wednesday they will likely just do nothing except maybe get a raw bone in the back yard.

Unless maybe they mean an hour total per day? Like...walks, playtime, training etc. all combined into one total sum?

I've often wondered that. I count exercise usually as 'Lauren gets off her butt and takes the dogs somewhere or walks the dogs.' I don't really count wrestling on the bed or light fetch in the house or whatnot.

 

[Fran101]

This morning I found a toy until the couch and I threw it and he fetched it.

So there's that lol

 

[*blackrose]

I've often wondered that. I count exercise usually as 'Lauren gets off her butt and takes the dogs somewhere or walks the dogs.' I don't really count wrestling on the bed or light fetch in the house or whatnot.

If that's the case it makes sense. Abrams is pretty much always doing something after his early morning to early afternoon nap - be it chewing on a bone, playing fetch, mini training sessions, wrestling with Cynder/human, or running around in the yard. If I look at how much time he's *doing* something versus napping, he gets quite a bit of "exercise". When I hear "exercise", I just tend to think structured "forced" activity (like a walk).

 

[Ozfozz]

When Cobain was younger and I was in high school, I did commit nearly 4-5 hours to working/exercising him almost every day.

High school was relatively easy for me, I only worked 12-15 hours per week (on weekends only), and had no expenses so I spent most of what I earned on dog classes.

There was a time where I would run him in the woods for an hour before school, then come home, another hour or so in the woods, fetch or frisbee for another 30-45minutes, tricks/obedience, then go to an agility class. Late after class we'd typically go for a quick walk around the block. Plus the acre yard that he has free access too.

I lived (and now live again) in a rural area with not a heck of a lot of people around. So my "social" options were limited to staying out at friend's houses Friday nights and that was about it.


Now, since my mother is more on board with the exercise, the dogs still frequently get at least 2 hours in the woods each day (usually I will take them, then she will later on), and it's not odd to get even 3 or 4 hours in one day depending on everyone's schedules.
Sun, wind, rain, snow...I'm out there - because let's face it, I need the exercise just as much as they do.
But the classes have pretty well come to a halt - except Rigby's obedience Wednesday night. Disc and fetch are becoming less frequent because I can't stand the hellspawn sounds that Ruby makes while the game is going on.
Either way, the house isn't destroyed, the dog's haven't gone insane, so I take it as a decent enough transition...


As for the "60 minutes being a low energy dog" thing, it depends on what that 60 minutes is doesn't it?
60 minutes of hard running compared to 3, 20 minute strolls around the block are very different amounts of exercise.

 

[BostonBanker]

I had to go back and see what I'd posted here before. I'd like to amend my final statement on my previous post, which read:

Do they "need" it? Meg certainly doesn't. Gusto could probably do with a lot less now that he's 2.5 years. He settles really well even on lazy days now. But that is what I like to do, and my dogs seem to thrive on it as well.

Gusto needs it. He really, really does.

It is a good thing that 1) I like exercising with my dogs and 2) I think he's hysterical. I did a really good job of hiking my dogs all winter, but then we hit the late winter/early spring "everything is mud or ice" stage, and I started slacking. Gusto has always had a tendency to just...stare. If he's bored and under-exercised, and you are sitting on the couch watching TV or reading, he just stares at you. Stands in the middle of the room and stares. And drops his head like a vulture (or a BC, I guess). Apparently, when he's REALLY bored and REALLY under-exercised, he does all that - and growls at you. Not teeth bared or aggressive or anything. Just like a 3 year old kid who about to start throwing a tantrum.

Since the trails are a mess, I have been taking him on LONG leash walks in the neighborhoods nearby. And getting lost. And trashing my knee since it is all paved. It is depressing how much leash walking he needs compared to hiking to get him "tired".

Is it summer yet? I want my nice trails and my swimming areas and my fields so I can be extra super lazy and just ride around on Tristan to exercise Gusto....