Content
- Exercise Benefits
- Like? When? At where?
- canicross with the dog
- the canicross
- Advice for dogs that do canicross
- Ride a bike with the dog
- Advice for cycling with your dog
- Agility
- swimming and hydrotherapy
- Advice for dogs that practice swimming
- Sports with groups of dogs
- mushing
- Skijoring
- More relaxed options
- let your dog run in the park
- Games
- First aid
Practice exercises It is essential for any adult dog, although its intensity and duration will depend on its specific age, size and physical characteristics. Exercising your pet will help prevent obesity problems, make him feel stress free and no doubt have a good time.
We also give you some basic advice such as whether to exercise before or after eating, what is the intensity level for a dog that practices agility or how it helps them self-control.
Continue reading this PeritoAnimal article about exercise for adult dogs and choose the option you like the most. Some proposals will also get you in shape, so pay attention.
Exercise Benefits
Encourage your puppy to exercise or something even better, exercise with him has many healthy benefits for both. For starters, you should know that exercise is ideal for dogs that suffer from stress or behavior problems in general, as it helps them to release the malaise that they have accumulated.
On the other hand, exercise is an effective way to prevent obesity in dogs, a very common and common problem. Keeping your puppy away from being overweight also means staying away from the onset of arthritis, osteoarthritis or dysplasia. Although these diseases usually develop in the older stage of the puppy, they can sometimes occur in puppies that are overweight.
It is very suitable for dogs that work obedience in general, whether advanced (as in the case of Agility) or basic. Having your dog exercising outdoors helps him to continue relating to the environment, dogs and other people.
Like? When? At where?
If your puppy has never exercised before, you shouldn't force him all of a sudden. Must be a progressive process and in which he is the protagonist, because the objective will be to make him enjoy. Before exercising, we should walk our dog calmly so that do your needs and we don't have to be constantly stopping the rhythm.
It is very important to bear in mind that the puppy should not exercise if he has just eaten, he should always do it some time later to avoid gastric torsion.
Choose an ideal time of day to exercise, such as in the morning or at the end of the day. Avoid the hours of the day when it is too hot, as we must avoid a heat stroke on the dog at all costs.
Finally, it would be ideal to exercise in a safe environment where the dog feels comfortable and outdoors. Still don't worry, if you can't comply with these three options, we must adapt the exercise to our possibilities.
Although there are exercises in which we do not actively participate, the truth is that the dog will be grateful if we exercise with him, that is, being participants of this activity. If he notices that we are just paying attention or is stuck, he is likely to stop exercising in a short time.
Be careful if your dog belongs to the strong physique breeds as they have trouble breathing properly. These breeds should practice moderate exercise. Some examples are:
- Boxer
- english bulldog
- Bulmastife
- Dogue de Bordeaux
- pug
- rottweiler
canicross with the dog
If you like running and your dog seems to like it too, you can start canicrossing with him. won't need many things just some sneakers for yourself, a strap (if you want you can also do without it) and an appropriate place for that. Enjoy running and having your puppy follow you for a while to actively exercise.
the canicross
Canicross is a very complete exercise for tireless puppies that allows you and your pet to run together together on a leash. Melee, without using arms. It's great for puppies that need a lot of exercise, but remember that you'll need some adjustment time to allow you to start gaining muscle and gaining the proper pace. You should always keep an eye on your puppy and on the sensations he expresses as well as his level of tiredness.
THE competition level it is recommended to carry out a veterinary consultation before starting the dog in active canicross, as it is a very demanding exercise.
Advice for dogs that do canicross
- Check the undersides of the feet regularly to make sure they are not damaged.
- Especially in canicross, be very careful to prevent your puppy from suffering from a heat stroke. Read our tips for relieving the dog's heat.
- Always carry a small portable drinking fountain with you, it can be useful.
- Adapt the dog's diet to its level of physical activity.
- Check with your veterinarian on a regular basis to make sure everything is fine.
- Adapt the pace and duration of training to your capacity.
Ride a bike with the dog
Cycling is a fun sport suitable for active but obedient dogs, in this way we will be actively exercising it through the city, mountain or other places with the advantage of not getting so tired.
Remember that it is essential that your puppy is obedient and understands well the basic orders of "quiet", "let's go", "right" and "left" in order not to cause an accident.
And if you want to know how to teach your puppy to ride a bike with you, here's a simple step-by-step guide that you should practice for a while before starting:
- Introduce your puppy to the bike if he doesn't already know it, let him smell it, look at it and watch it move without fear.
- Purchase an adapter that joins the harness, strap and bicycle.
- Practice circling the dog and the bike without being on top of it and see how it reacts. We recommend that you look for a quiet place so you won't be distracted.
- If the dog adapts to walking the bike, try riding it at a moderate speed.
Advice for cycling with your dog
- Start working in quiet places and progressively ease the difficulty.
- Do not exceed your speed, watch your puppy's pace and respect him.
- Check the undersides of the feet regularly to make sure they are not damaged.
- Walk in safe places, don't expose your dog to excessive proximity to cars.
- Do this with appropriate and comfortable equipment for the animal. You should choose those that offer better damping.
Agility
Getting started in Agility, whether in competition or not, is a great way to practice obedience and exercising your pet actively, as this is a very complete sport that you could even do at home if you have the space for it. It is suitable for curious and agile dogs that are easy to memorize as Border Collies usually are.
Agility consists of a course of obstacles that the dog must follow and overcome. Circuits include tunnels, wheels, fences and many others. It's fun and actively exercises the dog while we just have to guide him.
swimming and hydrotherapy
As for people, taking your dog to swim in the sea or in the pool it is a very complete way to exercise, as well as a lot of fun. For this, it will be essential that our dog accepts and tolerates the water, if not, the best thing is to think of another option.
Especially in this case, we must be careful to avoid possible drowning or gastric torsion, something that can happen if we have been feeding him recently. Pay attention to your puppy at all times.
On the other hand, hydrotherapy is perfect for dogs that suffer from muscle problems, injuries, dislocations, dysplasia, arthritis and osteoarthritis.It helps them exercise without feeling pain in their extremities. It is highly recommended to keep delicate puppies healthy.
Advice for dogs that practice swimming
- Swimming is a very active exercise, hydrate it properly.
- If you are going to start swimming regularly with your puppy you should consider adapting his diet to a more complete one.
- Check your paws so that they are not wet for many hours, otherwise it could favor the appearance of fungus.
Sports with groups of dogs
mushing
If have lots of athletic dogs with lots of energy how can a group of several Siberian Huskys be able to practice Mushing, a sport that consists of a group of dogs pull a dog that takes a passenger whether in the snow or on the ground.
Skijoring
It is a sport that needs a high level of obedience, at least from the "guide" dogs. It is a great way to exercise them in a pack, always without forcing them and always under an adequate revision of the foot pads.
Taking advantage of the snow, let's make reference to Skijoring, a sport that consists of a dog and a skier joined by a harness like the one used in canicross, although this one has a longer strap that allows an adequate separation between skier and dog.
It is a very complete sport that will take your dog to a totally different place. Remember that it is important to have a portable drinking fountain at your disposal, as well as always devoting a few minutes to review your dog's paw pads to prevent them from getting burned in the cold.
More relaxed options
let your dog run in the park
This first option allows your puppy to run freely and exercise on his own, something he should do on each walk for at least 5 minutes, as recommended by ethologists.
Practicing exercise without a strap strengthens our bond with him, in addition he likes to feel free and without being trapped outside. It is also important to practice obedience if we are thinking of going for walks or simply as a way to prevent a day from being lost.
Games
When practicing exercise without a strap, you can use a ball to chase you, a Frisbee, a piece of trunk to jump over it. All options are valid whenever your puppy enjoys with you. The optimal tour time is between 60 and 90 minutes in length, divided into one, two and even three tours. Always combining exercise and walking.
First aid
Having some notions of first aid is really useful for our puppies. Below we leave you some links so that you know what to do in certain situations:
- wounds
- Poisoning
- burns