Exercising Dogs...

[Fender963]

This is sort of a rant and a question built into one. First the rant: It really bugs me when people buy active dogs and then never give them the exercise they deserve. THey simply put them in the yard and expect them to exercise themselves. Never take them on walks, never play fetch with them, never so much as gives them a quick chase around the yard. If you don't have time to do such things why did you buy the dog in the first place?

Onto the question:
What do you do to exercise your dog? I like to mine on a nice long walk and have a few fetch sessions throughout the day. During the winter I definately have up the time for each session/walk and during the summer it is significantly less. Anyone gets tired when the temperature is 100+.

Kyle

[sammy101]

I hate that too.Some people dont deserve dogs at all.

Mine go for walks twice daily,1 walk in the mornings with my mom and about half hour walk with me after school.We take them to parks once in a while too. I play with them in the backyard also.

[Alysser]

I agree with your rant. I always feel when I see this: I should have that dog as I would actually love it!

I usually take Sassy for a walk and then we go inside and have a nice LONG tug-a-war game! She could go on for hours with that.

[IRescue452]

Its a lawn trophy of course. It drives me nuts too. Autumn doesn't get walks every single day, but she gets lots of outdoor play daily. When we do get time for walks it is usually a few miles. We also go to the dog park several times a week for 2-3 hours of play on 11 acres of park. In the winter its different though. Playing in the snow takes up a lot more energy so we don't go near as far on walks and when I'm in college she just goes outside to play with my sisters.

[zoomer]

I hate that more than anything. Dogs deserve more than what they get from some owners.

With Buddy I take him for a couple walks (1 mile each walk), play fetch and frisbee, do agility with him, and let him let out his extra energy by running with the other dogs in the backyard.

With Georgia I let her run loose at the school field, we play frisbee, do agility, flyball, and go for 3 walks around the block. I also let her run in the backyard with the others.

With Alaska, I walk him sometimes but most of the time he is sleeping because he is so old!

[bckrazy]

Gonzo's favorite summer exercise is swimming! We have a really awesome lake literally across the street from us (Folsom Lake), I walk him there and walk him around the trails and he retrieves his floating frizbee for 1 hour. This is becoming a daily thing now that it's nice outside. My sister takes him on 5-mile jogs through the park a few days a week, she's really athletic, and it can be difficult for Gonzo to keep up with HER! Besides that, he gets walks for about 3 miles every evening and sometimes in the morning. On top of that, I try to take him to the huge park every evening to play frizbee & fetch; if not, I play fetch with him in the backyard for about 2 hours, 1 hour each session. 2 days a week, he does Flyball training which is 2 hours of intense running. This all adds up to an average of 2 hours of hard exercise a day, with 2 hours of light exercise and some in between. He's very muscly and healthy! =)

I totally agree... especially with working breeds! People just do not realize that Border Collies, Aussies, German Shepherds, Labs, Goldens, Huskies, etc, etc, were bred to WORK through out the day - hard. They were not bred to lay around the house or in the yard all day with a brief little play session when you get home from work! Not to mention, many of the "owners" who just don't feel their dogs need daily exercise also tend to overfeed and feed poor kibbles - which equals an obese, unhappy, behavioral, territorial, arthritic, cancerous, sad, dog! Not just working breeds, every dog needs daily mental/physical stimulation. I hate seeing English Bulldogs, even, who are morbidly obese. It's completely unhealthy and abusive.

[Tollers-n-Dobes]

I take Tango on a long walk daily, I just got back from a 2.5 hour walk with her actually. We would've been gone longer, but we were being 'attacked' by mosquitoes. We don't just walk though, we stop at numerous fields so she can play ball or frisbee, sometimes we jog also. Throughout the day, I also through the ball or frisbee for her in the back yard. In the summer, one of her favourite activities is swimming in her baby pool, our pool and she also goes to the river often. There are tons of other things we do aswell, but that's what we do most of the time. We also work on her numerous amounts of tricks and commands, and I like to teach hr new things. Not sure if that counts as exercise or not, but it's the one thing that actually does tire her out quickly.

Winston's getting older so he just sleeps most of the time but my mom takes him & Morgan out for a walk every evening with Tango and I. I also play ball with him in the yard during the day. Morgan goes on relatively long walks (45mins to an hour, but she's still a pup and I don't want to over do it), she plays with the other dogs during the day, I play ball with her and we also work on teaching her new commands. Tia is small enough that she doesn't need to go far for the amount of exercise she needs. She's quite content to do a few laps around the yard, go for a walk every so often (about 4 times a week) and play with her squeakies in the house.

I also hate when people get dogs and don't do much with them.

[lute]

i agree! i hate how so many people get breeds such as sibes, border collies, ACD, GSD, JRT, etc and expect them to just be a mellow family dog. they can be a family dog, but they need a proper amount of exercise.

Beanie gets a walk and LOTS of fetch time. he LOVES fetch!

Gracie goes on a long walk every morning with me at the local park. a couple smaller walks durring the day. then she gets a session of obediance in the evening. i might add tredmil time if she likes it.

[GiantSchnauzer]

I agree too.

I do everything I can to make my active little girl tired. Fetch, walks, playdates with other dogs, etc. This summer she'll be introduced to the lake.

[lute]

I agree too.

I do everything I can to make my active little girl tired. Fetch, walks, playdates with other dogs, etc. This summer she'll be introduced to the lake.

my Gracie can't wait to swim in the lake at the park this summer! she loves water so much you'd think she was one of .sarah's labs!LOL

[wolfsoul]

I take Visa wih me to work two or three times a week and since I bike there, she runs beside me on the way there and back. Then at work she plays with the other shop dogs at the end of the day. On the days I don't bring her to work, we might for a walk downtown , or I'll bring her shopping with me, but usually we do alot of biking. We also have agility class once a week and we do drop-in a couple of times a week, and I take her to the beach to go swimming once a week too. We also go hiking once in a blue moon. She herds sheep once a month.

[vinjashira]

I think the best excersise for a dog would be playing with another dog so I do envy people with more than one dog. My dog, Snowy, gets to play with other dogs when I walk her everyday. It's great to see them chasing each other. Snowy plays well with dogs her size especially other terriers.

[labmomma]

I have two dogs, Labs, and they basically exercise themselves. They are in constant motion chasing and mouthing each other. That doesn't mean that I don't play with them because I do. I have a sling shot that catapults tennis balls into the air and they love that. They have a big planter full of toys and I do a round up about 3 times a week. They have more toys than I did as a child. They have a 3 acre plot enclosed with "Invisible Fence" and they run it all. Their favorite chase is to look out the back door and spot a squirrel which they chase but it always makes it to the boundary and into the woods safely. It pleases me to see them so happy and healthy.
Labmomma

[Chilli]

Frisk has always been lazy, but we drag him along on the walks, due to the fact that he needs to lose weight.
I usually take my dogs on atleast two walks a day during the summer.
Frisk and Ethan get a one mile walk in the morning, sometimes a bit longer.
In mid-day, I usually take Ethan down to the lake around two miles both ways, I only take Frisk if it isn't too hot, since he's really sensitive to heat.
In the afternoon, I take them both on the one mile walk again.

Sometimes I change it up a bit and take them for a walk down to the town square, which is around 2-3 miles one way. We also take Frisk to the tennis courts while my mum and I play tennis... but we can't do that now since they are re-building the tennis courts.
This summer we've been talking about taking them out to my uncle's farm so that they can run off leash, I hope we are able to do it.

I know it sounds like I take Ethan more places, and its because I do. Frisk has a hard time keeping up when its hot. Ethan is just always up for a walk, and doesn't want to stop every few stop signs to mark his territory like Frisk.

I really wish I could teach Ethan to be able to run beside me on my bike, but he's afraid of my bike.

[cali]

I bikeride with Happy and Misty everyday. currently Misty has a blistered and cut up paw so they are only getting 30 minuts walks instead of an hour or 2 of brisk running.