How To Exercise Your Dog Correctly
You may have noticed that your pet is not getting all the exercise that he should in his daily routine. You have to exercise your dog properly, especially if you live in a limited space like a house or apartment.
Why You Should Exercise Your Dog Properly
Regardless of the size and breed of your dog, each animal needs a certain amount of exercise each day to channel all the energy they have and also to stay in shape. Dogs, moreover, are social animals that enjoy the company of other dogs. Like us, our animals interact and create bonds and routines that allow them to have a certain stability.
If you’ve decided to own a dog without really thinking about whether you have the time and resources to live a healthy lifestyle, it’s likely that, after a while, you’ll begin to notice the consequences of that neglect both physically and mentally on your dog. If you don’t exercise your dog enough, you can:
- The decrease in muscle mass resulting from a sedentary lifestyle that affects both your fitness and mobility.
- An increase in weight, also derived from a sedentary lifestyle, has multiple adverse effects on your dog’s health. An obese pet faces heart, respiratory, and mobility problems that end up turning your pet into a shadow of its former self. Dogs don’t know how to regulate their appetite, which leads them to eat until they get tired, if the owner allows it.
- Emotionally, a dog that spends a lot of time only experiences mood and personality changes. More dependent dogs tend to experience separation anxiety and suffer while they are alone at home, doing nothing. For dogs of a more dominant or athletic nature, lack of activity leads them to show self-destructive behavior that will lead them to destroy the house as a form of self-harm.
If you are concerned about your dog’s health, you should help him get the exercise he needs to be healthy and happy. The consequences of keeping a dog inactive, as we’ve just seen, damage its fitness and put it at risk, which may even make you want to get rid of your pet, thus contributing to overcrowding in kennels.
Possible activities to exercise your pet
It is recommended that dogs do between 30 minutes and 2 hours of daily exercise. The most convenient thing is that the tours or activities are distributed throughout the day, which will allow your pet to take care of your needs every time you leave the house.
Now that you know how important exercise is for your pet, let’s look at a list of possible activities that will allow you to exercise your dog correctly:
- One of the most common and most satisfying games for any self-respecting dog is picking up sticks, balls or any other object thrown at them by the owner. Also, you can incorporate your pet into your routine and run with him, as long as he is sufficiently trained.
- The hunting instinct of dogs is more developed in some than in others, but if there’s one thing they all love, it ‘s tracking. You can play with it at home. Hide your plate of food or place treats and prizes in hard-to-reach places. This is a good way to mentally stimulate the your dog something as important as physical stimulation.
- Another instinct that we must learn to understand and encourage is group behavior. In your dog’s mind, the head of the pack will always own you. However, dogs can establish other hierarchies with other animals, such as with dogs they meet in the park or in the neighborhood, which will allow them to bond and make friends.
