Exercise for your Doodle’s Health
Along with proper diet and annual health check-ups, exercise can add years to your dog’s life. Exercise can also significantly affect behavior. A good round of exercise uses energy that might otherwise be spent on destructive activities due to boredom. Exercise releases mood-enhancing endorphins (do I sound like Reese in Legally Blond?), they reduce both stress-related and non-anxiety related behavior.Examples are aggression, mouthing, and barking.
A slow saunter around the neighborhood is not what I mean by exercise. Imagine your dog off-leash on a hike in the woods, he will run circles around you. A high-energy walk is great. If, like me, you’re not interested in keeping pace with a young active dog, be creative. Kong makes a ball toss handle – it allows you to throw a tennis ball a great distance with little to no effort. They’re great for the dog, and easy on your shoulder. For a young dog, throw it a shorter distance or roll it down the hall.
Schedule play dates with other well-mannered dogs of similar size and temperament. Your dog shouldn’t dominate a playmate or be dominated – that’s not quality playtime. A morning or two a week in Doggy Day Care is a great option, a good play session will carry over for a few days. Be sure to screen the Day Care, don’t take a puppy before all shots have been completed at 4 months, and don’t go to a day care that allows puppies younger than 4 months.
Just because your dog is spending his day sleeping and lazing about doesn’t necessarily mean it’s his preferred activity, it can simply mean nothing better is being offered. Does your puppy exit his crate full of energy, jumping, biting, and running through the house? He’s trying to communicate to you that he’s had enough quite time for a while and now he needs play time. He loves your calm petting and attention, but he needs active time. When I receive phone calls asking why a puppy is suddenly misbehaving and I listen to the normal daily routine, I typically notice that high energy activity is lacking. There’s a huge difference in how our Winston behaves after a day playing with another dog versus a couple of days spent at my feet while I piddle on the computer. Snoopy would say. “Happiness is a tired puppy.”
As your dog matures exercise should be continued to stave off the mid-life roll around the middle. Overweight dogs are at greater risk for osteoarthritis, cardiac or respiratory disease, heat intolerance, skin, and coat problems, cruciate rupture, disc rupture, and immune dysfunction. Whatever form of exercise you and your Dood prefer, you’ll both appreciate the benefits of improved health, better behavior and a closer relationship.
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