Who doesn’t love working out with their dogs? It’s a fun activity and at the same time exercising will keep both of you fit and healthy. Dogs love to play and workout when their owners are equally proactive in exercising. Running together to the park, playing the backyard, hiking, playing catch, etc. are a few of the common activities you can do with your dog.
Walking is a great form of cardiovascular exercise and does give your dog stimulation to the outside world; however, it does not strengthen muscles. Dogs need other forms of exercise to shed extra fat, keep their muscles lean, and maintain their mental wellbeing.
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Dogs will often begin to yawn, whine, bark, howl, take long naps, or become destructive. Pacing, self-harming, over-eating (or not eating), inappropriate elimination, and aggression toward other family pets or people can also be symptoms of dog boredom.
It’s essential that you keep your dog occupied with different physical and mentally stimulating activities. Regular exercise is one of them. Here are some of the ways you can introduce regular exercise into your dog’s daily regimen.
Take a Hike
Hiking is a great idea for both of you but if you are not used to strenuous exercise then keep it to a minimum. A trail inexperienced dog can't walk a long distance. You'd need to introduce them to the trail slowly. Take a short walk for a few days until you're ready to take the hike.
If you don't have a hiking trail around your house, you can consider taking your dog for three walks a day and make one at least 20 minutes.
Go For a Trail Run
Trail running is all about running in nature. You’ll encounter uneven terrain including uphill climb and downhill fall. This activity is recommended for both humans and dogs. If your dog is unfamiliar to the trail, you should guide it for the first few times to avoid any accidents or pitfalls. The trail is safer for your dog’s sensitive paws too. This is also a great way to get some fresh air.
Go for a Swim
Swimming is a great cardiovascular exercise. Add fun to it and it becomes an amazing exercise. Take your dog for a swim. If it’s hot outside, then you should definitely take them to the pool to cool down. If your neighborhood pool doesn’t allow pets, then you can take them to the nearby pond or a lake. Build a doggy pool in your backyard if you have any space. Swimming is great for a dog’s joints and is easier on their paws than running.
Ultimate Frisbee
Most dogs enjoy chasing and catching stuff! The Ultimate Frisbee challenge can be a great workout and a fun experience for your whole family. You can throw Frisbee around for your dog to catch! The Frisbee can always be replaced with softball, stick, or anything light. This not only is a fabulous cardio workout, it challenges your hand-eye coordination and strategic skills. Your dog will get to strengthen its catching and chasing ability.
Frisbee challenge can be enjoyed indoors as well, especially with a smaller dog. Just be careful with things around you.
Play hide and seek
Play hide and seek by either hiding treats around the house or by hiding yourself for your dog to find. Hiding treats can be great fun. You, god, will have to sniff them out and run around looking for them. If they’re new to it, you can teach them to search around. These are great physical and mental games for your dog since he has to use his brain and body to find the objects.
Enroll your dog in agility classes
Most doggy daycare and training centers allow daily or weekly boarding for dogs to indulge in exercises, agility training, and learning commands. These are challenging and fun and at the same time build human-animal bonding. It also helps to keep your god active while stimulating their minds. It’s a great chance for your dog to learn new commands, tricks, and maneuvers. Most agility training is targeted towards exercising their joints, ligaments, muscles, and tendons.
Play tug-of-war
Playing tug-of-war is a fun experience for all ages of dogs. Kids love this too. In the case of canine, this game has them pulling and using their muscles and jaws to keep them in place and hanging on to that toy! This game will definitely help to strengthen you and your god’s bond.
Build an Obstacle Course
Building an obstacle course for your dog is a fun activity! Your dog will engage with the game a lot. Scatter things in your yard to run around, get a hula hoop to jump through, or add temporary stairs. Obstacle courses can be set up inside the house as well but be wary of the things that could break or hurt your dog.
A good obstacle course can make your dog crawl through a low area, jump through a hula hoop, weave between stools, and backup through a narrow space. This will be physically uplifting as well as mentally stimulating. Motivate your dog with small, healthy treats at the end of each course.
Teach them new tricks and commands
Dogs have an aptitude to learn. They love to learn new tricks if you motivate them in the right way. Learning new tricks and commands can be very stimulating and rewarding for them to interact positively with their owners or other people.
Essential tricks and commands can also help your dog to learn to sit, jump, run, shake, rollover, give high 5, crawl, sit up and beg, etc.
Doggy Massage
Consider giving your dog a massage on a regular interval. While massage certainly does not count as exercise, it is extremely beneficial for your dog’s health, flexibility, and circulation. It will help increases oxygen flow to the blood, relieves pain and muscle tension, alleviates anxiety, and remove the chances of the hip or joint dysplasia.
Urban Pet Hospital & Resort is the best doggy daycare in Urbandale. Get in touch with us to get the best doggy daycare service, canine training and conditioning, and boarding.