How to Provide Your Dog with the Proper Amount of Exercise
Perhaps your daily routine and that of your dog still doesn’t meet each other’s standards and you have noticed that your pet isn’t getting all the exercise he needs. It’s important to provide your dog with a good amount of exercise, especially if you live in a small area like a house or an apartment.
It’s important to take your dog because it’s not only god for their physical well-being but also for their mental health.
Why You Should Provide Your Dog with the Proper Amount of Exercise
Regardless of the size or breed, every dog needs a good amount of exercise on a daily basis to release all his energy and keep fit. Dogs are also social animals that enjoy the company of other dogs. Just like humans, animals need to have relationships with each other and create bonds and routines that allow them to be mentally stable.
If you have decided to have a dog without really thinking about having the time or resources for it to have a healthy lifestyle, chances are that eventually physical and mental side effects will begin to appear. If your pet isn’t exercising enough, he may have:
- A decrease in muscle mass due to having a sedentary lifestyle that affects his physique and mobility.
- Weight gain, which is also due to a sedentary lifestyle. It has multiple side effects on the dog’s health. An obese animal can develop heart, respiratory, and mobility problems. These will end up turning your pet into a shadow of the past. Dogs don’t know how to regulate their appetites, which is why the eat like gluttons. Of course, this only happens if their owner allows them to.
- Emotionally, a dog that spends a lot of time alone experiences changes in his mood and personality. The most dependent dogs will tend to experience separation anxiety and suffer while they are home alone with nothing to do. Dogs that have a more dominant or athletic nature, a lack of activity will make them exhibit self-destructive behaviors. These range from destroying your house to harming themselves.
If you care about your dog’s health, you’ll provide him with the exercise he needs in order to be healthy and happy. The consequences of letting a dog have an idle lifestyle will damage him physically and mentally. Also, this can put you in a tight situation of having to get rid of the animal. Unfortunately, this is another reason why animal shelters are so overpopulated.
Possible Activities to Make Your Dog Become Active
It’s a good idea that dogs get between 30 minutes and 2 hours of daily exercise. The most convenient way is to have walks or activities at different times of the day. Also, while you do these activities, let your dog your dog go to the bathroom without rushing him.
Now that you know how important it is for your animal to exercise, let’s look at a list of possible activities that will allow you to give your dog a good quality exercise:
- One of the most common and most satisfying games for every dog is to play fetch with sticks, balls, or any other object that their owner throw. In addition, you can incorporate your pet into your routine and go jogging with them. Obviously, you should do this once he’s in the proper shape.
- A dog’s hunting instinct is more developed in some dogs than in others. However, if there is something that excites all of them equally, it’s tracking down something. You can even play with your dog at home. Hide his food dish or place snacks or treat in a hard-to-find place. This is a good way to mentally stimulate your dog, which is equally important as exercise is.
- Another instinct that you must learn to understand and stimulate is a dog’s pack instinct. In their heads, the alpha should always be their owner. However, dogs can establish other hierarchies with other animals, such as dogs they meet in the park or neighborhood. This will allow them to create relationships and build friendships.