Guide to the Basics of Dog Exercise

Maintaining your dog’s health goes beyond regular checks by the vet or a healthy diet. Setting a regular exercise routine is important in toning the muscles, simulating the brain, promoting good behavior as well as facilitating the proper functioning of the body metabolism.

Every dog owner needs to understand that daily dog exercise is very important to the general wellbeing of the dog. However, while it is important to engage in this activity, knowing the type and level that suits your dog is a major factor to consider. This is because there are different routines for different dog breeds and going for the one that suits your pet will achieve the desired result. Other factors that are put into consideration before setting an exercise routine for your pet include age, size, general health condition, and body type.

We have outlined some tips that may be important to you in your bid to set a good exercise routine for your pet. Please read on as we explain more.

How to Exercise Your Dog

The following are some important tips to help you:

Check the Dog’s Health

It is important that you ascertain your pet’s health condition before engaging in any form of exercise with it. This is because you may be exposing it to more dangers if you overlook its health and engage in a routine that is too demanding. The implication may likely be disastrous and sometimes end up getting out of medical control. A good way to avoid this is to have your vet do a proper checkup before you engage the pet.

Start with Easy Routines

There are dogs that find it easy to engage in long walks, and there some that don’t. A good way to get your pet to become used to the new exercise routine is to start out small. You can start with taking the dog for short walk, hiking or even playing ‘fetch’ in the backyard with it. Other easy routines you can try out include the use of an agility course or paying a visit to the dog beach or park where it will see other dogs running around. Doing this will expose it to a new lifestyle that it will naturally get used to.

Note: If your pet is a large breed puppy, then you have to minimize the level of strenuous activities you exposed it to until it gets to 12 months. It is very unsafe to expose large breed puppies to so much exercise as their skeletons are yet to fully develop at that stage.

Be Consistent

Consistency is very effective when teaching a dog and this is because they tend to become more comfortable with a routine when they practice consistently. For exercises, it is important that you set a particular time that you will maintain so your pet will get used to it. When they get used to a new activity, their body gradually adjusts to it.

Benefits of Dog Exercise

The following are some benefits you need to know:

Reduction and Elimination of Common Behavioral Issues

Subjecting your pet to exercise makes it to get rid of some behaviors that may not go down well with you. Some of these negative behaviors may include excessive barking, chewing, anxiety, digging, as well as aggression.

Similarly, you can check out this article to see other measures you can take to stop these negative behaviors.

Health Living

Exercise keeps the dog limber and healthy. When all the body systems are made active through constant activity, they in turn become healthy and ready to function at any given time. You will observe that the level of agility in your dog will increase if it engages in regular exercise and this is good for the owner as it reduces regular unscheduled visits to the vet.

Improves the Digestive System

One of the important benefits dogs derive from this activity is the improvement of their digestive system. When all the systems are active, the digestive system is left with so much work as it needs to digest materials properly for effective distribution across the body. The implication of this is a coordinated distribution of all relevant materials that are needed for effective metabolism in the body.

Builds the Dog’s Confidence

When you take your pet for a walk or run, it gets exposed to different kinds of things and its social skills are improved on. When your dog socializes, the confidence level will be improved and it will feel free with people and other animals around it unlike when it is restricted to the confines of your home. A good way to ensure good exposure for your dog is through taking it to where there are a good number of people.

Maintenance of Dog Weight

Exercises improve the dog’s appearance. You will observe that constant exercise makes your dog look healthy rather than looking obese and out of shape. A good way to follow up with this routine is to make sure the diet is balanced and not mixed with food that can easily make them get fat. If you need help on choosing healthy food for your dog, you can check here: https://www.thesprucepets.com/choosing-a-dog-food-1118452.

These are some of the important tips you may need for your dog’s exercise. You can search the internet if you need more tips.

Conclusion

Lack of exercise can cause many problems for your dog and it is important that you make it part of your daily or weekly routine to go for a walk or run with your pet. Doing this will require a level of dedication and consistency so that you can get the desired result. We have outlined some tips to help you with the process. Feel free to check them out and take that step with your pet.