This blog is inspired by Willie, and all dogs who are recovering from injury or surgery, who are on total exercise restriction programs. Willie spends about 20 to 22 hours a day in a crate, 1 to 1.5 hours doing passive physical therapy and the rest lying down beside me getting his belly rubbed. He goes outside to pee and poop, and otherwise I do everything I can to keep him immobile. We’ll be doing that for about 5 more weeks, and then can begin, slowly and gradually, adding in movement like 5 minutes of leash walking, or very gentle exercises that target the right muscles. He’s expected to be able to have some off-leash freedom about three and a half months from now.
That’s all background for those of you who haven’t followed the story, and it’s important because his behavior is illustrating something I’ve been thinking about for the last few years. Here’s the bottom line, followed by an explanation:
HYPOTHESIS = Most companion dogs in the U.S. get just enough exercise to hype them up, not calm them down. Here’s what leads to that thought:
1. The less exercise Willie gets, the quieter he becomes. This makes a great deal of sense if we allow ourselves to be anthropomorphic for a moment. “Couch potatoes” are warned that a lack of exercise results in a lack of energy. We are told that getting up off our duffs and getting some exercise will energize us, not tire us out. I know the few times that I’ve had to stay inactive when I didn’t feel sick, I’ve felt increasingly lumpy. Nothing like a brisk walk to wake us up, right?
Before Willie’s surgery I emphasized to the therapist and surgeon how active and reactive Willie is. How he had a tendency several times a week to leap up, twirl 360 degrees and take 2 steps forward in less than a third of a second to who knows what stimulus. (I did not make that fraction of a second up, he can move faster than I am able to perceive, much less respond to.) The vet suggested that when he was out of the crate I lay beside him and keep my hand on his collar. I did that in February when he was less restricted, and he almost broke my hand. To keep my hand from being broken I had to flip over him like one is advised to do when a crocodile begins its death roll.
After explaining (whining?) about how hard it would be to keep Willie from abusing his shoulder after surgery, I imagine that Willie’s health care team left the office thinking “OMG, she’s just like all our other clients! Everyone thinks their dog is special and will be harder than all others to keep quiet!” I wouldn’t blame them. I did explain that out of all the dogs I’ve had, Willie is the one who has been the hardest to keep quiet. He’s just an especially reactive, high energy BC, more so than any other I’ve had. And so we had lengthy talks about how to manage his reactivity in order not to damage his healing body. They prescribed the Hobbles to keep him from extending his leg too far forward. I worked out extensive plans to use his training to keep him quiet.
Well, never mind. Willie is profoundly quiet and easy to manage. I actually think he’s a bit depressed, but for whatever reason, he is not especially reactive, and sleeps or lies quietly except when greeting me, Jim or visitors. Because visitors get him excited, he sees few of them. What gets him happy and excited are toys (all hidden), meeting new people (rare), running and working sheep (out of the question.) What’s left are belly rubs, trick training (he learns readily for treats, but doesn’t really adore the process), food treats, and being with the people he loves.
But no activity whatsoever. And he’s quiet. Really quiet. Of course, part of this is because he’s almost five years old. When he was on leash restrictions at 8 months it was MUCH harder. But not as hard as I thought it would be, and I think it’s because a lack of activity leads to a lack of energy in dogs, just as it does in people.
2. Surely the reverse is true. We take our dogs on a thirty minute walk and voila! [Aside: I once typed viola! — note the spelling difference — in a book Karen London and I were writing, and now it’s one of my favorite expressions. Try it, it’s fun to say. “VI OH LA!”] After a thirty minute walk the dogs are energized and motivated to move, learn, and interact. But wait! We took them on a walk! Aren’t we done now?
Jim and I were treated to a trail ride before a seminar out west a few years ago. We went about 12 miles, up to a mountain lake, on horse back, accompanied by two dogs who must have traveled at least twenty miles. The dogs ran at least half the time and showed no signs of being tired when we returned. Ah, if only everyone’s dog could go on walks like that!
I’ve had a number of clients whose dogs began to leap up and nip at their arms on walks. Almost all the dogs began the behavior only after the person turned and started walking back to the house. “NO NO, NOT YET!” I imagine these dogs saying in desperation, I’m JUST GETTING STARTED. The problem was usually resolved by lengthening the walks, and turning back and forth so that the dog never knew when the walk was almost over. Not to mention more exercise in general, especially mental exercise.
Mental exercise is my most common recommendation to people who can’t get their dog the physical exercise that they need. But increasing physical exercise is a wonderful thing for us all, it just takes more time than some of us have. (But it’s so good for us too!) I had 3 clients with Dalmatians who got treadmills and we trained their dogs to run on the treadmill. That’s not a solution for every dog, but it sure helped them.
I’m curious: What do you think? Do you think that many of our dogs are getting just the amount of exercise they need to wake them up (rather than tired them out? I’m not saying we should advise less exercise, heaven forbid, but that we do need to be aware that a thirty minute walk around the neighborhood in the evening is a perfect prescription for energized a dog, especially a working breed.
MEANWHILE, back on the farm: Willie and I are coping okay, as I mentioned above. I’m so lucky that he is so good in his crate, and is adapting so well. It sure will be good to see his happy face again though. Trick training provides some exercise, and he is now obsessed with food (what else is there?) but it’s not what makes him truly happy. We are spending some time when I can grab it lying outside together, me listening to the birds, him sniffing the breeze. Precious time together! We have a physical therapy appointment on Friday, and I look forward to hearing how the therapist thinks he is doing. We’ve been doing his PT religiously, although there are a few days I only managed two sessions instead of three. But his range of motion is much much better and the swelling has gone down, and at least I know that this all might lead to a life of no more pain, and no more leash restrictions ever again. And maybe, maybe.. could I dream? Frisbee? Probably not, but at least working sheep for a good long time!
It’s gorgeous weather tonight, wish I could package up a Wisconsin spring and send it along with the blog. I’m looking out the window at what must be 45 different colors of green (bright chartrouse – Sunburst Locust Tree; British Racing Green – Spruce Tree, Easter Grass green – Japanese Maple….). Tomorrow and Friday it will be hatefully hot and humid, but tonight? Sweet sweet weather! Low 60’s, fresh baby leaves unfurling everywhere, Rose Breasted Grosbeak singing his heart out. Here’s the view as I walked up the hill last night to bring the sheep down.
And here’s what was waiting for me. Normally I’d have Willie herd them into this area of great grass that is usually avoided by the sheep (in a little valley, close to the wood’s edge = not safe for prey animals, in their mind anyway). Jim set the fence up for me, and I lured the sheep in with a bucket of grain. Works well, except the sheep body block you, no, they actually throw themselves in front of you to try to stop you and get the grain. Much more fun with a dog, and a lot easier on your feet! (Sheep have sharp, pointy hooves. Ow ow ow when they step on your feet….)
Jeff says
On a completely anecdotal basis, I agree. Our beagle gets 3-4 runs out the door to poke around the neighborhood and relieve himself, ranging from 15 to 30 minutes. He usually gets an hour romp most days. On romp days, he’s generally pretty quiet in the evenings. Non-romp days, he’s usually pretty keyed after that early evening pee break, although he’ll eventually curl up in his place once it gets late.
Roberta Beach says
When I was taking dressage lessons, my instrutors, all of them, reminded us the allotted one hour was never enough for our horses; that indeed, they were just warmed up after that hour. My practice became to start 1/2 hr before my class and work another hour afterward before warming down. I am now finding the same with Justus. He is now not quite a year and a half, B&TCoonie/Dobie/GSP/Whatever mix. We got back to class last night but had no time to work him before hand. He was a goof and I know we need to work before just walking, tuning, etc. I completely agree with your observations re: Willie, rest and activity.
Teri says
I’ve had this discussion with some people recently with a slightly different twist. We currently have a very high energy lab and will have a Vizsla puppy join us in August. Everyone I tell that we are getting a vizsla comments on how much energy they have. My dogs get a 1.5 hour walk daily with the majority of that on off leash trails where they can zoom to their hearts content. I know others who have high energy dogs that say they need 3-4 hours of walk per day. My theory is that when you get a dog used to that level of fitness then of course they need that level of exercise. It can become a vicious cycle where people keep trying to tire out the dog and instead just keep improving the dog’s fitness level.
I believe that 1.5 hours is plenty for most dogs especially when it is off leash in a stimulating environment and combined with lots of short training sessions at home. Teaching a dog to have an “off-switch” where they learn to relax is just as important as teaching things like a good recall. I truly hope that I am right and not in for a rude surprise with the new pup.
Barbara says
Love, love, love hearing your updates on Willie and your insights on dog’s behaviors. I hope things continue to improve with his shoulder and he is once again to enjoy life again. Keep up the great work.
heather siessel says
that first picture is just beautiful !!! here is to you and willie making it another 5 weeks..i agree – when i take my aussie out – we now tend to walk longer so she can get out some of that energy — but what happens when you take them out for a short walk and come home because its 95 degrees and humid and your aussie is mostly black? you play tag in the house….even if its just for 5 minutes….just so she is doing something !
Alissa says
What a great hypothesis! It makes perfect sense. When I adopted my first hound he was heartworm positive and undergoing treatment. I kept him as calm and mellow as possible in my bedroom or in his crate for the first 2 months I had him, and he did a wonderful job of being a quiet couch potato. Because I was shaping his behavior by restricting his activities, I (luckily) got what I asked for: a stationary dog. Once we got the all-clear to return to normal activity I got to really meet my dog for the first time! He turned into a playful, goofy hound whose favorite activity is running in circles in the backyard. I was extremely lucky that he allowed me to keep him confined during his heartworm treatment without being destructive or overly hyperactive.
This was about 4 years ago (and the addition of another hound) and I can still see the ebbs and flows of my dogs’ behavior based on whether or not they’ve exercised enough. When we go on long walks in the woods and they can use their hound-ness, they come home energized. After I take my 2nd hound for a short walk, he automatically goes to the back door to go outside again to continue his adventure. Or, when my 1st hound comes back from the same walk he plops down on the floor by the door and doesn’t move for hours. Each one is different!
Best wishes for a speedy recovery for Willie. My Bosco knows what Willie is going through and he’s sending good thoughts. 🙂
Bruce Amsbary says
I’ve noticed that about my Malamute — there is a stretch were we walk that I am able to safely let him off leash. When we get to the end of that section on the return home there is a wide area that he starts running circles around, then running at me and jumping up on me, something he rarely does and that I tend to discourage (on your advice). Now I have a better idea why this is happening.
Sarah says
I run with dogs, both my own and clients’ dogs, and I find that most dogs can easily cover many miles without significant fatigue. (This is assuming that the dog doesn’t overheat and is orthopedically sounds, a very big if.) For many dogs that are already physically fit, running at a human’s pace doesn’t tire them out much at all. I always add mental exericse when I’m running with dogs, whether it’s obedience training, interactive play, or simply running the dog in a new area with new smells.
Many high energy dogs will have a burst of energy after a long run, and will need to zoom around and play for a few minutes before they settle down. These post-run bursts of energy tend to be brief, and the dog will eventually settle down and sleep for many hours, but the run alone doesn’t do it. My dog-owning runner friends often report the same thing.
As a final note, my high energy dog who can easily run 10 miles and not be tired, will be exhasuted after 30 minutes of nose work or tracking training.
Jacqui Naud says
I have a 7 1/2 year old mini-Aussie that I adopted when he was 2 1/2 years old. He’s all Aussie; intelligent, active and needs employment. I live in the city and getting him out every day to herd sheep or cattle is out of the question so I trained him to retrieve a ball. This is his job and he takes it very seriously. Before the DAILY ball throwing, we take a 3-4 mile walk…EVERYDAY, rain or shine. Then it’s time for the ball, which lasts 25-50 throws or about an hour. Now that he is older, he stops to rest and take a mini break before asking me to throw it again. On rainy days, we play ‘house ball’ with a small tennis ball that I can throw from the family room through the kitchen into the living room. He most likes being able to catch it mid flight. We take a another walk every afternoon; usually for about 1-1 1/2 miles. All in all I probably spend at least three hours a day exercising (enjoying) my dog and I love it.
Dee says
Being a mammal myself and just finishing going through a similar situation to what Willie is now going through (I am recovering from a nasty leg fracture with titanium screws and no weight-bearing for 4.5 months. Drove to the grocery store for the first time today since Jan 9 Yay!). The healing process for such a major surgery is EXHAUSTING. I was a lump for 3 – 4 months and I am one of the most active people I know. Everyone who knows me said, “You must be going stir crazy!” I didn’t. Now that I am in PT, I want to go faster again. My leg has other ideas.
My mini Aussie hasn’t gone stir crazy either. Before my accident, I walked her an hour a day, minimum. I have agility equipment in the yard. We rotated to different classes to learn from different teachers. We walked the Green Ways in CT a couple times a week. She and I were BUSY! Now, not so much. She still loves to race around the yard a lap or two, have me throw a toy a couple of times, then she is content.
Sending healing vibes to Willie and your poor sheep trampled feet ~~~~~~
Janice says
One other possible explanation for Willie’s current calmness–it could part of the healing process. I am recovering from my second back surgery in three years (the first was a fusion failure and so the second one 8 months ago was a revision surgery). Even 6 months after the second surgery, when, to my mind I should have been fairly healed, I have been profoundly tired. It is just not like me to need this much sleep and I have a strong tendency to drive myself. And so I mentioned this to both my GP and the surgeon and both of them told me basically a variation of: “Of course you are tired, you just had major surgery. You are healing and that takes a lot of energy. If your body needs to sleep, then sleep. ” I think that my GP, who has known me for 30 years, was a little amused when telling me this. Several of the nerve pain drugs that I was on were also causing some weariness, but both the MDs seemed to think that it was mainly my own body needing the rest in order to heal. So now Willie is not that far after a major surgery. If six months after my surgery, I was still trying to sleep around the clock (or rather, my body is), it wouldn’t surprise me that Willie is doing so a week after his. A month or so from now (since he probably heals quicker than me), it might be a different story.
As to your hypothesis that many house dogs only get enough exercise to wind them up–interesting idea. I would agree that our dogs have far more athletic potential than we give them the opportunity to express. So if you look at the history of domestication, for thousands of years, dogs worked for a living and it is only in the last 30 years that women entered the work force in force and dogs started spending most of their time alone. I can easily understand that the a dog wouldn’t want to quit after only a half hour of fun time.
Re: luring sheep with a bucket of grain–I raised sheep for nearly two decades before I got a Border Collie and luring with a grain bucket was my standard M.O. I thought that I didn’t have enough work for a collie, but I got hurt more than once trying to lead with a bucket. When I finally came home with a one year old, started collie (after going to a farm to get a new ram, I came home with a dog, go figure) , I learned pretty quickly that I can never go back to a collie-less state. Just last week, Spring wrenched his foot getting it caught in a crate he was jumping into and I decided to cage rest him for a week (your story about Willie’s injuries weighing on my mind) and my son and I tried to put the sheep and goats down in a pasture that is a little down the driveway. The goats decided to blast right past the gate, the sheep followed and my poor son tried to run them down and get them back where they belonged (with me hobbling behind him being no help at all). Oh, my what a fiasco!! But anyway, it is easy to get hurt using the bucket approach, so be careful.
Alexandra says
I like hearing the updates on Will; sounds like he’s doing as well as can be expected. My wishes are for a speedy recovery!
Well, this blog sure explains why some days I get back from an hour long run with the dogs only to have them run around like maniacs in the back yard as soon as we get home. It’s especially likely to happen on days that I haven’t done agility practice before the run; I usually don’t see wrestlemania if I’ve done other training in addition to our daily run. That’s one of the times where it is really a blessing to have to dogs that like to play together!
Jen says
My Doberman, Elka, and I tend to take an 1.5 walk/run every day but Saturday. On those walk days, even if we do some tennis ball time in the back yard later, she tends to be happy and mellow, and will nap profusely.
On a day we didn’t get to walk, be it from work or rain, any small “bite” of activity will hype her up. Twenty hard minutes in the back yard chasing tennis balls at top speed a couple of times throughout the day will get her physically hot (tongue lolling, etc.), but she will not stop on her own, and once inside will be insistent with toys, and insistent about getting attention.
We used to not take regular walks, and though in general more “couch potato-y”, Elka was also more frenetic when a person arrived home, or food preparation was going on, or a toy was introduced. I agree that this sort of idea, like everything, must be judged on an individual basis. However, it seems to stand true with my dog!
Gretchen says
As a dog walker and a Small Animal Massage Practitioner, I was struck by two points in your blog. First, 30 minutes is never enough, in my estimation. I always say that before the age of 2, exercise doesn’t wear them out, it builds their endurance. Since my dog goes with me on most if not all of the dog walking walks, he gets about 3 hours of exercise a day — broken into different sessions with some swimming and chase thrown in for variety. He is definitely tired at the end of the day, but happily so (then again, so am I). So I am in full agreement of your hypothesis.
Next, working at a swim and massage therapy pool, we see depression all the time in dogs recovering from a difficult surgery or injury. When we get them in the pool and massage and stretch them, they are tired the next day, but owners report that their spirits are lifted. If you have a massage therapist close by, I bet Willie would benefit (no stretching of course). It would be a great way to help the healing process and bring him some deep relaxation and comfort. Just an idea.
Healing thoughts coming your way, little man!
Kat says
Interesting. I know when Ranger doesn’t get enough exercise for a day or two he starts being lethargic and, the word I want to use is “depressed” but maybe that’s anthropomorphizing. Until he was about 3.5 yrs old he went to the dog park nearly every day for at least 60 minutes of off leash run and romp with doggy pals. It was the only way we could stand to live with him. This was on top of three or four hour long walks daily. Fortunately, he has mellowed as he’s gotten older and daily trips to the park are no longer essential. We also taught him to walk on a treadmill. That worked really well until the day he climbed onto the treadmill and was standing there. My eight year old thought Ranger wanted treadmill time and turned it on, Unfortunately, he didn’t warn Ranger and it scared him. I was working on retraining him and got as far as Ranger being willing to walk with his two front feet but not his back feet on the treadmill. It turns out that 5-10 minutes of front feet only is pretty exhausting if you’re a quadruped (vs 60+ minutes of all fours) so I stopped trying to retrain him to treadmill with all fours. The other day he was on with three feet for a few seconds. That was interesting to see, one back leg stationary on the floor and the other three walking on the treadmill.
Monique says
I agree with other postings about fitness to the task. Anyone who has worked a “hot” horse can probably attest to this. I remember seeing a young student at a friend’s barn. She would religiously come and lunge her horse for 30 minutes before the lesson… as time went by the amount of time she spent lunging the horse got longer and longer. She was trying to “run him down” so he was quieter to work. What she didn’t realize is she was actually just making him fitter and fitter as time went on 🙂
My Aussie had to be on total crate rest for 6 months following bilateral TPLO surgery. I do feel your pain. She also handled it by becoming more calm. She did not anticipate any activity so did not miss it. She did not get an opportunity to become wound up. Life was sedentary. She came through it with no lasting trouble and came right back into fitness (and her loveable bad girl Aussie ways) when her activity returned to previous levels. The only noticeable effect was she learned how to bark for recreation.
Best wishes to you and Willie. I will be following along with everyone else I’m sure through this process for both of you.
Melissa says
Haha, I was complaining to my mother, the recipient of all my serious dog-related welfare concern/confusion rants about this very thing just last week I think. I said I swore most dogs in urban environments were badly under-exercised. I deliberately picked two herding breeds that were supposed to have very low exercise requirements and I usually exercise them for 90 minutes at least each day. Two hours is better. The more off leash the better, and there needs to be training and/or a heavily stimulating environment involved.
Anyway, I’ve been warned about this “if you increase their fitness you’ll increase their exercise requirements” idea and I have to say I don’t really buy it. It can’t be an exponential relationship. At some point they will have to slow down. If they don’t slow down until they’ve had 8 hours of exercise, then who’s to say 8 hours exercise is not the amount of exercise they naturally need? When we’re talking about dogs that were bred to work many hours in the day, sometimes over long distances, and sometimes expending a lot of energy doing so, it’s not unreasonable to find out that they naturally require an awful lot of exercise, is it? I have deep misgivings about people with BCs and the likes that find out they can’t keep up with the exercise their dog craves, cuts them back, and then finds out they are suddenly much calmer and easier to manage and then advise other people that they and their dogs will both be much happier with less exercise. Mostly I think my misgivings are that I don’t think it’s true and I get nervous when people like the sound of things that aren’t necessarily true. There is a sense of contentment to my dogs now that they get 90 minutes of exercise a day that just wasn’t present when they were getting 40 minutes of exercise a day max. They cope better when they miss a day or miss a walk. My active dog spends less time roaming the house poking things and getting into mischief and my lazy dog still switches off the moment nothing is happening, but when he’s on he seems in very high spirits and gets up to a lot of hilarious silliness that makes us laugh and shake our heads at him. It was hard for us to change our lifestyle to fit in more exercise for the boys, but after a couple of weeks of it we decided to stick with it even though we mostly did it in the hopes that Erik would settle better at home and it’s arguable whether he does or not with extra exercise.
My rule of thumb is that when I’m looking at breed exercise requirements, I find the highest estimate and double it and figure that’s about the amount of exercise they will probably want. I did that with my current breeds before I got them and ended up almost doubling it again before we found the happy place we were looking for. I don’t know what to make of all this. I bet Trisha that if we tested Willie’s cognitive bias right now we’d find he was feeling pretty pessimistic. But let’s say nothing changes and we tested his CB again in two months time. My guess is that he would be optimistic again. He would get used to it. So that leaves this really curly welfare question. If we have an animal that is optimistic, and then we change their environment and then we switch them back to the previous environment and find out that they are pessimistic, does that mean the environment where they were originally optimistic but are now pessimistic actually represents poor welfare? Or perhaps to make it sound less dramatic, a depauperate environment that isn’t terribly stimulating to be in? I feel like we find ourselves on a very slippery slope. I think we would have trouble in western civilisation where dogs are kept in houses or yards most of the time while their owners work providing enough stimulation for most dogs that if we dropped it back a bit they would actually feel better rather than worse. What does that mean? Is it okay to bring their stimulation down until they have nothing to do and just drift into a kind of stasis? My guess is they are still going to be happy, but my guess is also that if we provided a more stimulating environment they would be happier still. Where does that leave us? For me, it leaves me picking Nordic herders that don’t need massive amounts of exercise and stimulation and trying to create an environment and exercise routine where they are satiated. Good luck to me! I’ve already come to the unhappy realisation that my Vallhund doesn’t really belong on a boxy suburban block. There’s just not enough for him to see and do, here. He needs somewhere he can lie in the sun and fresh air and smell things and hear things and see what they are. We’re working on that. In the meantime, I do what I can for him, knowing I put a lot more time, effort, and thought into trying to meet his needs than most other people would. It’s one of those situations I don’t really know how to feel about. It’s not like these under-exercised dogs are miserable, or even unhappy. But somehow I think it’s unfair to them to condition them to cope with less stimulation and activity than they would naturally look for.
jane says
I think it depends on the exercise and on the dog :). My Gsd/BSD is very worky. If I take him for an on or off lead walk or play fetch with him he gets very wound up, even after an hour of that kind of exercise and comes home over the top, so much so that I can’t do that before I leave the house to work or he would destroy the place. If I put him on the treadmill for 30 minutes at a good trot he is fine to be left, he is also fine if I do training for food or give him some interactive toys or bones. Part of it is that darn on/off switch, it’s getting better but it is not good enough yet. So for him it’s not the physical exercise I think but the emotional wound up ness (my isn’t that a rubbish way of putting it but still..)The excitement of potential new things on walks and the obssesion with the ball keys him up to a level that just doesn’t occur on the treadmill (although he does ADORE his treadmill) and it is this that causes him to be wound up for hours afterwards, rather than the exercise.
jackie says
It makes sense to me. The thing my dog is most likely to do after a nice walk is go zoomies round the garden…
But… right now he is more like Willie. He has just been diagnosed with possible discospondylitis. He has been lying around snoozing a lot for the last couple of weeks being LESS reactive to things than usual. I hadn’t taken him to the vet because I assumed that if he was ill/in pain he would be MORE reactive – I was wrong. He’s now on restricted walks so it’ll be interesting to see if he gets even more snoozy/unreactive.
It’s been quite nice having a dog that doesn’t try to eat visitors but now that I know why he’s been so good I’m keen to have him back to his usual snarly self!
Frances says
I’m so glad Willy is doing well, and finding the crate rest less of an ordeal than you’d feared.
There is an interesting post on this subject over on Dogstar Daily: http://www.dogstardaily.com/blogs/no-more-play-keeps-adrenaline-bay
I know myself that I used to believe that I needed the pressure and excitement of working – until I stopped (mainly because of the stress), and discovered the joy of simply being! I suspect many – if not all – high drive dogs are showing signs of stress, and can become exercise junkies. I chose small dogs deliberately to match my own preferred walking distance (10 mile hikes are NOT my cup of tea!), and our walks are relaxed affairs – off leash, along paths and river banks, with an occasional dash for the dogs after a rabbit or squirrel. 45 minutes or so twice a day, plus short bursts of playing in the garden and the house, and they are cheerful and relaxed the rest of the time. Too much additional stimulation (visitors, training days, anything too stressful) and they are get like fractious, over tired children by bedtime.
Mind you, I have seen descriptions of papillons that say they need less than 30 minutes exercise a day … no wonder toy dogs have a reputation for being yappy and demanding!
Donna Brown says
I admire all of you who have such active dogs! I have multiple Irish Wolfhounds, and they are pretty dormant in the house. Outside, they love to gallop and run, but are always quite willing to stop and go in, where they drop like they have been shot and are not heard from again. You have to take them out and walk with them to get them to move, they have a dog door but are perfectly happy to stay quietly indoors. Sometimes they will not even get up when people come over. I have noticed that if they are not exercised, they will begin to eat less, and their appetite picks up when they resume their walks. I confess I enjoy their undemanding ways, but I have to make the effort to exercise them to keep them the athletes that they can be, rather than the couch potatoes we would all be otherwise.
trisha says
Such important points about surgery exhausting the body and that healing takes a lot of energy. Thanks for that reminder. it’s one of the things I thought I “knew,” but don’t think I’ve paid enough attention to this time. Gotta run right now, more later, but thanks for all the comments so far, fascinating…
Shalea says
Comments about more exercise just conditioning a dog more remind me so much of my first greyhound. Like most greyhounds, he was a rug in the house UNLESS he hadn’t been for a nice long walk recently enough, and if he hadn’t been somewhere he could run full out recently enough a long walk may or may not have been sufficient. But Larson-pup really, really enjoyed both running and walking/hiking more than pretty much anything else in this world.
My current greyhound is blind so off-lead running is out regardless, but personality-wise, just doesn’t seem to actually enjoy physical activity. He loves mental stimulation (walks in new places, dinner from a Kong Wobbler, training), but just doesn’t seem to enjoy physical activity for the sake of activity. He wants to keep walking if we’re going somewhere new, but seems to think that more laps around the neighborhood are boring and will generally ask to go home instead. (He does get enough activity to be physically fit — his weight and muscle condition are excellent.)
All of that said, I’m very much more used to what Donna Brown describes with her wolfhounds than the energy levels that all of y’all with your working dogs have to deal with. 🙂
Jeff says
LOL, I had to laugh thinking about this. I walked into a gas station sunday night to get milk. I didn’t think any thing of it. The lady at the counter looked at me and said, man you look like had a hard day. Which I didn’t, I just wore out my two labs, 1 year old and 3 year old. They were worn out to the point they wanted bed and they slept a full 10 hours before they decided they needed to go out. My labs usually get a half hour to 45 min walk first thing in the morning with a little playing before I go to work. Unfortunately they spend most of the day couped up and sleeping usually. I do come home for an hour at lunch and eat and play but then back to work for me. However when I get home, we do a walk or run or bike ride, maybe swimming. Then we eat then we do some structured play like learning and let everything digest. Then it is out to play in the snow or catch or something else.
However, this weekend on Sunday as it got so hot, we started at 5:00 a.m. getting up and just running around that early. I loaded up the smoker to let ribs and everything cook for 8 hours. We then went hiking in the woods, up hills and trails and down to the creek where they chased fish. Home again to check the ribs and get breakfast. after digestion the toys came out it was tug of war them against each other me against them. Then the sun was finally burning off the dew. I got out my bike and they were right there by my side so we went for a 20 minute bike ride. Came home everyone got ice water. Outside of course as a lab bobbing for ice cubes makes a terrible mess. I figured they would want to nap but they were ramped up and staring at me from the deck like whats next. So we did some structured learning for a while. Which failed miserably after the younger lab grabbed my full bottled water and decided to play keep away with it until it punctured then he decided it tasted pretty good. We then destroyed a toy, but we all had to really work at it, but we killed it. By then it was getting warm so as a teaser I filled up the kiddy pool for them to play in while I attended to the smoker. After they were cooled down and soaking wet we finally rested a bit and relaxed out on the deck. Which that piece and quiet was rudely interrupted when a suicidal chipmunk jumped up on on the deck. So then it was time to take them down to the pond and just let them go nuts. After an hour of swimming back up to the house to get hosed off and brushed cause they smelled like the pond. Then the ribs were done along with fresh smoked pigs ears for the boys and some pupcicles I call them. Frozen canned dog food treats. Followed by more wrestling then another walk. Back inside and playing with toys and finally after they had their supper they were beat tired. Thats when I got them around for a car ride to the gas station to get milk. Not thinking I hadn’t changed my clothes out of now extremely dirty and dingy gray sweat pants and t shirt since 5 a.m.
I like to think thats a good day for labs. I have a new goal this summer, now that the one is a year old and can do some more strenuous stuff, to hike in every State park here in Michigan within a 2 hour drive. Anyway everyone tells me I have the calmest sweetest labs they have ever met. I look at it this way. I am 40, when I do not eat right and do not get regular exercise, I feel it. More importantly I do not like that feeling. When I exercise I feel better both mentally and physically, I am happier and more outgoing and friendly, people I work with have even commented to me that I seem to be in a much better mood etc. Only I know it is because of regular exercise. I figure dogs are probably pretty much the same. Exercise is healthy. A good steady amount then every now and then just have a day of all out fun and games, for no other reason than you can and you want to and it is fun. Labs are also work dogs, they were bred for that, primarily to help drag fishing nets out of water. So I do put them to work as well. Like I put in 32 bags of mulch here a couple weekends ago. It took me longer, but my boys helped me. I put down a tarp, throw a bag of mulch on it and grab it and then encourage them to grab the tarp as well and then help me drag it to the spot. I thank them dump the mulch and go back for another bag. The one year old is learning, but the 3 year old totally gets it, he helps me drag leaves on the tarp and stuff in the fall. They really do seem to enjoy it, like they have purpose they seem to be more proud when they work like this. They just seem satisfied and more attentive than if they were just going for a walk. So anytime I am working in the yard and can put the tarp to use it comes out.
Barb says
I do agree. My ancedotal experience says, the more exercise a dog gets, the more he/she thinks should happen! And I do think that the energy level varies with the breeds. PWDs tend to have energy.
My ten year old had several surgeries as a puppy, resulting in a non-consecutive five months of crate rest. Anyway, as a puppy, as soon as he was out of pain from hip dysplasia, he was ready to play! Or at least move. So it was tricky.
My current 10 month old puppy and I had occasion to do an unexpected five mile walk several days ago to retrieve a vehicle. The pup did well and I was surprised how well I did. I also was thinking to myself, “This walk should be good for at least the rest of the day!” My puppy came home, rested for about a half hour, and started coming around to me, wondering if I had another adventure planned!
Amanda says
I think you’re on to something.
I have always had traditionally “athletic” breeds — Jack Russells and Airedales — and yet with the exception of ONE dog, all were couch potatoes. My first JRT (now 10) is the ultimate lazy dog, but she certainly knows how to work. She just doesn’t waste any energy when I haven’t asked her to work, which I love about her. I would clone her if I could.
For my dogs, the best exercise has been mental and physical combined (like agility or hunting). I know that I got what I bargained for with a “working”-type breed, and I expected it. But I did wonder why I had great results with my dogs and the dog owners I worked with had hyper dogs after the daily walk! It’s like you couldn’t wear the dogs out!
I have recently learned that the physical exercise threshold of a working dog is much higher than I anticipated. I took up running over a year ago, and in an effort to exhaust my impossibly bad male JRT (appropriately named Rascal) I began taking him with. His first time out he ran, without stopping, for 2.5 miles and didn’t seem fazed. Granted, he’s moderately in shape, but he had never been out on a run before!
My “regular” runs now consist of 4 miles 3-4 times per week… and I’ve reached the point where my dog is genuinely tired in a happy but not exhausted way (and hey, he actually pants!). 4 MILES. At his fast trot pace, that’s approximately 44 minutes. For an 18 lb dog. Needless to say, winter made me want to poke out my eyes as he was driving me nuts since we weren’t putting in at least 10 miles per week. Yikes!
em says
Anecdotally, I can attest that healthy dogs dogs kept sedentary can seem quiet, but I’d argue that they are not living the life that they’d choose, given an option. We recently adopted a second dog, “inherited” from a family member who had to move. This dog is a working breed mix (rottie/gsd/?) who was accustomed to almost zero exercise. Seriously. Almost zero. She was tied out in a backyard much of the day and spent the rest of her time curled in a ball on her dog bed. She seemed quiet, though my family member described her as moody, nervous, sensitive, inclined to slink away and hide at a raised voice or a sudden movement and exciting events (visitors, mostly) put her into an absolute frenzy of whining, wagging, jumping, spinning, etc. She pulled like crazy on the leash and also had a habit of dashing out the door and bolting. She was on the extreme end of the gap between energy and activity, but for most dogs, twenty minutes of limited activity a day IS basically nothing, and is likely more frustrating than satisfying.
I don’t recognize that dog at all. Otis’ schedule of two hours of daily exercise was physically difficult for her at first, but she adjusted to it staggeringly fast. She’s actually naturally higher energy than Otis and by the second week, she was running circles (literally) around him as we took our walks. It took nearly that first month, but I could almost watch the frustration and anxiety drain out of her. I’ve never seeen the moodiness or the hiding, and while she can be very slightly hand shy and a little bit soft, certainly more so than Otis, it’s not at all extreme. (Otis may be part of it. They love each other already and he generally defers to and encourages her, which seems to boost her confidence tremendously.)
While many factors are in play (a quiet home, a good diet, a consistent schedule, a stable canine companion), a lot of her improvement is related to exercise and stimulation, I believe. Daily off-leash walks, complete with running, tracking down wildlife, wading in the creek, clambering through the woods and interacting with dogs and people from outside the home just seems to better satisfy her physical and mental needs. She may have been quiet before, but now she is actually PEACEFUL, sprawled at my feet, or with her head in my lap, much calmer and seemingly comfortable, confident and happy.
Otis may have exercised himself to a higher activity level than is typical in great danes, but typical of great danes, he goes out for our big early morning walk/play and totally crashes for the next seven hours. He’s not physically exhausted, he CAN get up and remain active throughout the day, he just doesn’t need or like to. He’ll get up for a bit of play and a short walk in the evening, then back to resting up for bedtime.
The difficult thing is separating exercise and mental stimulation, since for many dogs, they are wrapped up in the same activity. For Otis at least, our walks are not very physically challenging, three or four miles cross country…he could do much more. Sandy works a little harder, she’s more likely to dash back and forth across the ‘bubble of closeness’ that the dogs stay in as we move along the trail, but she’s higher energy to begin with and far from exhausted when we finish. Intense play with each other or with other dogs is more physically demanding (wrestling is hard work), but seems to be more exciting than calming. I’ve found the best result to come from a combination of the two (like so many other commenters, I find that my dogs like to wrestle and play at the END of their trail walk, once the serious business of travel and exploration is taken care of), but if they can only have one or the other, a walk with no play does them more good than play with no walk.
Beck says
When my pup was recovering from ACL surgery at age 3, I was really worried she would be more hyper than other people’s dogs, and I too got the ::rolleyes:: from the vets…. but a funny thing happened- (and I know this isn’t a problem for dog parents who literally write books for the rest of us…) but I actually became consistent at lengthening down-stays and loose-leash walking at a slow pace. I mean, I couldn’t not be- it would have been dangerous for her health. I got a halti, refused to move fast, and refused to move at all under any leash tension. I refused to give her attention until she was laying down, and then I only gave her long slow relaxing pets, belly rubs etc. I learned to be calm and so did my dog. By the end of her crate confinement, we had even succeeded in learning a laying-down version of reverse fetch- where my dog would fling the ball with just her jaws, and I would grab it and give it back to her. All this to say that by the time it was all done- between not wanting to tear her other ACL, loose leash walking, and discovering mental exercise- I learned that 10 minutes of beserk Kong is enough in hot weather, 20 minutes in cold weather. Between that we hang out, walk around the house, and maybe take one walk a week. She’s no border collie, but prior to learning an “off” switch- she was the most beserk dog I’ve ever met. She’s still exuberant, and lightning fast- but can chill too. Kinda cool.
Beth says
Hmmm, interesting.
First, I would concur that part of Willie’s calmness is probably exhaustion from what sounds like a pretty demanding surgery. He was also on restrictions for some time before that, so he has undoubtedly lost condition.
I agree that 30 minutes is just getting most dogs started, and I have one who will grab the leash and ggrrrr and tug it when he realizes we are heading home if he hasn’t gone far enough. If we are trying a very short walk because, say, it’s 90 degrees out, he’ll try to head off (on leash) in the direction of a longer walk and pretend he doesn’t hear us or feel the leash tugs. You can almost see him saying “La-la-la” to himself and doing the doggie equivalent of sticking his fingers in his ears, til finally he gives a huge sigh and turns dejectedly towards home. This dog can go on a hike for hours, take a power nap and then start dropping tennis balls at our feet.
I also agree though that giving more and more exercise just increases the dog’s fitness and can lead to self-fulfilling prophesies (My dog needs to run 5 miles every day or she’s crazy). I know for a fact that fit horses will pop their buttons when they first come out of the stall and often need to be worked for some time before they settle down enough to perform well. The same horse out of condition because of a layup behaves entirely differently and doesn’t need so much work to settle. So I think there is a happy medium. If one does not want to spend years exercising a dog for three hours a day, then one should not start doing that to begin with. I have the greatest respect for all of you who walk an hour and a half with your dogs and then play another hour. I really do. But I leave for work at 7:45 and get home at 5:15. I need to make dinner, clean the house, tend the garden, and occasionally do something fun in that 5 hours between home time and bed time. If I spent 3 hours a day exercising my dogs, I would have an hour and forty-five minutes to make supper and tend to everything else in my life. And, honestly, that is just not going to happen, ever.
As far as crated dogs being quiet dogs, again it depends on the reason for crating. When my fit five-year-old bitch got spayed (she was spayed so late because she was bred once before we got her), she was quiet as could be. Didn’t want to move. Didn’t even want to go out to potty. And then two days went by. She felt better, she started going bonkers. I’d leash her up to take her out to go up to the end of the block and back, and the dog with the nicest leash manners you ever did see would hit the end of her leash, trying her best to run. She had so much pent-up energy she practically crackled. Keeping her quiet for just two weeks til her stitches healed was very difficult. She normally doesn’t play much with other dogs, but if we let her loose in the house for even a couple minutes she’d immediately start wrestling with our other Corgi. So yes she was quiet when she felt awful, but as soon as she felt better she was ready to pop her buttons.
If I ever again know in advance I’ll have a dog laid up, I’ll gradually reduce exercise over a period of a few weeks to get the dog out of condition just a bit before the lay-up.
Jennifer Hamilton says
I suspect it has a lot to do with breed trait selection. Some breeds were bred for a full day of steady work i.e. endurance marathons (huskies) and some breeds were bred for short bursts of heavy work i.e. power sprinting (malmutes). For example, I see many herding dogs who can go all day with little issue. I also see other breeds like Rhodesians, Great Danes, etc, who are perfectly content after short bursts of activity. I see the same with my own dogs…the Portuguese Water Dog prefers to work steady all day, while the two Dobermans have short bursts of activity followed by long naps in the sun. At nine, my PWD is much more active than my Dobermans are at 5 and 2.
jackie says
So – how do you tell the difference between ‘quiet’ and ‘peaceful’?
I’m partly asking because there seems an tendency for positive trainers to prescribe limited walks for reactive dogs, on the grounds that they are getting too stressed by seeing too much scary stuff and need to reduce their adrenaline levels. I would certainly say my dog is more relaxed and happy this way, but maybe I’m fooling myself and he’s just ‘quiet’.
I think that if I could take him for loooong walks in places where we definitely wouldn’t meet any other dogs/people, it probably would benefit him, but there isn’t anywhere like that round here.
suenosdeuomi says
My little Yorkie/Poodle/Maltese gets to run 12 miles off lead up in the mountains with an athlete that comes and picks him up 3 times a week. Counting the chasing of goddess-knows-what he may run as much as 20 miles. He has that instinct to be on the forefront exploring. My maybe Wheaton/Poodle-something mix is now prohibited from running and down to easy meandering. I hope her symptoms are not chronic as in hipdysplasia, but rather a temporary strain. It took me a while to recognize that something was wrong with my girl. Both are only 5 1/2 years old. Being one to never feel it being enough myself I would walk my first dog, my girl in the first week of our cohabitation for 5-7 hours. 11 months old it was only after 7 hours that her legs splashed out and she showed genuine tiredness. I meander between 1 1/2 and 3 hours daily with my dogs, a lot of it on several open, varied acres that make up our dog park. I would also take my pups along on bike on errands and give them as much stimulation and variation that I can provide, as I feel often sorry for them to have to be on lead all the time downtown and living with me only, in a tiny home their choices are rather limited. The physical and psychological transformation from my 11 months old puppy from the pound to my mature 5 year old dog astounds me. Best of wishes to Willie.
AnneJ says
I occasionally have had to crate rest dogs, and mine did tend to get a little nutty after a week or so- they didn’t at first, but as the activity limitation wore on they barked more, chewed on their fur in spite of having chew toys, and attempted to thrash around like crazies when they went out to potty. They are all Aussies.
Normally they get a lot of play time- the younger dogs get several hours when they race around chasing each other, they get to herd sheep, play ball and go for off leash pasture walks. The older dogs spend a lot of time lying under my chair though. I’m thinking 4-5 years is when they tend to start demanding less running time. Although I have a 9 year old and a 7 year Aussie who still need a lot of activity to be happiest.
I was thinking of Sprite when you said just enough activity to wake them up. She is only 2 but she spends at least 8 hours of the day sleeping upside down in a chair or on the couch. She works sheep every other day at least and is in good shape. Yesterday I was mowing the lawn and she and the other pups were wrestling and chasing for a good half hour. Then Sprite suddenly got the zoomies and was just going top speed around the yard- the other pups all had tongues hanging out and were barely chasing her. Sprite was in zoom mode though.
Beck says
Reading all these very different accounts of dog energy levels- I think J Hamilton is right about breed differences… my dog may be exuberent (all 85 lbs of her) but there’s no way she could keep up with the Yorkie mix who heads 12 miles up a mountain 3 days a week. Unless she was chasing the Yorkie, but that’s another story, and is the reason no one would let her off leash on a mountain. Ever.
trisha says
Well, I started writing responses to all the great comments here and ended up writing for so long I am going to post it as a blog post! But thanks for the discussion so far, it’s been stimulating and important I think to remind us not to categorize “exercise” as being one thing and one thing only.
kate says
Jackie — I hear you. We have an extremely reactive border collie. He gets very stressed by loud noises and lots of stimulation; so much so, in fact, that he flat-out refuses to go for walks in our neighborhood. We literally have to drive him to a (not crowded) park and walk him there. We don’t even walk him for exercise, it’s more for mild stimulation and desensitization (in vicinity of people/dogs/activity/noise, but not too close). We do some training there whenever possible.
We have worked extremely hard (but at the same time, not hard enough) to train him in obedience, and have a great trainer who has prescribed, as others have touched on, both mental and physical exercise to keep him (and us) happy. She advises at least 2 hours of exercise and/or interactive play time. I don’t think we’ve hit that, but we’re trying. What we do:
– Walks in the park
– Frisbee at the dog park in the morning
– Tug, fetch, games in the house and yard
– Obedience training EVERYWHERE (home and away, and even short trips to PetSmart, PetCo)
– All meals are delivered via some kind of ball/dispenser toy. This is a great tip from our trainer.
– He doesn’t get attention from us or anyone else unless is calm. Also a great tip from our trainer. You would not believe what a difference this has made.
Still, we have a lot of issues that we hope to work through (like crazy berserk fence chasing and barking). Once he’s 18 months old (per our vet), I hope to take him running.
Alicia Graybill says
I just wanted to point something out. Mental exercise is far more exhausting to your dog than physical exercise. I tell my students that if they absolutely cannot get their dogs out for their regular exercise, they must do at least 20 minutes of training (obedience, tricks, agility, scentwork, whatever.) I’ve seen very hyper herding breeds, who can’t get enough physical exercise, collapse into a deep restful sleep when given a serious round of some sort of mental exercise. If you talk to handlers of K9 officers, you find that their dogs are always wound up but after some good solid training, they tend to be more relaxed. Maybe that’s why Willie’s so calm.
BTW, hope the boy’s feeling better soon. You need help with those pointy-hooved demons.:)
Laura says
what a fascinating post! My boyfriend and I were just asking ourselves similar questions about the role of exercise. We have a 5 month old vizsla puppy and the Texas spring is absolutely beautiful and really caters to tons of exercise. Now that we are having 100+ degree days, I’ve noticed a huge decline in my pup’s energy & I had been wondering if it was due to the climb in temperature, but it’s such an interesting point– that maybe he’s much more calm because of a decline in exercise. We are having to be creative and besides taking him swimming as often as possible, we’re doing a lot of indoor training & mental exercises (having him figure out how to open doors with ropes in order to get to the treat on the other side).
Teri- I noticed your comment about getting a vizsla pup in august. While the first month or two was very challenging (my first dog), the beauty of the vizsla is its desire to learn & please. It makes training an absolute joy. I’d be happy to share tidbits of things we’ve learned & ways we’ve found to exercise/stimulate his mind. So many people warned me about the high-strung nature of vizslas, but watching them play and discover has really taught me a new kind of joy that I hadn’t felt in a long time. As mentioned in this post, you can teach them to settle down and because they are so social, they can very quickly learn that if they sit pretty or lie down, good things come to them. It’s such a wonderful journey!
Cara says
To Trish and everyone posting comments, I have a question: how do you keep a dog from getting “bored” with his exercise routine?
Due to limitations imposed by where we live (exurbs, no sidewalks, dangerous roads) and gas prices (REALLY don’t want to drive to go for a walk!), our dearly-departed Roscoe used to get, I think, so BORED with walking our same 2 acre property/trail 2 or 3 times every day that, eventually, we’d take him out, and he’d just SIT. And look at us. Like, “Really? This is the best you can do?”
Now, we’re helping to care for our neighbor’s aging lab mix, and he’s beginning to react exactly the same way. We don’t know if it’s weight, aging, summer heat, a combination of those 3, or boredom with his activity options.
When you are limited by location, safety, finances, or anything else, and your dog just gets disinterested in the activities that you CAN offer — how can you arouse their interest in participating in what has become routine? How do you keep them interested? Do we just have to bite the bullet and chauffer them to new and interesting places, gas prices be damned? (Or do we have to move?) Or have I just answered my own question?
AnneJ says
I get more bored of walking the same places than my dogs do, so we do drive to new places to walk a few times a week. Even just a short drive can take you to some new scenery, even if it means a leash is needed because there is not an off leash park.
Erin Bessey says
I’m a bit behind in reading posts but I found this particular blog useful. I work at a vet clinic and we often get dogs that have torn their cruciate ligaments. When our Dr.s recommend strict cage rest, especially if surgery isn’t an option immediately, I believe they are often discouraged. I might reference your experience to help give them a glimmer of hope that this won’t be as bad as they are expecting. But when you relate it to us, the lazier we are the harder it is for us to get up and get motivated and the less energy we have, also can happen to our dogs. Unfortunately I don’t think most people are as compliant as you are with the cage rest. If only they would truly understand it is for the benefit of their dog.
Jen says
Will someone please tell my 8 year old sheltie that after 3 weeks of crate rest (with 5 to go) for IVDD he should now be this nice calm dog and not a crazed beast who leaps and spins and screams in rage?
Dixie Tenny says
Five years on, this remains one of my all-time favorite discussions of dogs and exercise. I have just sent it privately to a friend whose dog must stay quiet for several months while on heartworm medication, and also posted it to my business Facebook page, Human-Animal Learning Opportunities. I’m afraid that this is yet another way in which a certain CM has done a number on the American dog-owning public and their pets: by encouraging those with energetic dogs to get them outside and give them more exercise to calm them down. I’m afraid the most common interpretation of that for most people is to walk the dog (pulling and gasping ahead of its owner) around the block every day, instead of once or twice a week. At least that is the message my neighbors seem to have gotten.