Some of the recent posts have brought up the question that many of us live with on a daily basis: how much training and attention do our dogs need every day? I get asked this a lot, and as I wrote in my essay in Tales of Two Species, I suspect that there’s another fundamental question driving it (she says, speaking from experience). How much exercise, training and attention do our dogs need for us not to feel guilty? Fess up, don’t you sometimes wonder if you are doing enough for your dog, and don’t you sometimes feel guilty about not doing as much as you should?
I am sure that many of the people reading this blog will say no, they don’t feel guilty, and for good reason. I know that many of you take your dog out to classes several nights a week, take long walks in the country with them twice a day, teach them new tricks on a daily basis and cuddle with them all night long. But I suspect that many of the readers are more like me: sometimes feeling pleased about the physical and mental exercise we’re providing for our dogs, other times feeling guilty and inadequate.
For example, yesterday was not a good day for Willie. First off, he’s on exercise restrictions: leash walks only outside, no toy or ball play outside, no sheep herding, limited play inside, no running up the stairs. Secondly, I was on campus much of the day, so he spent from 11 am to 6 pm in his crate. It’s rare he’s in his crate for longer than 4-5 hours at a time, but life isn’t always the video tape I thought I rented. I would’ve felt guiltier if I’d been getting a massage and eating chocolate all day long, but still, I didn’t like it.
I was also slammed with the grant reviews I’m doing for NIH, so I spent most of the morning and part of the evening glued to my desk. All Will got beyond times to go outside and potty was heeling to the barn and back twice (which gets him lots of treats, and he seems to love), another heeling session when I got home (I’ve tried for 5 times a day–only managed it some of the days since I committed…), a small amount of trick training, and a long cuddle time in the evening with lots of belly rubs from me or Jim. Not a great day by a long shot.
But Wednesday? Oh, happy day for Willie. A 45 minute long walk in the country (on leash, but lots of good new smells) 5 sessions of heel work with lots of treats in 3 different contexts, interactive play with 2 new toys, a car ride to his chiropractor and all morning in the office with me and Denise (who he worships), lots of trick training and cuddle time at night. I went to bed feeling happy that Will had had a great day.
All this feels especially relevant because I haven’t had just one dog in decades, and I am so aware how different it is if your dog can’t play with others or entertain themselves outside. Lassie still played with Willie twice a day up to a week before she died, and the burden of ‘entertainment’ falls completely on my shoulders now. Of course, I live in the country and have sheep for Will to work, but none of that is relevant at the moment with him on leash restrictions (9 more days to go!)
So what DO our dogs need from us if they can’t entertain themselves? I remember growing up and letting our family dog, Fudge, out the door in the morning, when she’d pick up other canine companions and explore the neighborhood until we came home from school. The idea of entertaining or exercising our dog never entered our mind. But that was then, and we can’t and shouldn’t go back to it. So, here’s some thoughts about what dogs need from us–I look forward to hearing your thoughts too.
PHYSICAL EXERCISE: Yes, dogs need it, but how much varies so very much depending on the dog’s nature, age, etc etc. Just like people, dogs are simply healthier if they get in a good long walk every day, or better yet, a chance to run and romp off leash. I would love to provide some formula of how much exercise a dog needs, but it varies so much there’s no way to do it helpfully. In an ideal world, my 3 1/2 year old Border Collie would get long (45 to 90 minute) off-leash walks in the country at least 6 days a week, along with a good session working sheep, but it’s rare that happens more than 2 or 3 days a week. Ideally? I’d love it if every dog could get 2 sessions of solid exercise in every day, the definition of “solid” depending on the dog.
A few thoughts about the type of exercise that I’d be interested in your reaction to: I think some types of exercise tend to hype dogs up rather than calm them down. Ideally I think all our dogs would profit from lots of long, off leash (or long line) walks in which they aren’t fetching balls or discs or obsessing about objects in some way. One of my clients has a problematic BC who didn’t seem to be calmed after ball play, but rather hyped up by it. I’m not saying we shouldn’t play ball, or that many dogs don’t adore it (it’s Will’s absolute favorite game to play, paws down) just that some types of exercise might be more relaxing than others. I always like to see dogs have time to make their own choices and just be dogs–sniffing here, sniffing there, while performing the kind of consistent, aerobic exercise that creates relaxation in humans (think runner’s high).
MENTAL EXERCISE: This need for this kind of exercise is my favorite soap box, in the belief that many pet dogs suffer from boredom and too few chances to exercise their brains. I’ve found, as have many trainers, that learning a new trick or working on problem solving can ‘tire’ out dogs as much or more than physical exercise. One dear friend just sent Willie 2 new Ottosson toys (am I feeling SO grateful to my friends right now! What would we do without them?), and one of them has Will completely baffled. He tried to work it, couldn’t figure it out even with lots of encouragement from me, and then lay down and slept like a rock for an hour. Stressed? Absolutely, but not in a bad way I don’t think, and good for him in the long run.
All the research on neuroplasticity and brain function makes it clear that “use it or lose it’ is relevant to the brain, and that a healthy brain can lead to a healthier body. I’m reading Sharon Begley’s Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain right now–it’s another great book, and provides continuing inspiration to keep our dog’s brains busy. New tricks, new problems to solve, reviewing old training exercises little used now–surely all of these things are as good for dogs as they are for us.
NOVELTY: This is something that I don’t think many people think about it, but I think it’s crucial to a dog’s happiness and overall health. We know that novelty engages the brain in all kinds of ways that nothing else can, and leads to new connections between neurons (usually a good thing) and enhanced enthusiasm for life in general. Here’s an example: Because Will is on leash restrictions we came into town a few days ago and went on a 30 minute walk through neighborhoods that are completely new to him. Although he couldn’t go faster than a walk, he was completely engaged in new sights, sounds and smells, and slept for hours afterward. Compare that to a dog who took the same walk, same route, every day, year after year. How stimulating would that be? I’ve noticed that Will is far less engaged in our walks in the pastures above the farm house than other dogs who come to visit, and why wouldn’t that be true? Same ol’ same ol’ for him, a potpourri of smells and excitement for the newbies.
Psychologists know that experiencing novelty is one of the keys to keeping human relationships vital and preventing partners from becoming bored with each other. Why wouldn’t the same be true for us and our dogs? The good news here, and with mental exercise as well, is that a little bit of effort can have big pay offs for our dogs. You don’t need to devote an hour every evening to teaching a new trick, which provides both mental exercise and novelty. You can take your dog to a new place for 20 minutes and get the same effect as if you’d taken an hour long walk in a place that is becoming old hat. Of course, the benefits depend on many factors: a new place that is frightening to neophobic dog isn’t going to enhance your dog’s life.
FREEDOM OF CHOICE: One the books I’ve been reading on brain plasticity mentioned increased dendritic branching (connections between neurons) when caged rats were allowed to voluntarily exercise. That’s a good thing for the brain, and can lead to all kinds of positive benefits, not only enhanced mental function but also to a better ability to handle stress, for example. But here’s the kicker: there was no effect when the rats were forced against their wheel to exercise, even if it was for the same amount of time. Forced exercise may be good for physiological health, but not necessarily for a healthy brain.
I thought of this after working with someone whose dog was never off leash, and had almost no choices about what to do or when to do it in the house. Surely that’s big price to pay for having your food and medical care guaranteed. The dog (a young, sweet, soppy Golden) had begun growling at her owner when he wiped off her paws as she entered the house. The house had wall to wall white carpeting, and the dog was only allowed to lie down on a few towels scattered about. The dog’s behavior was so carefully managed that the poor thing literally had no choice about where to lie down, when to potty, where to sniff outside, and what to play with. Granted, this example is extreme, but it’s a good reminder of the value of choice. Since our dogs, most of them, are no longer able to spend considerable periods of time outside on their own, we need to be creative to find ways to let them manage their own lives for part of the day.
Speaking of our own dogs: I need to get home and get Willie some physical and mental exercise that provides novelty and choice! I could go on and on on this topic, but I’d rather hear your thoughts….
Meanwhile, back on the farm: Jim will farm sit while I’m in DC doing grant reviews on for the Nat’l Institute of Child Health and Development in NIH and appearing on the Diane Rehm show on Monday. She is a breath of fresh air, so I’m looking forward to Monday and very interested how Tuesday and Wednesday (reviews) will go. Needless to say, I can’t say anything about the grant proposals, but I can tell you that the process is interesting, exhausting and yup, novel!
Next weekend the first lambs are due! Can’t wait. Bulbs coming up (in unnaturally warm weather, is almost weird) and lambs coming. I’ll send photos of the first lambs as soon as I get them. First ones are due a week from tomorrow, Saturday the 27th.
Here’s Will with a favorite toy.. this toy has lasted for over a year, and is still one of his favorites. I love how the toy is in focus and Will’s is not. Good thing, because he looks downright crazy in this shot!
And here’s the view on the way to the farm when the snow was melting and the world was soggy with mud and melting snow and fog:
Frances says
We are very lucky in having lots of places for off-leash walks – today we went along the marsh by the coast. The dogs loved it, despite the bitter wind! I am also fortunate in having a neighbour with whom I share dog walking – she takes them all oout in the morning, I take them all out in the afternoon. I certainly struggle on the occasions that we are limited to on-leash walking – it always feels like a bit of a chore for all three of us: only worth it if there is something fun at the end. I was interested in what you say about having to entertain Willie much more now that he is an only dog, as it is one of the big differences I have found since Poppy joined us. I used to break off whatever I was doing every 40 minutes or so for a game with Sophy – once she had Poppy to play with they would happily entertain each other for hours. I realised recently however that Sophy and I were simply not having as much fun together as we used to – I was the provider of food, and walks, and treats, and access to outside, but no longer the main source of fun. Over the past few weeks I have made a conscious effort to play more silly games with each dog on their own – not just training games but romping, tugging, hide and seek, etc. It does seem to have worked – except that Sophy now once more fixes me with that “When are you going to start tap-dancing?” look when she is bored and wants entertaining!
Sharrie Brockhaus says
I miss your show on the radio, but I really enjoy the blogs entries that you write. I have two new Cardis who can reap the harvest of your advice about brain and muscle exercise. Luckily they have each other for entertainment and exercise, but we work together also. Thanks.
MJ says
So glad to be able to listen to Diane on the computer. I miss her show.
Talk about fatigue. I’ve been taking my two small dogs to Governor Nelson State Park almost everyday because they plow their roads and parking lots but do not salt. It also gives the 15 yo a car ride, which is the highlight of her day. This month, as things were starting to melt we snuck down part of the x-c trail (no dogs allowed) and then down to the beach. Let’s just walk on the ice back to the boat launch, thought I. It was slushy and some standing water on top and some significant cracks. The whole time I was tiptoeing along getting more and more nervous, (there were 4 wheelers and ice fishing guys out further, surely it was ok?) the dogs were also picking their way carefully, at the walk — like they were concentrating on every step. It was nerve wracking for me. It completely wiped the dogs out. When we got home they both crashed for hours and then slept through the night. We didn’t walk all that far, but that new context of scentless ice/snow/slush/water and Mom’s holding of breath did them in. LOL
Alexandra says
I love that picture of Willie going after his toy with crazy eyes!
Ideally, my dogs would like to romp around off leash for 30 min or so when we wake up at dawn, have breakfast and a nap, have a long (60-90 min) walk preferably in the woods with a swim, nap on the way home, do a little training in agility or obedience, afternoon nap, then some sort of evening fun like another walk or off leash romp followed by dinner and cuddles. Hah! What a good life! I think I have managed this like twice in their lives.
What they actually get is a 60-90 min leashed walk almost every day, with off leash romps in a fenced yard a couple of days a week (my yard is not fenced). On weekends Copper gets to hike and swim off leash on one or two days, and Izzy gets to hike on a long line one day – I don’t do this every weekend, and I feel guilty when I don’t. My dogs spend a lot of time with me in a very structured way – training or leashed walks – and I like for them to have time to just “be dogs” and run around sniffing what they want to sniff. I am currently not doing any formal training with Izzy, which I feel guilty about, but I try to do some tricks training and brush up her obedience skills when I can. I am not very consistent with this and feel like I owe her more one-on-one time with me. Copper gets a 60 min agility class once a week plus 15ish min agility games training sessions at home 3 or 4 days a week. It does alleviate some of my sad feelings about leaving them alone for 8+ hours a day while I work since they have each other for company and also no longer need to be crated.
I do remember that when I was first taking Izzy to the professional trainer to work on her reactivity that on the way home she would collapse in exhaustion in the back of the car and sleep the rest of the day. That work was not physically demanding at all, but she was more tired than I’ve ever seen her because of the mental challenge. That trainer also talked about the importance of calming/focusing exercise like a leashed walk versus the kind that gets dogs amped up and crazy like fetching the ball or playing hard with other dogs, and that it was important to have a balance.
Teri says
You have such wonderful down to earth advice! I am very lucky to have access to lots of fabulous off-leash hiking in my area but even then make an effort to switch it up to other areas to keep us both stimulated. I find that a new area is also good for me as I am much more aware of the surroundings and interactions. I do find a small downside to all the off leash fun being that it can make me lazy with training exercises. My dog is definately one that needs to be continuously “worked” or tends to get a little full of himself. To help counter that we do a weekly drop-in outdoor group class and have done lots of tracking classes. I also take a pocketful of treats and am sure to do enough “work commands” during our off leash fun to empty the pocket :o).
I do chuckle now and then as between my younger dog’s exercise/training commitments and my older dogs chiro/ims/homeopath/slow walks it feels like I am almost a “soccer mom” but with fur kids instead.
Alexandra says
Oh, I forgot to add that I play tug and silly chase/wrestle games with the dogs just randomly when I get home from work or in the evening. I also get a big kick out of watching the two of them play together, which they do several times a day. It has been interesting to me to see that Izzy still dashes off to hunt for squirrels and bunnies as soon as she is off leash and rarely checks in with me unless we are in some place brand new and slightly scary, but Copper immediately turns to face me and gives me this doggie grin like, “Ok Mom, what are we going to do now?” I am not sure how much of that is their natural environment vs people focus, or how much was their upbringing since Izzy was a 6 month old rescue and Copper came to me at 8 weeks old from a loving breeder.
Lynn says
Poor Will, what’s up with the restricted activities? I can empathize – I have a 1-year-old Border collie who’s been on restricted activities for half his life. First it was bilateral shoulder OCD. Arthroscopic surgery cured that, but half way through the 12-week rehab period (all of it leash walk only), he started limping on his hind legs, and it turned out to be bilateral hip dysplasia. Ouch. And yeah, both his parents had been X-rayed, and yeah, we’d been careful about trauma to growing joints, and yeah, we’d been careful about diets that were too high in protein… Anyway by this point I feel I’m a near-expert in ortho issues, as well as in keeping bright and active dogs intellectually challenged. Fortunately, at this point, my pup still seems happy, loves life, still loves other dogs (despite not being allowed to play off-leash with them), and has never met a stranger. Lots of leash walks and obedience classes – especially ones where we’re encouraged to “shape” behavior, thereby allowing the dogs to figure things out for themselves – really help. But I do enjoy reading about Will’s interactive toys, as I’m always on the lookout for something new.
Best of luck for a speedy recovery for your boy!
Teri says
and to add to my other comment …. Riley’s favourite thing in the entire world is to play ball. Unfortunately it also turns his brain to total tunnel vision plus he is a large dog who plays with such gusto it is basically an injury waiting to happen. We rarely play ball unless it is in summer where it involves swimming otherwise it usually ends with me frustrated and him super hyped. Any ideas on how to manage that sort of a situation? The ball wins over any other type of rewards (food, tug, other toys etc) so basically the only way to get him to play nice involves punishment which is not good for either of us :o(.
carla says
I miss you on the radio too, that’s where i found you.
Lovely snow we are getting here in Iowa again. But should be gone in a few days.
We have 2 dogs, rat terriers seven years apart. Darcy was an only dog for about 4 months when our older dog died. She was totally conscience of being the “dog in charge” and was so serious. After we got Sophie she was more cheerful. She accepts Soph but rarely really plays with her.
I have horses, so when I am doing chores they run free. They love to hunt and sniff and chase squirrels up trees. They notice everything.
They get trick training for treats on a fairly regular basis but its mostly old tricks. “wait” has been one of the most useful for us.
We used to do a “smell it, find it” game that they enjoyed and need to get back to do that more.
Darcy is great at bobbing for hot dogs when we put a small chunk of hot dog in water and she goes for it.
On their own, they tend to lay around alot inside the house but really are constantly moving when outside.
I think I have rambled off topic and I apologize.
Look forward to hearing you on Diane Rehm’s show!
Thanks for such a great post to mull over and play with!
Wild Dingo says
I couldn’t agree more with physical (non-mental, sniff this and sniff that) excerise and mental. i have a routine (but not so routine, it changes) of training both dogs in the a.m. and doing an off leash walk at a 100 acre tree farm that the locals are all welcomed to use for dog walks. i even let my siberian off leash there. tho not the perfect recall, she’s got good pack drive and will find my gsd and me when we hide on her. i feel guilty when my training days don’t go so well and the dogs seem either uninterested, bored or in need of something new or if training is disjointed and seemingly unsastisfactory to them. typically our training is much like play as they are always trained with individually (while one stays on a down) and played with individually (with me alone) then released to play with each other after training. for anyone who “must” train two dogs and really needs them to get a little exercise playing with eachother, THIS is a great way to do it. i liken it to kids in school then let out to recess. both dogs had been in “school” (training) for 20 minutes each (one on a down and one actively working). those 20 minutes are broken up to 4 5-min sessions or 2-10 min sessions. so one dog is only down for 5-10 minutes. anyway, when both dogs are “cooked” (done training), i take their leashes off (the one on the down is always leashed in case i need to catch it from getting up), and then i give them the “release to play” and you should see them. tho they LOVE the individual mental attnetion they get from me in training and then in play, after i’m done with them, it’s like “WE’RE FREE!!!” like children at recess and they play for about 15 or 20 minutes of chase and wrestling. then we go inside for a snack or a puzzle treat/kong or bully stick. (well, i get cereal.) but it’s really a great way to train 2 dogs at the same time (1 in a passive down training)… i had to learn to train this way because my siberian would have had a nervous breakdown if not allowed to be with us. she had such tremendous separation anxiety, that even crating her, she would chew the wires or plastic and ruin her teeth. so i resorted to training a long down stay with both dogs and it’s GREAT.
in the evening we walk either on leash or off-leash 30 to 60 minutes. i’d like longer, but it’s all i can do and they have lots of time in the a.m. with me in training and play… some days longer some days shorter.
i always feel guilty when training doesn’t go so well…like i failed them to keep them mentally challenged. but i chock it up to sometimes we have good days at work and our brains work and other times not so good. I cherish the GREAT training days and move on. some days i’m too tired for a long walk and i skip it and try not to feel guilty. hey if i can get them out 5-6 days week 30-60 minutes, on top of training, i’m doing way more than most!
i love training my dogs. it such an amazing bond building experience. as much i LOVE training (and I do a LOT of training) there are some days i just can NOT get the training equipment out and instead i opt for a few games of chase or tug or just walking the property and inspecting with both dogs. I realize that if i can get mentally over-cooked in training, so can my dogs… and i give it a rest. by the time i”m ready to train again, they are WAY ready and their session is better than if i had forced the routine instead of skipping 1 or 2 days…
Jennifer Hamilton says
Wow, you just summarized my daily relationship & struggle with my dog. Only she seems to know the formula of exercise, mental challenge, choice & novelty she needs. And if I have not met it that day, she starts with a 20 minute stare down, which if not answered with an activity, is then followed by a soft whine as if she is in pain. (The whine is an understandable learned behavior from her years of surgery, real pain and total confinement…in which her cries were always met with pain killers and some kind of mental interaction with me.)
I do not feel quilty until the stare down starts. And there’s nothing more guilt-racking then the psuedo cries of pain if I stand strong through the stare down phase. It is not that I can’t tell her “that’ll do” (because she will lay on her bed and stop for awhile), my guilt stems from knowing that my dog is telling me she needs more out of life, and of me, that day and I hold the key to unlocking it for her.
There are many days when I wish my dog was like our other dog, perfectly content to cuddle and lay by my side.
Fat chance!
kate says
I remember saying that guilt is not an option in my busy life, but then I just wrote a blog post a couple days ago where I as I wrote… having had fosters for a large portion of the past year and a bit…I realized that my puppy..no longer…Keegan only had puppy class officially under his belt.
I did feel guilty for a couple sentences worth but I read an article a few years back that Pat Miller wrote for Whole Dog Journal about keeping tabs and then adding up all those little moments in the day where you share a moment with your furry pal (especially in a multi-dog household)…and really they do add up.
Plus I really do think they have it really good with me. They’re happy dogs. We do a lot of fun stuff in the name of “training” Keegan walks really well on leash, loves people, dogs, plays some frisbee, ball, did an agility workshop learning how to shape behaviours with me last spring…so all in all he has is really good.
Mind you I also signed him up for a class an gave myself one year free from committing to foster. Time to rejuvenate.
Personally I’d prefer a lot of little special moments, mix things up then to have to look forward to one chunk and wait for it everyday.
For my guys (add two beagles to the Aussie) they get kongs stuffed with peanut buttered toast and smushed banada kongs, a morning pee-mail walk and then romp in the yard before I leave for work or even if I work from home. Then special moments during the day, another hike, this time away from home in the evening for all of us to get rid of some steam, 45 min – 1 or more hours all depends on the weather. Last night we hiked and goofed around for 1 1/2 hrs because there was still daylight!
Most of their interaction is a mixture of play, walking, “training”.
I’ll play games with them things that are either shaping in nature or new cues. Last night I worked on the difference between “sniff”, “target” and “take it” in 20 sec intervals while making dinner in between. It was neat to see they knew it.
I’m a big fan of playing emotional self control games between chopping veggies or stirring while they chill in their open kennels in the kitchen.
I’m slowly working on only having dog beds but with my adolescent Aussie… having the crates is an easier management tool and for some reason, it’s easier for him to respect that once he’s chilling out there, with door open…he can just relax instead of pacing … pacing …a herding dog habit?
After dinners we all just normally chill.
Weekends we hike, go into the city to visit, or I’ll mountain bike with my Aussie.
Life’s full of stress as it is…if there’s a way to make things more fun, laugh, beam with delight, I’ll choose that route any day.
kate says
I’d like to add that I really think the word “training” doesn’t do justice to the fact that we’re basically learning how to communicate. And that communication is a two way street.
To me when I say “training’ or “teaching” or “learning cues” it’s more about finessing our own language, getting our groove on…me and my dogs.
Also, I would definitely find it hard not to feel guilty if I had a one dog household.
Pike says
Hahaha – love the picture of toy crazed Willie – what a great shot!
As to exercise and training and that guilt feeling:
More often than not, I feel that my dogs do indeed get enough physical exercise, attention, novelty and entertainment – while I am not equally dedicated to formal training and mental exercises for them.
Working days look something like this:
Ronja the Beahound (Beagle-Greyhound) always gets her 30-40 minute morning off leash run in different areas often with other dog playmates. During the day, it is mostly downtime, as I work in my bookstore (out of my house though – just a half door away from the pooches and the kitty in the kitchen and/or yard) and in the evening a 15 minute on-leash walk in the neighborhood. About every other day, is also play time in my yard/house with doggie friends from the neighborhood.
Thrown in, are all day or overnight stays at the “ranch” – her doggie boyfriend Denali’s house in the country or having him over at my place. Every other week she gets picked up – in an orange school bus! – for k9 adventure camp (very needed for socialization with dogs) where she goes on all day hikes in the country with a pack of ever changing dogs. True to her Greyhound half, she is a perfect couch potato during the evenings after being fed at around 6:30.
Training has become less and less structured and appears at times more like this epic struggle of wills. Ronja is so very primal and hard to change even in minute ways, that I have given up on most methods except on trying to be more smart and more patient than she is in the few areas that really, really matter to me. Oh, and, of course, to make it worth her while with freedom (absolutely the highest ranking reward), fun or treats.
Mental exercises… hmm, not much – maybe I am just afraid that she could become any smarter than she already is.
Sparky, the Portie, just turned 15 and is too old to go on our usual walks. Breathing troubles (laryngeal paralysis) and spinal degeneration notwithstanding, he quite clearly wants his slow morning sniff-and-mark walks around the corner to the bakery or his slow beach outings and also his evening strolls up the street. Other than that, he is quite content to snooze most of the time – just as long as it includes at least half an hour in the yard – no matter how cold, windy or rainy.
Is it enough?
For Sparky, I think yes. Over our 14 years together, we have formed a comfortable relationship where, more often than not, all seems just perfectly right. Is it enough for Ronja? Well no – as we have not even come close to that wonderful place – but we are both working on it and one day we will hopefully get there – if for no other reason than having a very close bond… despite all our troubles and frustrations with each others shortcomings.
Kat says
Somewhere, in one of the multitude of training books I’ve read, I remember reading that we owe our dogs a minimum of three enriching activities per day. Enriching activities were defined as training sessions, walks, car rides, going somewhere new, ball play and socializing with other canines. Something about that resonated with me and we do pretty well meeting that minimum standard. Actually, we generally exceed it by quite a bit but as long as I can count three I don’t beat up on myself. My goal is one physical, one mental and one novel as a daily minimum but some days it’s all physical, more often a physical (he gets at least one and usually two walks per day, plus a trip to the dog park) and mental (scattered training throughout the day) the novel is a little harder to provide consistently but we try.
I was intrigued by what you said about dogs having no choice. That’s one of the things that’s bothered me all along about the canine companions of some of the professional dog trainers I know; the dogs don’t seem to have any freedom to choose. “Choose” was one of the first cues Ranger learned. My daughter wanted to know which treats he preferred and would hold one in each hand and ask him to choose, the treat he sniffed is the one he got to eat. This led to other opportunities to choose. He sleeps outside by his choice and in the morning when I’d go in to take him for a walk we’d play ball for a few minutes before leashing him up and going for our walk. One day out of curiosity after a few minutes of ball playing I held the ball in one hand and the leash in the other and asked Ranger to choose. He picked the leash and we went for a walk. Next day I repeated the experiment and he chose the ball and we played ball; when I put the leash down and threw the ball again it was like a light bulb went on over his head, no longer was he solely at the mercy of the humans about what he got to do when– he could choose. Now, sometimes, when we’re playing ball he’ll leave the ball and go to the gate casting meaningful looks, “it’s time for walking now.” I firmly believe that having that freedom to choose is a major contributor to his good manners and his great intelligence. He’s not just some puppet waiting for commands to animate him but instead he’s free to be the thinking being he is.
And finally something I’ve noticed at the dog park since a couple of us have started actively training there. When I call Ranger and ask for a behavior I’ll often have several dogs come running over and offering that behavior usually a beat or two behind his offer as the other dogs watch to figure out the cue and response. In a couple of repetitions I can usually have the dogs doing it in sync. It’s pretty entertaining to watch four (my personal best) very different breeds of dog doing synchronized sits, stands and downs. Although I do hand out treats (with permission of course) I think the dogs are doing it not so much for the treats as because it’s fun to “study” with someone else. It’s the mental challenge of figuring out a different set of cues or watching to figure out unfamiliar behaviors. And I enjoy the challenge of getting a variety of dogs some of whom are entirely new to me to perform in synchronization. It’s a win win.
Emily says
Love that shot of Will, our local pet store sells those toys.
I’ve always maintained that Mick, my not-quite two-year-old Brittany, would be an appalling disaster of a dog in most homes. Mick gets out four times a day, at least two of those times are running hard and “working”, which for him is playing fetch, off-leash. This doesn’t include the twice-daily romps/wrestle sessions with the neighbour’s Golden Retriever in our yard. I incorporate most of our training into our outings, but additional sessions of trick training are very common in our day.
For him this is enough to keep him happy. He rarely sleeps during the day, and if anyone opens the door he’s up and ready to go again! Fortunately he settles into a satiated slumber in the evenings (and tomorrow the whole routine will start anew!). If we are lax in his routine he shows his boredom very clearly, either through bugging us incessantly (his favourite trick is poking people with his nose) or “redecorating” (i.e. destroying) the living room.
The area I feel I have been most behind in is novelty. I don’t have a driver’s license, so it’s difficult for me to take him new places.
Deb says
This post has me feeling both guilty and hopeful. I have two mini-aussies, Zoe who is 5 and Charlie 2, who have lots of energy. Sadly, by the time I get home from my full-time job where I’m on my feet most of the day I have little energy for them. Our exercise is postponed to the weekend. I do take them to the local high school field for off-leash frisbee fun but last weekend, because of the mud-factor, we just walked around the field. After the first few minutes of anxiously waiting for me to pull out the frisbee, they just took off running and bumping and enjoying the mud puddles and just being dogs. It was wonderful to see them just run full out. Walking them on leash is not a pleasant experience as they pull and tend to get over-excited when we see other dogs. I hope to work on that behavior, with each dog individually, this summer as I would really like to be able to walk them together again. Real training is limited to sit, wait, and down I’m afraid, though I did take the my younger aussie, Charlie, to a class last fall. It was a good experience for him and he was able to do things, like off leash heeling, that I would never have imagined. Plus being around the other dogs was beneficial too. It’s funny how he reacts on walks or at the window at home but was fine in this class. I enjoy your posts and will try to put some of your examples to use. Thanks!
Susanne Stramm says
I really enjoy reading your blog ;). My tried and true exercise on days where I am busy is the find it game, just plain and simple hide the toy in the house or yard, and then send my dog. I use your stay exercise as the start – placing the toy on the floor and stepping in between – or using my hand. The puppies get the idea right away. Using their nose and their body – there’s nothing they seem to like better. Fascinating to watch too how they always go by scent first – though I wonder if some breeds would not? (mine are Shepherds).
I am really looking forward to your seminar in Toronto this year – after years of watching you on DVD 🙂
Mimi & CC Cabana says
Thank you for this post–so many great points. Cabana used to be a guide dog puppy-in-training, and because she had such a tendency to pull on leash, we worked a lot on heeling and walking in the proper position. But now that she is career-changed (for being too dog-distracted), I’ve realized that I should have let her “be a dog” more. Now, we go on 1-2 hour long lead walks (we’re still working on a stronger recall so I can let her off leash more), and we love exploring new trails and parks. I wish I had done this with her more even when she was in training, but I was too fixated on getting her skills up to par so that she would make it as a guide dog. Perhaps my loosening up would have helped her make it a lot further than my goal-driven zeal.
I love your term “heel sessions” to the barn and back. We do the same thing, but to the mailbox, which is a few houses away from ours. It is great off-leash practice, and Cabana gets lots of treats and praise for staying next to me.
Because I work from home (my studio is in the garage), I can keep Cabana with me all day long. But I have come to realize that some separation is good for both of us and that “guilt” was making me feel like I had to keep her in the garage with me whenever I worked. Now, after a long walk in the morning, I may work for several hours in the garage and have Cabana stay in the house. She always tries to come out to the garage with me when I open the door. But I actually think we are happier and more relaxed to have the break from each other. She naps much better, and I get more work done. When I come into the house for lunch, we both feel refreshed and happy to see each other.
Holly says
this is so timely. The weather has broken for good here in PA and one of the joys I have for the warm months where I live is to take a few of my dogs to the PA Gamelands. They are huge tracts of land maintained by the PA Game Commission for hunting and conservation. I live not 10 minutes from probably 6 or 7 of them and only an hour from many more. It’s a marvelous place for dogs….wildlife, ponds, large open tracts of land, woods…..a safe playground for dogs. Yesterday and Friday I took my youngest male dog (and others) as he really needed to”just be a dog”. His recall could be far better and this is an outstanding place to work on it because I can call him, treat him and send him away again. The dogs all come home satiated and contentedly tired. I don’t hunt, but there is much deep satisfaction from watching my dogs so completely lose themselves in dog stuff. You can see photos up on the blog…..http://themares.blogspot.com/
so how much? I don’t know. What I do know is that sometimes it’s not about training, it’s about time and doing things for your dogs that are .just. for the dogs.
Linda Ward says
I am pleased to see I do a few of the things you mention – I am a dog walker, so my own dogs get to walk the same old parks, day in day out. I can give the dogs I walk some novelty by changing parks or routes, but my dogs, well, there is not much of my town or the local parks they haven’t walked.
I can really see the difference in them when I’m able to get out of town for a day, walk in a different park or beach, or even just an old lead walk down some different streets.
I also restrict ball throwing for my terrier. He’d chase after it for the entire walk, but sometimes I think he should just do plain old ‘dog stuff’ and mooch about with his head in a few bushes.
I don’t do as much training as I used to, I’m simply too tired – on my busiest days I can clock up 1o miles or more – although I suspect it’s the driving which really makes me tired – but I do try to spend 5 minutes with my terrier just before lights out doing something with him, and sometimes I can fit 2 or 3 minutes is on a walk just getting some leg weaves, or a few nose targets from him. Sometimes wet weekends are the best, as I take them out for one walk, then later on I get them doing some searching games in the house – and let my terrier tear up some newspaper and loo rolls, so they are stretching their brains a bit too.
My Greyhound doesn’t seem to thrive on learning new things, but we go over a few old things for her. I wish I had more time for training as I did when I got them both because my terrier especially there is so much more I wish I could do with him, but some days they seem happiest when I leave them at home and don’t make them go out walking anymore!
Anne says
It sounds like you are needing a friend for Willy?
I tell my dogs they have it pretty good- acres to run on, sheep for herding with me, other dogs to chase around with, training to make them well mannered citizens (still a work in progress for leaping lemur dog Pepper).
Some of them are energizer dogs though. Hank especially will get done working sheep and then go racing around the yard, bringing his ball, wanting to play. I literally have never seen this dog tired out, and I’d probably need to have him move a large herd of cattle several miles before that would happen. But he is a tolerant dog, and on the days when we don’t do much, when it’s too icy or I’m busy, he is happy to lie at me feet and get some ear rubs occasionally.
Liz F. says
The exercise restriction and single dog combo is a tough one. So very sorry.
Thanks for that great post. I hope you have a wonderful trip, and I love that picture of Willie!
I agree with Teri, who wrote that too much off leash activity makes me slack off in other areas. I also feel like consecutive days of too much off leash activity can inspire the dogs to be wilder versions of themselves. The fact that I tend to do less structured training is a part of this. But I think another change takes place.
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Kelly Elvin says
This post really resonated with me, too. Even though we live on a small farm and have fenced-in acreage for the dogs to explore, and I can work from home, some days I still experience guilt about the quantity and quality of my interactions with my dogs. I had an experience similar to Kat with my 12 year old lab Boomer. One day he was out by the barn resisting all attempts at recall, so I took his leash over to the barn gate, planning to walk him back to the house. He got so excited about the prospect of a leash walk that we went for an impromptu walk down the road. Funny that leash walking could be such a treat for a dog with lots of room to roam! In dry weather we sometimes do “kibble roundup” when the dogs are antsy – toss one or two cups of kibble onto the grass and let the dogs use their noses. They love this game and are ready for a nap when they come inside. I guess we all have to let go of the human guilt, realize that our dogs have pretty sweet lives, and be creative about finding ways to spend quality time with our pups every day. It’s good for us too!
J. says
I didn’t feel particularly guilty before, but now I do :).
However: we did have a lot of jumping fun this afternoon, so for Tara life isn’t all boring!
Amy says
We live in the suburbs of Northern California, so we don’t have the luxury of farm-acreage. There are a few great off-leash areas, but our dogs only go on our days off. There are also several great shopping areas which are dog friendly – this covers the novelty opportunities.
We have 2 Aussies, a toddler, and we both work 4 days a week. I have found that a predictable schedule helps to assuage my guilt: I’m up with the dogs at 530am for some light play and short training sessions. We go for a 45 min leashed walk at 630am, come home for fetch/dog wrestling in the backyard, and breakfast for the dogs at 730am. They are ready for a nap by 8am, when we leave for work. I drop in for 30 min at lunch time, then we’re home at 6pm. More ball play/chase games and a shorter walkie while our toddler is bathed. Once our tot is in bed, the dogs go outside for one last romp, then our younger Aussie is crated at 930pm. We have found that staying consistent with this schedule during the workdays keeps them happy and out of trouble. Lots of family time with the dogs on our day off. Hope this schedule continues to work as we plan for human baby #2!
Stephanie K. says
What a relevant post! Especially at the time of year when we’ve been cooped up all winter and my terrier mix, Levi has spring fever!
I like to think that Levi has it pretty good. We do some form of physical exercise 5-6 mornings a week. Some days it’s a run around the neighborhood together (finally nice enough weather to do this!) and other mornings it’s a trip to a local park for a 45-60 minute run on a long-line in the woods. The runs are a new thing and we’ve gradually worked up to longer and longer runs but I think he is more tired when he gets to go to the park and run the trails. As others mentioned, also a good opportunity to work on the recall. If we don’t get out for morning exercise than we do training inside instead (or maybe outside soon since it’s been so nice out!)
I’m home at lunch time for an hour and our time there varies day to day. Sometimes it will be some training, occasionally a short leash walk around the neighborhood, other days we just relax on the porch together. Levi is just now beginning to be left out of his pen during the day (so he has access to the living room and hallway while I’m gone) and I find that he is MUCH more relaxed throughout the rest of the day if he gets to spend his morning out of his pen. If I do leave him in the pen while I’m at work, I see a lot more obsessive compulsive type behaviors (he will occasionally tail chase – something I’m quick to interrupt, and he can become obsessed with catching flies if he sees them).
At the end of the day it’s training and relaxing and games (find it, etc.) Once a week we go to an agility class, and we usually also get out to the woods with some friends and their dogs on Sunday mornings. It is a constant attempt to keep him healthy, both mentally and physically.
I loved Kat’s idea to let her dog choose his activities, be it treats or walks or playing fetch, and I love the idea to practice heel work to the mailbox (As my mailbox is a few houses down as well). I love this blog because so many great ideas come from it. Thank you!
Angel says
I had this long comment all typed out, hit submit, and it took me to an error page, because I forgot to put in my email address. It erased my comment. Ugh! That’s the second time that’s happened to me, for different reasons!
Reading this post and the comments has me feeling guilty and hopefull too, Deb. And a little satisfied. But mostly guilty. Funny how much easier it is to feel the guilt, isn’t it?
Bear and I rarely do anything in the morning, except for a quick walk in the front yard for Bear to pee. This is mostly due to the fact that Bear is very sleepy in the morning. When I get him up (yes, I have to wake him up!), he looks at me like, “Really? I have to get up already?!” It usually takes him a minute or two (or five, sometimes I lay down with him and steal some cuddles) to get up and moving. Then outside to pee, then back in the house where he goes into the bathroom with me while I get ready. He lays down and goes back to sleep!
We were taking one class a week and working on training at home most days of the week. But Bear was starting to show disinterest in training, walking away from me after one or two commands. So we have been taking a break from training. He still is asked to do something for treats – our two cats get treats when we come home, my husband has them so spoiled, and I can’t give to them and ignore those pleading blue eyes of Bear’s. So he is asked to sit or down or high five or something. And if I ask him for a command in those circumstances and he shows interest and focus, we’ll do a minute or two of training, just working on commands that we’ve been working on, nothing new.
Walks. Sigh. This is where I feel I am failing him. I do not walk him regularly, and I know how horrible this sounds and that it is not good for Bear. The reason for this is that Bear sometimes does not do well on walks. He gets very over-stimulated, sometimes for reasons I can’t discern. And then he redirects that energy onto me. He jumps, he growls, he bites. He is not being aggressive, he isn’t intending harm to me. But he does inflict some harm, in bruises and scrapes, mostly. He has never bitten bitten me. But it is very frustrating for me. I have had several walks where I am standing there crying, trying to keep this crazy dog off me, wondering how in the world I am going to get the two of us home safely. This has serioulsy tested our relationship. My trainer/friend finally experienced this for herself and was shocked. She said she completely underestimated me and consulted a few trainers she works with to come up with a plan. They suggested a head collar, so I have been working with Bear to get him accustomed to it. He hates it. He acts as though he is paralyzed. I call it his “Oh! The Halti is stealing my soul!” pose. He is getting a little better while wearing it, and we went on one walk around the neighborhood with it on. He did very well.
To compensate for the lack of walks, we have been going to the dog park, about 4 or 5 days a week. He loves it and is learning a lot. I also try to engage him in play at home, but it is difficult. Bear is not all that interested in toys. He will run after a thrown ball, and then either immediatley drops it and goes after something else, or he’ll bring it back to about 5 feet away from me and try to start a game of “keep away”, which I don’t want to encourage. He has even less interest in tug. He will chase a laser light, and we do play that a lot. And I love to get on the floor with him and play wrestle, but he gets too rough pretty quickly.
I look forward to reading more here and getting some ideas of ways to engage with Bear. 🙂
Don says
Wow, what a great post, Trisha!
I definitely have the occasional guilt feelings about being unable to always give our dogs as much stimulation as they want/need. So, when I’m at home with them or out with them somewhere, they get to tell me when they want to play and then I generally comply with the request. They get alot of choice in when to play and when to rest, although I often (but not always) choose the toy or the activity to play with.
I’m fascinated by this idea that allowing a dog to choose an activity, or at least providing structured choices for them, could have such a positive effect on their quality of life. It’s like we’re allowing them to “be who they are.”
Trisha, do you have the citation for the study on voluntary exercise in rats? That finding sounds like a gem.
Frances says
I do agree with Liz F – it is so easy to give huge pleasure to our dogs that I do feel guilty if I think I am short changing them. They get a lot of fun out of an off lead walk on familiar territory, and even more if we go somewhere new, or a place we only visit occasionally. In fact, I am beginning to think that I should simply concentrate on taking them to nice places, rather than scheduling classes, agility, etc, etc – I too have felt like a fur-baby soccer mum of late! When I realised I was driving over 100 miles a week to various classes – not an insignificant expense with the cost of petrol in the UK! – I decided it was time to cut down. Sophy and I finished an introductory agility course today – she has done very well for a dog that cannot see the point of jumping, but really is not very enthused by it. My main reason for going to classes (apart from the excellent advice from APDT trainers) has been to get both dogs well socialised as pups, and continue it into adolescence. If I choose where and when we walk with care, we can be pretty sure of meeting at least half a dozen other dogs, some of them complete strangers, and lots of dog-friendly – and not so dog-friendly – people of all ages, which should be enough daily socialising for them. We do a bit of “training” while we are out, mainly recalls and avoiding people and dogs who don’t want to play, and play silly games in the house and garden, but now that the weather is improving I feel the need to spend more time being with them out and about, rather than doing structured activities with – to? – them. Must try Kat’s idea of letting them choose!
lin says
Now that my dog is a senior (about 12-14 years old, we don’t know for sure), we still take 45-minute walks; but cover a lot less ground. I’ve noticed, too, that she likes her routine: we go right for the morning walk, left for the evening walk. If I change it, Old Pup stops and looks at me as if I’m doing it wrong. If we end up walking later than usual, she’ll cut her route short, (probably to go home to get a meal). And though Old Pup eagerly starts out on a walk, she is most excited to get back home. When we’re two houses from home, she breaks from her return plod into a quick trot, runs into the back yard, and throws herself on the ground to roll and roll. No place like home, I guess.
Old Pup likes going to new places, but only if both my husband and I go (even though she’s bonded more closely to me). Otherwise she gets nervous. Maybe the whole pack is safer than individuals?
I don’t feel too guilty about how much excercise my pets get. I volunteer at my shelter to work with cats, and the kitties are lucky to get out for 20 minutes of play or laptime. Sometimes there are so many of them and so little time (shelter has very limited hours) they only get 10 minutes apiece! I come home, give my guys a good scritch and tell them they (and me) need to count our blessings.
Rosana Hart says
I think my dogs would love to go visit quite a few of you!
For over 4 years we’ve been living in Mexico, with a 1/4 acre fenced yard. Our Chow-Blue Heeler, Larry, now 13, is a real challenge to walk in the neighborhood, as there are a few aggressive street dogs that like to mix it up with him. So mostly we play with him in the yard. It’s long, narrow, and hilly, and he runs up and down it numerous times a day. He’s slowing down too. I do a few training things with him for mental stimulation.
Our Mexican dog, Lola, is a 3 year old Rottweiler we’ve had since she was about 6 months old. She gets along fine with the street dogs, and in fact she and my husband have been gone so long now (hour and a half) that I imagine they have found some American friends at home a few blocks away, and she is probably playing with their 3 dogs in their huge yard. She gets one long walk a day, plus lots of play in the yard. Larry stopped playing with her about a year ago, but he stands and barks enthusiastically when we romp with her.
All this is about to change, as next month we will be taking them on a long road trip and moving back to Colorado. From our house there we will be able to go for long, long, long walks in the high desert. I for one can hardly wait! Not sure if they can be off leash on those walks but we have half an acre and will be fencing much of it.
I have to mention our cats as well. I play with a fishing-rod type toy with our two cats every evening for quite a while, and sometimes at other times. They are indoor cats here (Mexicans use rat poison very freely) and this is an essential part of their mental and physical stimulation.
Trisha says
Just got into DC… mall crammed with protesters in the mall (saw them from the plane), daffodils blooming and even some trees in flower, looks like crab apples to me. Gorgeous to see flowers blooming. Gonna go outside and take it all in, but couldn’t resist posting your comments and adding a few:
To Angel: You are NOT failing Bear! Hysterical jumping, growling and biting is not the sign of a happy dog (nor owner!) and you are absolutely right to avoid walks if that happens. You might consider a body harness that connects to the leash in the front if he doesn’t end up doing well with the head collar (Sensation Harness for example, or Easy Walker)… most dogs tolerate them very well, much better than they do head collars. They don’t give you as much control, but a heck of a lot more control than a regular collar. Leash walks can be very overstimulating for some dogs, and it’d be good to give yourself and Bear the option, but don’t feel guilty if that just doesn’t work out. If he does well at the dog park, then more power to him. I would avoid wrestle play though, given that it sounds like he has some issues with impulse control and emotional inhibition, so you might see if he likes the Ottoson toy’s, or just teach him some way cool tricks that involve doing things he does naturally on cue for treats. And… maybe he is truly a dog who just doesn’t need entertaining?
To Don: the reference to the voluntary exercise work is in Sharon Begley’s book Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain (or something close!) I don’t have it with me, but you can look it up.
Meanwhile, Jim has started working Will on heel exercises in the yard for while I’m gone, and I loved looking out the window this morning to see them working together. Will worships the ground Jim walks on, and they are a pretty compelling pair, my guys are. We’ve all also been playing with the Ottoson toys and takings lots of car rides. He’s been doing very well with his exercise restrictions with one exception: he’s regressed around Sushi. Not a big surprise, but with no Lassie to play with and more time in the house, he’s gone back to being obsessed with her. Sigh. We’re managing it, but lordy am I looking forward to it getting back to where it was over winter, which was not at all ‘cured’ (never will be), but well managed and not problematic.
Only 7 (or is it 8?) more days til Will can go off exercise restrictions (he slipped on the ice and injured a back leg, possibly his hip joint). Of course, by then, the ewes will be lambing, so no work on sheep at that time.
He might (MIGHT) have a new playmate come May …. so gotta gotta get him healthy enough to play with another young dog. (Don’t ask…. not ready to say much yet! But I will say that by summer time there will definitely be another dog at Redstart Farm. Just not sure who.)
Time to go out and wander the streets before going back to work tonight….will try to avoid rabid crowds and focus on the flowers!
Angel says
Trisha, thank you so much for saying that I am not failing Bear. It is good to hear from someone else, especially you! Smile!! Bear does have an Easy Walk harness. It does offer more control than a regular collar, but unfortunately not enough. I’m still keeping my fingers crossed for the head collar. It is my sincere wish to be able to take long, wonderful walks with him.
For now we will keep going to the dog park to let him run. He is part Husky and has such joy in his face when he is running! I was looking at the Ottoson toys after I saw your post about them. I’ll put them on Bear’s wish list.
And oh my gosh…he is a dog who seems to want CONSTANT entertainment! Or at least need constant supervision. He always finds things to grab and run around with, socks, hair ties, and my cell phone being his favorites. And although he is over a year old, he is not completely house trained. Ugh. Why is their such shame in admitting that? I am so emabarassed! (Not to mention stumped on what else to do so he ‘gets it’.)
He never seems to get tired!! We played a few times earlier today, then he spent an hour at the dog park, chasing, wrestling, sniffing, running around. He wasn’t even tired when we got home. And I just took a break from writing this to play laser light with him. He was running around like a mad man, as though he hadn’t done anything all day!
Off subject here, but any suggestions or direction you can point me in regarding fear during car rides? Bear used to love car rides, but he has developed a fear now, which seems to be noise related. When we hit a bump, he freaks out. And the roads in OH right now are atrocious!
Thanks so much for your posts and comments! I am so happy I found this blog. So interesting and helpful! Enjoy DC!
Melinda says
I enjoy my time with Buddy so much that is seems easy for me to make sure he gets lots of activity.
We live in a mountain resort so lots of places for off leash hikes, cross country skiing, trail running etc. Our nordic center even has dog friendly trails so we can take him there for skate skiing or xc skiing with opportunites to see lots of other dogs. We also take him on leashed walks in town where he sees lots of people and dogs (it’s a very dog friendly town). We don’t have kids, have flexible jobs, and are very active people so he gets 60-120 minutes (one or sometimes 2 sessions) a day of this type of activity. I usually do some training exercises on these seesions as well. He usually takes a long nap in between.
I would like to encourage more play time. He is not really into toys but does play sometimes (he loves frisbee). I would like to try some brain stimulating toys…he does love to learn new things.
He also has an acre fenced yard and we are in the forest so he patrols the area watching for fox, deer, rabbits and squirrels. (They often wander around outside the fence)
I think Buddy has a pretty good life but I enjoy it too and it keeps us both healthy and happy!
Amy says
Angel, Bear sounds like a complicated fellow. I really admire your persistence. With regards to walking, I have heard of some trainers who recommend both the halti and the easy walk harness at the same time. They say it doesn’t cure the problem, but adds a bit more control over the dog. I’d be curious to see how that works for Bear.
As for car rides, is he sitting freely in the car or in a crate? Sometimes a crate can help provide some additional security, if he’s crate trained.
I myself am struggling with deciding whether to take my 13 wk puppy to any more puppy socials. They are a growing trend in our area and quite crowded. The trainer can’t possibly supervise all puppies at once and I am concerned about my pup bringing home undesirable behaviors. There are a lot of aggressive behaviors on display by the puppies and adolescent dogs.
She has integrated beautifully into our busy household which includes a toddler and an adult Aussie.
She has all of her basic commands, is generally housetrained, is socialized daily during on-leash walks, and plays regularly with our patient and clever therapy dog Aussie. We don’t have time to undo unwanted behaviors! 😉
I’m thinking about taking her to classes when she’s older, like at 6 months old…she may not be as impressionable then
Frances says
Trisha, can I throw another question into the discussion – How much is too much? My dogs had a very busy day yesterday – agility, walk, visitors with visiting dog, etc – and were so whacked by the evening they were trying to persuade me to go to bed at 9.00pm. I’m planning a quieter, routine day for us all today. When does too much stimulation stress our dogs? Does it depend upon the kind of stimulation? (eg snuffling through the undergrowth after rabbits that vanished minutes ago, versus the concentrated prey drive stimulus of a ball or frisbee.) Or have I just thought up a whole new area to feel guilty about?!
Lyssa says
We’re having a lepto outbreak in the area (really odd since lepto is vary rare here) so many of the local areas where my dog gets off lead time are going to be off-limits until things dry out and it gets hotter.
I’m having to figure out some new places since my cocker mix needs time to decompress. Interestingly there seems to be a magical ratio of on-leash to off-leash exercise with him. Too much off-leash and his recalls start becoming lazy he’s less cooperative overall. Not enough off-lead and he gets bored easily.
He’s also a dog who gets fixated on balls and frisbees so I try to break up several ball or frisbee tosses with some sort of task game. He really enjoys a recall game where he’s put in a stay, I toss the ball for him, walk 30 ft in hte opposite direction from the ball and either a)call him to me nad hten releash him to retrieve the ball or b) release him directly to get the ball and return it to me. For some reason he loves this game and it helps keep teh fixation in check. It also wears him out pretty fast.
He’s walked on-leash at least 90 minutes daily and was getting at least 20 minutes daily off-leash with a few trips to dog parks through the week. Since he’s a single dog, I try to make a point of picking up at least one of his dog pals a week to take on 2 hr leash walk with us, in different parts of town. I rotate his various pals that we take along. I was taking a few of his friends along for off-lead mountain hikes…usually spending about 4 hours out, usually every week or so, but that will have to change until things dry out.
His training schedule is in fits and starts, usually we get a new task/trick under his belt and I slack off for sometimes a week before starting on a new task/game/or trick. We do reviews of older things in different combos daily, with different rewards. A new reward he’s excited about is after a string of tasks with verbal praise he’s gets a a paper cup with peanut butter smeared inside. He licks out the peanut butter and is really satisified about shredding the paper cup 😉
I usually feel guilty when I don’t think he’s getting enough social time with other dogs, otehrwise I think he’s doing okay. I seem to mostly be on the look-out for things to keep both of us from getting bored, which is why I love this site.
deborah ryan says
I do not think anyone responding here should feel guilty over the amount of time spent with our pups,
that said we still do simply because we want the best for them. I work in a shelter, part time, so I get “dog fix” all day long. Mornings my three spend time outside, sometimes we play, chase and fetch, sometimes we just watch the sun come up together, then it’s inside for breakfast, and the three nap while I get ready for work. Some days I can get home at noon, so we might do walks, go for a car ride or if the weather is horrendous just chill inside.
Training is incorporated into everything we do together, nothing really formal although if I am teaching a new trick, we will spend a few concentrated moments on just that, a few times a day. Two or three times a month my two youngest and I do nursing home visits, { English Setters , 5.5 and 3 yrs old } and my oldest boy stays home for quality time with his human Dad. He has major health issues, and at almost eight is enjoying his “retirement”.,
I used to feel horrible at leaving the three home, but I don’t any longer, the shelter pups I work with need time/training/attention also, and I think I have a pretty good balance here at home. None of our dogs are “backyard” dogs, so in retrospect just by having us as dog parents they are pretty darn lucky cuz we care enough about them to worry about how they are spending their time with us, and if we are meeting their needs.
Kerry L. says
I feel very lucky because Walter comes to work with me every day. He interacts with my co-workers and clients but has a ‘safe’ zone under my desk for when he’s tired or crabby and wants some alone time. I’ve struggled with getting exercise for him because he drags his front feet slightly when we walk (he’s a PWC) therefore scraping his nails down to the quick after one or two walks on the sidewalks. He trips over boots, wears holes in baby socks and chews off vinyl nails so we spend a lot of time at the nearby dog park. Right now, with snow melting in Fargo it’s been too muddy and wet to visit the park so I tried a new product called ‘PAWZ’. They are like balloons that stretch over his paws, they don’t trip him up and he hasn’t worn holes in them with his toes dragging so we might have solved our exercise problems for days when the dog park isn’t an option. The park works well because he can ‘choose’ how much exercise he wants, he can run with the other dogs or just hang out under a picnic table. He gets a stuffed bone when we get to work and he has rawhide chews when he’s bored and, depending on how busy my day is, we do some training exercises in the hallways or play ‘find it’ with some treats. In the evenings, after work and time at the park, Walter snoozes with me on my loveseat while I read or watch TV. However, I still worry that we don’t get enough training time or the exercise isn’t the right quality, or he doesn’t get enough novelty . . .
Lindsay says
I adopted a (estimated) 2 year old male AmStaff mix from our local Humane Society in early January and I constantly struggle with how much time and training is enough for him. Considering he was picked up as stray, he has remarkably few
Christine says
Yes, it
Laurel says
Amy, I really liked taking my dog to puppy socials. The other dogs weren’t uniformly perfectly behaved, but I don’t think that mattered much. They’re 45 minutes, the trainers break up anything too aggressive, and they gave the puppy a lot of practice interacting with unfamiliar dogs (very different from interacting with known dogs, and something I really, really wanted to help her lock down so I could be comfortable with her in new situations). I never saw her bringing back a specific behavior from the other dogs at either socials or classes, and it really helped her learn dog social cues. Totally recommended, though YMMV.
Megan says
How about the guilt of giving up family time to work with the dog?
We have a senior greyhound that doesn’t require anything besides a good sniff in the yard, a short walk and quiet and rest with someone nearby. No problem. Now that I’m a stay-at-home-mom with my kids in school for the first time (yipee!) we got our first puppy. What a year! I know I’m doing great with he crashes by 7 p.m. I feel like a great dog owner when I see the kongs in the freezer lined up ready to go. I know I’m doing things right when people cross the street to say hello to my friendly dog. I know there are days when I can’t do it all though and when the kids and husband walk in the door they know it too as they get “badgered” all over by the dog appropriately named Badger, an English Shepherd just turned one-yr-old. The kids help after-school and on weekends by doing recall round-robin games with him, they take their bikes to the park and Badger and I “jog” to keep up, they go sled riding etc. but for the most part keeping the dog trained and exercised is all on me. My kids love cats and snakes a lot more than a herding puppy! And it is taking all of us some time to learn how to communicate between the species.
Badger has at least an hour long walk every day and as I hate taking the same walk twice we go all over the place from town setting to state parks. Long lead in the woods to short lead with lots of sits at the crosswalks and trucks zooming by. We take classes but I’m really bad at homework and to tell you the truth, he really doesn’t really like repitition a lot either. He won’t play ball or frisbee more than five times. “Done that” he seems to say. I’m not sure too how much the class settings stress him out. He is fine EXCEPT for the really quick way he takes the treats so I wonder about that. Classes are making us a great team and there is good stress, right? But I wonder… So now we are working on herding the chickens and recall over our two fenced in acres and looking at me when the motorcycle or Fed Ex truck comes by. He has to “find” his kongs etc. But I haven’t visited extended family in the past year because of the puppy and there are other things my family gives up in order make sure the dogs get what they need. “Sorry, we can’t go out to eat after the museum, we need to go home and let the dogs out.” We don’t travel etc. But gosh, all my hard work this past year is helping make a great dog! The proof will be this summer when the whole family and Badger goes on a road trip to Canada. Any tips for dog and kid-friendly spaces between Philly and PEI?
Lindsey says
Trisha – Great to hear you on The Diane Rehm Show. I really hope you decide to put together a rescue/shelter dog booklet 🙂
I totally agree that not only does my dog have more fun when exploring a new place, and I do too. On days that we have obedience class, we drive there and then walk for about 45+ minutes before class. It gives us a some new neighborhoods to explore. She really enjoys the dog park, but has even more fun in off-leash areas that she can run and has more animal scents for her to nose.
We do 45 minute+ off-leash walks 3-4 times a week. Leashed Walk/Run 3-4 times a week. Obedience class once a week, with training and games at home here and there every day.
I always feel guitly that we don’t do more, but honestly, she doesn’t get out of bed to do more than pee and eat first thing in the morning before returning back to bed. I feel like I have a teen trapped in a dog’s body. She is normally content to lay down when we finally sit to watch TV at night, if she isn’t we play games like “Find It” to use up some more energy.
DeAnna says
I love how a couple people have mentioned the frequent, short interactions. I tend to feel guilty if we don’t do some incredible hike every day, but I’m trying to be better at just taking a 5-minute break every hour or so (I work from home) to do something with Corrie. He’s an only dog and an 18-month old BC/GSD so all of these comments are shoring up my case to convince my partner that the solution to the problem is…another dog!
Karissa says
I am very fortunate to be able to bring all three of my dogs with me to work each day. I can’t imagine what nut-cases they would be if left home every day. We go for a 30-minute off leash walk every day at 11:30 — Without it, I wouldn’t be able to get any work done. A wound up 8 month old Border Collie puppy is not helpful in the work environment!
It’s interesting to hear of the guilt from single-dog owners. I actually feel guilty because I find that I play with my dogs less now that there are three of them. They are able to amuse themselves quite well, so I often just sit back and watch.
The negative aspect of this, however, is that my Border Collie puppy stinks at playing with ME. Her version of “fun” has come mostly from other dogs. This is something I’m now working hard to fix, as I’d like for her to learn to play with me — something I feel is important to her future as an agility dog.
My dogs can certainly get bored during long stretches of bad weather, but otherwise we tend to spend a good portion of each evening outside training or playing. During our last stretch of nice weather, I think I actually wore out the Border Collie puppy with days on end of running & playing. She got a day to re-charge on Saturday and now she’s ready to go again!
I can’t wait to hear more about your new addition, Trisha! Will is going to be so happy to have a playmate.
Sheryl says
I have a 3 yo Aussie mix and she is a once in a lifetime dog! She likes learning new tricks, belly rubs, hide and seek, and walks, but she doesn’t “play” much. She doesn’t really like toys– stuffed toys, or more interactive like Kongs. I haven’t tried any tug toys b/c I have small kids and tug-of-war seems like asking for trouble– even though she has a very gentle personality. When we go to the dog park she loves saying “hi” to the other dogs, but she never plays (chase, wrestle, fetch, etc.). I suppose i could teach her to play fetch, but I’m wondering if I “make” her fetch, if she’s going to really enjoy it. Any suggestions for a play-deficient dog?
Liz F. says
What do our dogs need? All of the comments on socializing reminded me of my dog who lived to visit PEOPLE. Socialization (in the broadest sense) seems like an obvious need in puppyhood and adolescence, but I had forgotten that social time with favorite friends, including people, never ever loses its value for some dogs. As Trisha wrote about Willie in regards to Jim, my dog worshiped the ground my friend walked on, and was content to curl up on his feet for hours. (I wonder what it is about certain people that makes dogs turn all gooey.) But by far, my dog’s favorite way to spend an afternoon was to hang out with her special person friend.
Overall, ‘favorite people time’ may not be so important to a lot of dogs, but it can be huge to many others: dog-reactive dogs, outside dogs, exercise restricted dogs (who are tortured by seeing other dogs they can
Pam says
I have had people look at me with horror when I say I have a BC and an ACD and I live in a mobile home with a tiny yard (and I look like I should probably own a couch potato dog). My BC is older and quite low drive so that bit of ball playing, some time at the beach and a sniffy walk are enough and visiting seniors really makes her day. Nothing, however, could have prepared me for the physical and mental needs of my cattle dog but I do strive every day to make sure that he learns something, is physically and mentally challenged so that when he goes into his crate at night he is a happy, tired pup. He gets a 1/2 walk in the morning and comes to work with me but that means a lot of time in his crate in the car with short walks or play periods in between clients. When we get home, depending on the weather, I will drag some agility equipment to a nearby field and we will spend 45 min practicing interspersed with play. When weather is crappy we play ‘find it’ or learn new tricks in the house. Tonight we tried out our new K9 Bike Jogger—what a great invention— and he just loved it—so as the weather improves and there is more daylight we’ll be doing a lot of biking. We also do classes 2-3 nights a week, Agility, Freestyle, and Front Brain (fascinating class where we play with our dogs, usually tugging, get them highly aroused and still expect them to focus on us and respond to commands, and to immediately ‘switch off’ and calm down when asked).
Most days I feel pretty good about the life I’m providing for them but there are still some when I get busy, the day is over and they’ve spent more time in their crates than out.
Judy Norton says
I think the opportunity to explore new places, especially off leash, is like reading a good book. You can exist without doing it, but life is so much richer when you do. I feel sorry for dogs who never leave the house/backyard.
Pike says
Interesting Megan, about Badger’s hectic treat taking during classes…
I only realized long after the fact, that classes as well as training sessions with a behaviorist stressed Ronja a whole lot more than it appeared: And, indeed the give-away was the way she took all those most wonderful, small treats that I gave out then. She is usually very soft mouthed when taking food – but during classes she always half bit my fingers with them. She then progressed to do the same in all environments where I used these small delicious treats.
It was only when I switched to big boring milk bones – that’s all I had one day – that she started to actually enjoy her treats and even work a little for them. Gee – it took me three years to figure out that the act of being fed small treats in itself had become a stressor for her. Talking about sending the wrong kind of message…
Good for you to notice the connection between stress level and quick treat taking much earlier on! Sounds worthwhile to keep an eye on this.
Lyssa says
Sheryl,
I understand the concern about a “play deficient” dog. My last rescue had no interest in playing with dogs but was fine hanging around with them. She had zero interest in toys but interested in people. After trying so many differnt approaches to try to mold her into what I thought was a “healthy dog” (playing with dogs, playing with toys/people) I decided to just relax. I tried to focus on things she enjoyed or at least was neutral about. If she wasn’t showing signs of stress, and was pretty alert, it was fair game. We’d hike with other dogs (neutral), visited nursing homes (loved), daily leash walks (neutral), trips into the woods to let her flush out game birds (loved), go to the beach (neutral), had certain dogs over for slumber parties so could just hang out with them (enjoyed), etc. I think overall she enjoyed her life, even though during the 10 yrs I had her she never actually played with a single dog or toy.
Liz, great point about dogs who like to visit with people…this is one of those things that is incorporated but I usually don’t really think about. My dog is sometimes happier to see the *owners* of several of his dog pals than the actual dogs.
Sereta says
I only read a brief section of this blog… (I intend to read more) but, I thought I LOVE this person’s philosophy to exercise and mental stimulation. I own a doggie daycare in Norman Oklahoma and we have a huge (2 acre) lot that we do open pack walks. The dogs are allowed to be off leash and we walk with them as if we are going somewhere. We have a giant dirt hill and stacks of hay bales about. We have rave reviews from our customers about how well their dogs behave after a day with us. I did not really know why, I just know that it is good. So, this blog helps. Can I link your blog from my website? Would you mind me quoting you on our saying board at the shop. Thanks so much for the information …. Sereta
Frances says
And there was me thinking the guilt was a result of my Catholic childhood, Liz F! I think the biggest tension – although that is too strong a word – with my dogs is that I am thoroughly enjoying having an almost completely unstructured life, after years of clock-watching and deadline-chasing, and they really like a regular routine. Must go now – Sophy is doing the “I’m bored AND cross legged” routine …
Chelle says
Activities are so very multi-faceted when one attempts to quantify them, but I try to give my dogs a variety suited to their individual personalities. Complexity, physical requirements (strength, speed, dexterity, etc.), novelty, duration, independent/cooperative requirements
Angel says
Amy, Bear is a complicated fellow! Laughs! That’s a great way to put it and look at it.
He is far from perfect, but then so am I. So maybe we are perfect for each other. I have been reading old posts here and just read one about “heart dogs”. Wow. I am not sure if Bear is my heart dog. He doesn’t seem to fit into the descriptions everyone posted about their heart dogs. But I think everything happens for a reason, so maybe he is what I need at this stage in my life. A big, hairy, smart-when-he-wants-be, frustrating, pain in the butt, endless source of joy and tears and pride and love.
I may give the Easy Walk and Halti combo a try. I walked Bear a few houses down the street yesterday, just on his regular collar, trying to get him to pee before I had to leave. He did his monster dog transformation. Ugh. I think it had a lot to do with me and the energy he was feeling from me, as I was in a hurry and stressed at the time. Plus he wanted to continue the walk, and I made him turn around and head home. I need to work with him when I am calm and have plenty of time…or at least when I am mostly calm and have some time. Can’t wait forever for perfect conditions, right? Lol.
For car rides, he does ride freely right now. I was considering a crate. His current crate won’t fit in the car though, so I’d have to get a smaller one (his is HUGE for him). Also, I think the noise and bumps would be worse in the back of the car. I’m not sure if the added security of being in his crate would outweight the increase in noise and bumps, plus being further away from me.
Gotta go. I’m being barked for. 🙂
Catherine says
Trish, thanks for your honest account – helps the rest of us feel less guilty about “real life.” And I love the picture of the fog over the field – gorgeous!
It’s interesting to hear how many readers commenting in this forum are able to work from home or take their dogs to work (I, too, work from home). I wonder how many of you (non-dog-professionals) have made workplace choices to accommodate your commitment to your dogs? Only a few of the comments have mentioned children in the household, but even with just my husband, the dog, and me, it’s tough to make sure everyone gets enough quality time after work and grad school obligations are met. Maybe most of the folks with kids just don’t have time to write comments… 😉
My coonhound mix rescue gets a 45-min in-town leash walk each morning, 30-60 min of playtime in the yard (or a car ride if I have to run an errand) during my lunch break, and either another walk, a visit to the dog park, or a short hike after work. On evenings where I’m pressed for time, he gets semi-supervised time in the yard instead (some “free” sniffing and squirrel chasing time, interspersed with games of fetch or brief training intervals). On weekends, there’s usually a longer walk in the woods on a long leash, and often a training class. We don’t practice as much as we should between classes – usually in brief intervals on walks or in the yard.
Even with all-day outings and long hikes, I’ve never seen this dog really exhausted – he always has energy for something interesting. But with our routine he usually spends most of my workday sleeping, occasionally running to the window if he hears something interesting. So I think it is “enough” (assuming a tired dog is a happy dog). I love the formula of physical+mental+novelty. If I think he seems restless, I’ll try and increase the novelty (i.e. go for a walk in a neighborhood where all the smells are new) to give his scenthound brain some new data to process. Lately I’ve been doing this regularly as a way of strengthening his loose-leash walking in high-distraction situations – with “go sniff”as the reward for walking nicely beside me for a few meters.
Kat, I love the idea of teaching a dog “choose” and will try this out. Am reading “Merle’s Door” right now and thinking what a great life Merle had. Thanks for the ideas!
Taryn says
I really don’t feel too guilty about the lives my dogs lead. If they have the occasional boring day, oh, well, it sometimes happens to me too! I make a point of starting every day with a 60 to 90 minute walk, and even longer on the weekends. That way, if other things in life interfere, I know they are at least relaxed. I try to take a different direction for each walk, and if it’s a safe area, they get some off leash time. When a trail forks, I ask them “Which way?”, and let them pick. When the weather permits, they get fenced (small) yard time to just sit and smell the air, keep the squirrels at bay, chew a bone, play chase games, listen to the neighborhood sounds, whatever they want, etc. Both dogs are trained and compete in agility. They attend weekly group classes as well as a private session. They also attend a couple of trials per month during all but the winter months. In addition, they go with us to the beach several times a year and on road trip vacations. They are calm and well behaved around the house. I think they get enough stimulation in their lives that a day or two spent in neutral doesn’t really bother them too much. They are never crated at home, only at training class or at a trial. Oh, btw, these are Cardigan Welsh Corgis, so intelligent, high enery, herding dogs. If I had the time and resources, I wish I could add herding opportunity and training to their lives, but it would be hard to fit in as I work full time.
Sheryl says
Lyssa, thanks! That makes me feel better. My dog is a rescue too, so she may not have had a chance to play with the pups in her litter, who knows. I just focus on the things she seems to enjoy, and I think she has a pretty good time :o)
Alexandra says
@ Catharine – I think you are right; the people with kids AND dogs probably don’t have time to write comments. 😉 While not solely for the dogs, I did choose to work in a particular branch of my professional field that gave me generally predictable hours and no travel requirements. For me, that gave me the best quality of life to maximize the time I get to spend with family, friends, dogs, hobbies, etc. I only wish I was lucky enough to be able to bring my dog to work.
Sabine says
I always feel guilty if there’s a day where I can’t make it to the woods for at least 2 hours. We do have a yard the dogs hang out whenever weather permitting and I do walk them every day for 2 hours. A time we really do enjoy spending together. I’m sick right now and the only way of entertainment is “brain games” and yard. B-0 – r – i – n – g ! !
My guys seem very understanding and nobody has torn down the house yet. 🙂 Exercise for the brain can sometimes be just as challenging as going on a two hour hike. The days where my shepherd is going in for animal assisted activities at the local nursing home, she’s pretty beat afterward. More so than she would be after our two hour hike. 😉 I think it also depends a lot on a dog’s temperament and genetic make-up. I wouldn’t want to live with a Border Collie that’s been locked up for days at a time, whereas a pug or a a pekingese would probably be fine hanging out on the balcony, watching people passing by. My dogs are pretty agreeable to whatever I have planned that day. They love to go for rides as much as they love to romp around in the park. One has to stay on leash at all times because of his hunting fever. He listens well, as long as Bambi stays put and doesn’t show. 🙂
Also, I am feeding part of their evening meal in a Kong. That in itself is some entertainment and gives them a sense of accomplishment once the last morsel has been conquered. 🙂
Ann W in PA says
After reading Merle’s Door a couple years ago, I began making a point to give my dogs more opportunities to choose what they’d like to do when. I just had never considered before just how little they get to pick what they’d like to do. It’s mostly small things, what game we’ll play, giving in occasionally to a polite “request” that before I would have categorized as a “demand,” letting them decide where a shaping game will take us, allowing the joyous but forbidden quick jaunt around our woods before hopping into the car, providing opportunities to explore new places without feeling the need to practice some training task. I have to say that above all of the classes, toys, treats, attention, I think they’d say it’s the very best thing I have ever done for them.
Anne Jespersen says
On that last picture: who would have thought mud, melting snow and fog could be so beautiful.
Anne Jespersen says
I haven’t mentioned kids, but I have two and am a stay at home mom. I think if I worked full time, had kids, a flock of sheep, and a pack of dogs I wouldn’t have time to read blogs for sure.
JJ says
We take responsibility for living creatures. It is our responsibility to provide them with a good life. The question is, what is a good life for a dog? My specific dog? I appreciated the blog post because it is never too often to bring up this question and you always make this stuff so engaging.
Most of the information was not new to me, just a nice summary. One topic BLEW ME AWAY. That was the topic of choice. Until now, I have been focused on humanely, but surely taking choice away. Controlling their lives. “I have the keys to everything. Use that to get the behavior I want.” “Doggie wants a pet, make him sit first.” “Doggie pees when I let him out rather than any time he wants so that he doesn’t get pushy.” “Doggie gets food when I give it to him.” “I need to build up tug drive in my doggie so we will have an easier time training agility.” “Doggie needs to stay when I say stay. Come when I say come. Down when I say down.” Etc. Etc. Etc. Etc. Etc. …
I’m aware that the post is not negating any of this. It is just adding another dimension. In addition to having rules and behavior management, dogs like people, might also need choice in order to be happy and healthy. Wow. It’s a whole other thing for me to add to my already complicated interactions with the alien living with me.
I was happy to read a previous reply above about how she got her dog to express choice in some situations. I’ve often wondered how to find out what my dog Duke would really like. Would he rather go to the dog park or walk with me in the field right now? I don’t care and would rather do what he wants. How do I find out? Would Duke rather have equally nutritious brand X or brand Y as his food? Duke will eat anything, so the answer is not obvious. I have to draw the line at two main meals a day. And the morning meal time is not flexible. But I would be happy to let Duke choose his evening meal time if he had a strong preference.
How much choice does a dog need to be happy and healthy? I don’t think we know the answer to that, but it will be on more thing I’m going to start worrying about.
Laurie says
I have loved reading all these comments. It makes me realize how many folks are out there doing a great job stimulating their dogs. We live in the woods so our dogs get a 45min run in the woods every morning. For novelty we go to town. I have kids and spend a lot of time driving them around so I try to take a dog with me for all errands if it’s not too warm. While the kids are at the orthodontist’s office or at athletic practice, for example, I’m walking a dog. I also try to take a dog with me when I go grocery shopping . After I shop, I get the dog out for some proofing and desenstization in the very distracting parking lot and store entrance. It seems easier to incorporate the dogs into my life than to carve out a special time in the afternoon for training and exercise.
Nan says
great topic and insights–I’ll be citing some of this to my classes. I am completely with you on the sometimes feeling guilty and inadequate. I work long hours and in my free time often do things to support our local shelter and rescue so there are many lovely days suitable for wonderful rambles when I find myself saying goodbye to my pups telling them “cobblers children have no shoes” as I go to give quality time to other dogs while they are left to fend for themselves. It is one reason I try to keep two dogs—they definitely plan with each other even as they get older. that is actually one guilt producer now as one dog has just had surgery to reattach her retinas meaning she cannot play at all and the other gets that we have become “the house of no fun” but he is clearly stressed over it. I’m trying to substitute more physical on leash exercise hoping the tiredness will offset the bordom and I love the point that walking in novel locations will basically do both. On the mental stimulation point an example–when I first got my lab from rescue she was 2 and 1/2 and could not settle. Upping physical exercise really just produced a dog that could not settle more “vigorously”. It was finding mental puzzles such as the toys that need to be manipulated to emit a kibble that proved to be the real problem solver.
Alex Keir says
I love this article! Of course, that it validates my own thoughts and teaching helps but it is great to read it including the meanderings about what you’re reading.
Since my mother was diagnosed with Alzheimers I’ve been reading alot about the brain. Somedays you could see her working on getting a new path from her brain to her mouth.I just finished reading A Mind of Ones Own. Short and very interesting-how our brain protects us
Off now to go for a walk with Vida, our 5 yr old French Brittany. The fields are really muddy and wet but the smells unleashed this week by melting snow are calling her.
So what’s a little mud compared to her ecstatic pleasure?
Sabine says
I don’t know if this fits into this topic, but I made an interesting observation when I first came to the US: Most dogs don’t seem as well adjusted as they are in other places.
Example: My shepherd mix Cindy grew up in Germany, meaning she got to go wherever I went. The result was a dog that was socialized to death and unflappable. There was no place I wouldn’t go without her. (Okay – no dogs allowed in the supermarket) . It would have been a complete alien concept to me, to leash my dog. I walked alongside the autobahn without a leash, well knowing, that my dog would not leave my side. That’s the way she grew up and that’s the way it felt right. Then I moved to the US and all in a sudden she had to be leashed. I could have walked her downtown D.C. in rush hour without a leash and she would have never left my side. I paid numerous fines for breaking the leash law and I was equally bewildered about people being absolutely horrified by my unleashed dog coming towards them. I admit – she was an impressive 10o pounds of dog, Schutzhund trained and ………….obedient. She ignored other dogs, was totally aloof towards people and only interacted, when I told her to. (No – I’m no drill sergeant and the methods of Schutzhund training have been banned from this household !) Cindy is long gone and all the dogs that came after her led this sheltered and leashed life and not one of them was ever as reliable as she was.
Dogs here live in a very controlled environment and that sometimes makes it hard for them to be as well tempered as they could be. Sometimes I seems that being constantly on a leash took away their means of communication and self confidence somewhat. Mind you – I don’t mean to tell people to take off the leashes and let all the dogs run lose. That would be a disaster. Especially if the dogs weren’t raised that way, but it’s definitely an observation I made. I feel like a criminal when I walk in the woods and let my dogs off leash for fear of someone catching me and handing out tickets. Dogs need to roam and as long as they roam within eyesight I don’t see anything wrong with it. My dogs listen when called and the one that doesn’t is on a long tracking line, which at least gives him the opportunity to sniff and explore some.
To me a happy dog is the one that gets to enjoy some freedom, rather than sleeping in a designer bed dressed in doggy outfits. We can spend hours analyzing our furry friends to death, but sometimes we just should let them be what they want to be: Just dogs ! 😉 🙂
Kat says
I can’t resist popping back into this discussion to add another two cents worth. Like Laurie I think the goal is to fit our dogs into our lives. I’ve got two kids and Ranger comes along as I chauffeur them from place to place and we walk or run dog friendly errands while we wait for them. We’re fortunate that there are a number of businesses that allow my leashed, well-mannered canine companion to come shopping with me. I often wish that there was some sort of standard–sort of like a driver’s license–that we could achieve which would allow us to go more places I would love never to leave him home except when he chose to be by himself for awhile.
This morning when I went out to take Ranger for his walk there wasn’t time to spend playing ball it was going to have to be a fast walk. Ranger asked for his morning belly rubbing and I gave him an abbreviated version then said we needed to walk. Ranger ignored my encouragement to come to the gate and rolled on his back soliciting more belly rubbing. Watching his eyes close in bliss and his body relax with contentment I decided that he could have his walk when I got home and we spent the time sitting on his couch loading up on oxytocin . When I got home an hour later he got a 40 minute walk in an area we hadn’t done for awhile and he’ll get more walks in a few minutes when I take the kids for their afternoon activities. I remember a bit of parenting advice I was given that seems to apply equally to my canine companion. The two worst things we can do for our children are to always give them what they want and to never give them what they want.
And to Meagan, I’d just like to say of course your family makes sacrifices for the dog. He’s as much part of your family as your children and just as you made sacrifices for they children when they were too young for something we make sacrifices to meet the needs of our dogs. I personally, think my children are growing up to be more thoughtful, empathetic and responsible because they are learning that we need to consider the fur family members when we make our plans. It makes me very proud when we’re planning something and their first question is what about the dog and cats.
JJ says
@Sabine: I really appreciate what you wrote. Intuitively, I think what you wrote must be true.
Your comment along with the post discussion of forced vs voluntary exercise reminded me a little bit of a situation with my dog Duke. Duke has been struggling hard since I got him three years ago (at the age of 3) to walk loose leash – let alone at a heal. But when I go in the big farmers field or the beach and take off Duke’s leash: he runs around a bit and then comes back and does a perfect heal, totally on his own without any prompting or even desire on my part. He just wants to walk there beside me like that. I smile when he does it. He will often run ahead again a bit, and then he comes back to walk by my side. Put him on leash again, and he only wants to be ahead.
I realize you were making a different point, but I think the two stories are tangentially related. And I think they are both on topic. Your story gave me a lot to think about.
Zuzanna Kubica says
as usual, great article :).
Could you include your thoughts about too much exercice? In the last years I did find some very motivated dog people who were feeling very guilty if their dig did not get enough stimulation… ending up with too much. One thing is physically wearing out growing puppies, and another is just too much exercice, mental stimulation, novelty etc- poor dog can’t ever rest…
Would love to hear your thoughts about it?
thank you!
Susan says
I moved this past December, and now have an acre for my dogs to explore (half of it is fairly wild, lots of bushes to explore, and the beagles across the street chase rabbits into it, so there is usually fresh rabbit poop, which they seem to like even more than horse poop!) but it isn’t fenced yet, so time outside is still restricted to when I can be with them. I am looking forward to being able to turn them out and let them have some unrestricted time when they’re not interacting with me, and they can just hang out. A friend of mine has about an acre fenced and I’ve watched her dogs enjoy just being able to relax, get up and explore, play a bit, then chill out again. Unfortunately, my older dogs weren’t able to do this- we tried several times when I was at her house, but they would just stare at the door waiting for me- my house was a townhouse with atiny yard, they just weren’t used to it at all. Arie, however, used to spend the night at her house when I was on a long stretch at work, so hopefully she’ll adapt to it better, and I think the older dogs will do better since it is their property (wishful thinking? we’ll see!)
My guilt is basically because I have to work (I’m an RN) to support my dog hobby, and its much easier to get a job I like doing 12 hour shifts than shorter hours. I do nights in part because its easier for the dogs (I think) for me to be gone at night, and I have some daytime hours to spend with them. I don’t work as many days- 6 out of 14, with one 3-day stretch, and the others just one or two nights at a time, which aren’t too bad for the dogs, but the three day (night) stretch is a killer, especially if the weather is bad, and Arie (2.5 yr old BC) is usually really ready to do something by monday morning!
I’m feeling a little less guilty this past month, as I’ve now found a place to hike with them offleash- not a big area, but enough for a good 45 minute walk/run (I walk, Arie runs, the others alternate) And I’ve now found an agility class I can get to on a semi-regular basis, and have been 3 times in the past 10 days- we’ve been training in the yard, but class offers novelty, as well as the fun of watching the other dogs. What I haven’t found yet is a playmate for Arie- my friend had a similar size/age BC and they would really tire each other out! There is a JRT a few doors down, and she’ll interact and play with him a bit, but not nearly to the level she played with Bimini.
Interesting comment about fetch- I’ve heard numerous comments, from people saying BCs should never fetch because they become obsessive about it, to people who advocate doing tons of it, to wear out the dog. I do some-especially on the days I work , and its been suggested I do a bit before running her in agility trials, to take the edge off. I do usually incorporate some obedience or tricks into it, asking for a down , or a spin one way or the other, asking one dog to stay while the other goes, etc. But she is obsessive about it, I would say far more than Brodie ever was.
Sabine says
@ JJ: I am glad you didn’t read my comment as criticism of the average American dog owner, because it really wasn’t meant to be one. 🙂 I just think that dogs growing up while being exposed to our daily routines are more even tempered than those who are sheltered, even if it is involuntary due to restrictions put upon them by law. Here (US) you can’t take your dog to a restaurant with you – something absolutely common in Germany. The dogs learn early on to just disappear under the table for the duration of the meal and nobody really gives any second thought to it. I remember basically being joined at the hip with my dog almost at all times. Wherever I went – she went too. Training was done at the training facility and occasionally we would train somewhere else, but it wasn’t really the norm. Training happened mostly during daily life and not in the ring. That’s another observation I made: I know people with dogs that show at the highest levels of obedience competition, but taking their dogs for a walk turns into a nightmare, because the moment you take them out of the ring it seems all the tricks they learned whilst going in circles are history. 😀
I am not competing in obedience anymore and my dogs are what obedience folks would call “a bit sloppy”, but they are very pleasant to walk with. No pulling, no dragging mom across the country side…..etc.etc. One of them is a bit of a reactive Rover towards other canines, but over time I’m hoping to resolve that problem too.
I don’t work my dogs on a set schedule. Our work just “happens” and we work, when work is required. We do sit-stays/down-stays somewhere in the woods or on some parking lot. We do tracking exercises, and if I’m out walking with a friend, we play hide and seek. (The dogs absolutely love that one !) We are trying to have fun, rather than clench our teeth and work towards some deadline. Dogs are only human, and they have good days and they have bad days. On the good days I enjoy them all the more and on the bad days I just assume that better days will come. I’m not little Miss Sunshine either on a daily basis. Gotta be flexible ! 😀
Now again something off topic, but I don’t know where else to post this:
http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/smithsonian/video/full-episodes/a-woman-among-wolves—-/68052513001
The title is “A Woman Among Wolves” and it is really worth watching ! Enjoy. 🙂
Alexandra says
@Sabine – I, too, appreciate what you wrote and think that in a world where more people actually understand how to train their dogs like you clearly do (perhaps Europeans are better than Americans at this on average? I am not sure having never lived there.) it would be so nice to be able to bring my dogs more places and use leashes less. I don’t think I could ever walk my dogs near a busy road off leash without having a minor heart attack, though! I would always wonder “what if” and the consequence of chasing just one squirrel could be death by car. However, just to share the opposite side of the coin, I have had so many bad experiences with aggressive or simply pushy & overly exuberant loose dogs charging my leashed dogs on walks that I no longer allow any off leash dog to approach my two unless they are also off leash. So many people have no clue that their dogs are behaving inappropriately or actually do not care, and it is extremely frustrating. It is because of people like that giving the majority of responsible dog owners a bad name that leash laws are so strict in many areas of this country. I find that some people are even a bit passive-agressive about their dog’s behavior, seeming to enjoy it at some level when their dog runs out and starts trouble. Those types are completely immune to social pressure and I’ve had to get animal control involved on more than one occasion to get that type of person to keep their dog on their property.
s says
Thank you for this post – I know I was one who commented and asked about walks esp the on leash vs offleash because I never feel my dogs have had a walk unless it is offleash (at least most of it offleash). Tough to do in a leashlaw state but I get up very early and walk in fairly quiet areas. I do like your suggestion though to mix it up a bit so perhaps I need to add a leashed walk in a new place. I do mix up my offleash walks during the week – more in the nicer months, less in winter only bc one particular place has much better footing and light for winter walks. But I cannot rid the guilt if I only do a short leash walk with the dogs – it never feels “enough”.
I will rethink the puzzles – they also may be a nice addition esp in the afternoons when I usually try to take a quick “chucker” break.
I haven’t read much of the comments, just a few and skimmed others. I actually do work full time (from home) and have 3 young children and 2 dogs. I do feel guilty – and wonder if adding the dogs to our lives takes away from the dogs, but I truly hope not. We have drastically changed our life this past year since adopting our first rescue who has severe SA – we have not left the dogs alone for more than 5 hours since last April (his SA was a complete surprise). The sacrifices are worth it and I think have taught our kids lessons – they wanted a dog to start with, this requires sacrifice on our (the human’s) part. If we are outside in the yard, our dogs are with us. If the kids want to ride their scooters or bikes in the circle, I take the dogs. The only exception is when we are practicing baseball/softball – they can’t keep themselves from helping us field so I will oftentimes put them back in house. Our dogs don’t come on errands with us due to space constraints in the car. I do take my dogs for a 30 min walk offleash daily, with wknds going 45-60 mins on hikes in the woods. They get at least one short walk at night on our road and sometimes we squeeze in a midday walk on the road as well (very short walk – 5-10 mins). Depending on my schedule with work, I try to fit in a 5-10 min break mid afternoon with the chucker. When I just had the first dog, I alternated training sessions some days and chucker the others – I’ve neglected the training bit with the 2 but I need to get back to that and I liked Wild Dingos comments -that a short session with each dog results in the dogs engaging in play afterwards. I’ve avoided the training due to the Sep Anxiety honestly!
So just call me guilty guilty guilty and thank you for this post. I feel a little risky posting here amongst all of the folks who devote hours upon hours to their dogs but I hope that I’m doing a somewhat decent balance most days even if it never seems enough on any realm (dogs, kids, house, spouse , work, laundry etc) and that my dogs have better lives than they previoiusly had.
KT says
I find that 2 daily hour long hikes and a bit of mental challenge is enough for my 2 year old Shar-pei/ACD mix. He’s also doing SAR training twice a week and that is totally a brain-drain for him. I think that a good mix of mental and physical activity is good for most dogs. Tucker is always off leash on our hikes so he has plenty of “dog” time..sniffing and running and such. Luckily, I’m retired so I don’t usually have guilt pangs over leaving him for any length of time. However, if I do have to go someplace without him I try to make it up by a longer romp when I return. I really don’t know if I could handle working full-time and having a dog. I would be guilt ridden every day.
I often wonder if they have any concept of “time” when they’re left alone.
Cynthia says
Just a brief technical question: lots of people have mentioned having their slightly unreliable dogs on long lines in the woods. Is the line attached to you? How? How do you keep it from getting tangled? If it just drags, can you actually grab the dog before it runs off in some extenuating circumstance? (i.e. a deer, other dog far off, etc)
DeAnna says
I would love to hear the answer to Cynthia’s question about managing a long line in the woods.
Also, I’ve been thinking about this post and about boredom for the last few days. Like my BC/GSD mix, Corrie, I also think that boredom sucks. But I also think that those of us who are super focused on keeping our dogs engaged might forget sometimes that boredom is just as important a practice as any other state we’d rather avoid. I also don’t like being frustrated, jealous, startled, or angry. But it’s good for me to feel all of those things occasionally so that I have skills for dealing with them. I wonder to what extent it’s important for our dogs to just be bored sometimes, and learn to deal with that in functional, non-destructive ways.
I work from home, so I am easily sucked into a game of half-assed fetch. I read a book once where the author described working at home with her BC as “type, type, type, toss the ball down the hall, type, type, toss the ball down the hall, type type type, toss the ball down the hall”. I wonder if it would be better for Corrie and me both if I just let him be bored for a couple hours sometimes and then went for a real walk.
Laurel says
@DeAnna: I like the idea of boredom as something a dog has to practice. I do a lot of my work at home, and it took a while for me to accept that it was work, and that as a result I can’t interact with the puppy all the time while I’m doing it. At the beginning, I’d even leave her in her crate for a couple of hours while I was home so that I could get something done. Now, one thing that helps is that she’ll play with toys on her own for 20-40 minutes at a time if she gets bored enough, especially if there’s a ball around.
As far as teaching fetch: Otter liked to chase a ball already, so I gave her treats for bringing the ball back; eventually she decided the ball was even better than the treats and it became self-reinforcing. I don’t think that would work as a fun game for a dog who didn’t like to chase, though.
@Sabine: even in the US, I’ve generally found that people who take their dogs with them have the most reliable dogs. (Of course, people who have reliable dogs are more like to take them everywhere.) It’s one of the reasons I’m trying to take the puppy with me all the time, and so far it seems to be working ok. I take the crate if I go to a friend’s house for dinner or to do work, so we can leave her in there if she loses her puppy brain (or we can’t supervise her in their not-puppy-proofed houses), but she’s really improved at being able to relax in new environments.
Em says
I think it’s less about the quantity of time and more about the quality. I can work from home if I choose and for a few monthes I exclusively worked from home. However, I started going into the office or leaving for the day a few weeks back because the dog and I started getting on each other’s nerves. I found that because I was home I felt constantly guilty if I wasn’t “doing something with her” whether fetch or a walk and I was starting not to enjoy my time with her as much. I found the time I was spending with her was guilt ridden and half-heartened..I constantly felt I should be working.
However, now that I go into the office every day I can’t wait to wake up in the morning to take her for a run and as I leave the office I can’t wait to go home to take her for a walk in a new and exciting place. Basically now the time I spend with her is quality time where she has my undevoted attention, the computer is unpluged and the cellphone and blackberry are off.
carla says
Do you think that boredom might help teach patience?
Someone mentioned the time concept. I don’t think dogs look at a span of time in the same way we do. I think to them we are either gone, or home.
I was just out working in the yard and my two rat terriers were closer to house. One was sitting on the doorstep, after she had done exploring and hunting. The other was laying in the sun by the drive. Neither was interested in helping me or playing with me.
2Berners says
I have quite a bit of guilt from ignoring my 2 Bernese, either due to work issues or when I am spending quality time with our little grandson. I don’t completely ignore them, rather, I can only give them limited attention when I have a work day (2 days/wk) or am taking care of our grandson (aged 2). I take them (dogs) daily for a 1/2 hr to 45 min walk in a nearby park (lots of sniffing, rolling opportunities, some greeting dogs opps too) about a 15 min drive each way from our acreage and most often, I resort to giving them a good marrow bone for chewing on the days I bring our dear grandson home with me for the day. (2 or 3 days/wk). I feel pretty good about this, b/c I have to get up at 5:30 am to acoomodate this, yet still feel guilt for the times when I arrive home with Cole and have to, basically, ignore the two of them. The dogs are always welcome in the house with our grandson, but, of course, they take 2nd stage and often are “shoo”ed away if necessary (like, when they sit beside his highchair, waiting for him to drop food!!). I try to spend extra time with the dogs, grooming and a bit of training, but jeez, it’s hard to fit it all in. However, I feel our dogs have the “good life” to the nth degree, so I also try not to be too hard on myself. Still, I find I am often feeling very guilty at not being the “perfect dog owner”.
April says
I discovered that there is no way I can give my Mountain Cur “enough” exercise and stimulation but since he has learned to stay close to home he gets to run free most days. Between his dog buddy, ten cats, and a forest full of animals needing chasing he’s an extremely happy young man. Every week I try to teach him something new because he seems to just enjoy learning. I used to worry endlessly about the “right way” to do things with the animals but now I look at their behavior… if the animals are smiling, eating well, behaving themselves, and not pestering me constantly then all is well. If any of those markers are missing then I know I need to tweak things. It seems to work for us, but I’m not dealing with confined animals and urbanite neighbors.
Kathy says
I own sighthounds, which aren’t really up your alley Patricia – a very different psychology from the working dogs. (I know that’s a generalisation but it’s a fair one.) My Borzoi are completely satisfied after a forty-five minute off leash “hoon” and perfectly happy to sleep the rest of the day (getting lazier as they get older). Under the age of two years they might benefit from a more gentle outing in the evening. To my mind they are the perfect suburban companion. They aren’t especially territorial and very rarely bark; they are very sensitive to their surroundings and are naturally quiet and well-behaved house dogs; they are naturally submissive to people and respond to gentle intonation/voice commands with no training at all. They are of course the extreme athletes of all dogs, and for the half hour or so in which they need to move, they move a very long way in a very short time! and use a proportional amount of energy in the process. But you shouln’t need to live on acreage to cater for that short burst of activity every day.
Christina says
This is SUCH a great post. I believe so strongly that mental stimulation is a key part of owning a dog.
I teach dog sports and regularly encounter very hyper dogs whose owners tell me they run the dogs for miles a day, only for them to be just as energetic when they’re done. But rarely do these owners give the dog any freedom, variety or mental work to do. I am convinced that is the cause of the hyper behavior.
I myself have a herding dog as a house pet, something that many people told me would not work. But I have found him to be a wonderful companion. I walk him every morning, varying the route as much as possible. Then we do some other form of physical activity after work, and we always, always do some training in the evening. I also try to take him to as many new places as I can. When he gets these activities, he is perfectly mellow and content to snooze at my feet in the house.
Jan says
With my late dogs mental stimulation was huge in their life. One was a Border Collie X Cattle dog ( smartest dog I ever met and my once in a life time dog) The other was a Border Collie X Springer Spaniel. They got long walks each day often in different places and lots of time at an off leash park where one obsessed on balls chasing them till she almost dropped. They knew many tricks and commands so walks and games of fetch always had a large anount of commands tossed in as drills and they wold come home much more tired then if we just walked with doing no drills. A typical game of fetch with the smart one was wait while I tossed the ball released her then part way to the ball, drop her in a distant down, maybe ask for a roll over or call her back release her let her get up near the ball and have her sit and wait maybe add a spin or twirl in there too and release her to pick up the ball and on the way back drop her part way in a down or have her do some other command before releasing her to come give me the ball. She loved it and if someone else joined in but just tossed the ball she would soon be bored and despite that person calling her she would start only bringing the ball back to me knowing I would make her do more.
The other one would chase along with her but after he lived with me a week he knew all balls belonged to her so would never pick one up.That crazy dog invented all sorts of fun games and most seemed to challenge not just herself but me if I was included in them. Both also did agility and on Thursdays they lived to go to practice and if I was out and a few minutes late getting home that was the only time they would rush out the door when I got home and go sit at my car waiting for me to come take them to agility other days they never shot out the door without me telling them to go out.
I did have a 3rd dog during those years too she was a homozygous merle border collie so was deaf with limited vision since birth but my once in a life time dog was rough with her so after 1.5 yrs She went to live with my parents and their dog and a year later after my moms death she developed her own job and that was watching my dad and getting him out on walks. She did not sleep on beds yet one day my dad was too weak and confused to get out of bed and when he was found she was with him in bed and refused to get off so when the paramedics came she had to be lifted off and put outside. I think she knew he was dieing and her plan had been to stay with him until the end She did come back to spend her final years with me.
They were in many ways my physical trainers.By the time they died I was past 50 so decided my days of such active dogs were over so replaced them with a Silken Windhound who being a sight hound is very different as one poster mentioned. He did learn agility faster then most of the aussies in class but once he mastered everything he became bored with it so if I take him out to do agility he will do maybe 3 or 4 things then rush to the side lines joining the others waiting their turn and look out at me like that poor lady does not even have a dog to run with If I try to get him back out he will run to his crate and enter it and lay down. I do love him and his goofy lazy sighthound being. I also own a mutt that I am most certain has some Border Collie or aussie in her but she is not as driven or high energy as my previous dogs, perhaps it was growing up with the sighthound!
We do agility demos at retirement homes with the club before we begin all the dogs get to visit with the residents while my mutt is eating up all the love they offer the Windhound is working the crowd to find the person he will run too when he gets boarded doing obstacles and by doing his run off to go cuddle with his new friend he provides eveyone with laughs. I really can not imagine my life without dogs.
Sonda says
We live in steamy St Augustine FL with our two rescued Chihuahua mixes: Willie, who is 13 years old, and Paco, an astonishing 18 years old. Both were adopted from our local humane society as adults. For many years we had a third dog, Bliss, who lived up to her name and passed away from kidney failure on May 15 at age 13. Both of our dogs, being older, are seemingly content with 2 20 minute walks per day, early morning and late evening in the hot weather, plus at least two car rides per day and (fenced and supervised) backyard time. I almost always drive to a variety of walking sites, to combat boredom (theirs and mine). My husband and I are both retired and provide much companionship and cuddle time. Nevertheless, I do worry that they are bored and feel guilty when I do have to leave them at home, rarely for more than 4 hours at a time. Thank you for a very interesting article and comments!
Tracy Matzinger says
Trust me, I know how frustrating restrictions are!!! Sadie my 6 year old rot tie just tore her ACL and is in physical therapy after surgery. I used to take her horseback riding with me, but that’s on hold tip November . I use to take her and my younger put mix to the forest preserve off leash and they’d go play in a creek , but that’s now even restricted…and the funny thing is I feel guilty for bringing my put mix out places and leaving her home, so now nobody is doing as much…but I have been playing our favorite game hide and seek… I’m running out if places to hide though lol…they find me way too easily now.
Amani says
This is a great article. I was always questioning how much stimulation a dog needs to be happy and healthy. I have a puppy from the mastiffs breed who is not technically mine, but my brother’s. As a family, we take care of her as much as we can but sometimes it can be exhausting. Since the puppy is a large dog (around 90 Lbs, bigger than our Golden!), it makes it hard for us to play with her inside and even outside the house. She usually gets her entertainment from training and from our other dog, but it doesn’t seem to take a lot out of her. I feel so bad because my siblings and parents who know how to drive a car can’t take her to the park or somewhere new since they have work or school the whole morning (I occasionally have time but I can’t drive yet). Unfortunately, I believe because of the boredom, she had started to get on the kitchen countertops to try and find anything edible. This had us restrict her to only the living room, which we had to gate up so that she doesn’t have access to the kitchen. How do I give her choices if she still wants attention and gives us stress? Even her playtime with our older dog can be aggressive (she bites our older dogs legs), which worries us. Many meals have been ruined by her energy but I want to know if it’s because she’s not happy that she does all this. Any advice would be good because I want her to be a nice, loyal dog in the future.