Effective Management of Your Dog
Created | Updated Sep 21, 2005
Dogs were bred to perform specific jobs for humans in the not-so-distant past. These jobs required a lot of physical stamina that these dogs still possess today. It is important, then, to give your dog adequate exercise or your dog will find an alternative outlet for its energy and this alternative will probably not be to your liking, whether the dog decides to bark or to chew things up. Effective management can help you and your dog have a happy, healthy relationship.
First, hopefully you have already chosen a dog that will fit the amount of exercise that you are able to give the dog. If you are still in the market for a dog, however, research dogs so that you can get one that will fit your lifestyle. A border collie, for example, has enough energy to run around in a field all day herding sheep and then come home and play fetch with the kids. Does this sound like the amount of exercise you will be able to give your dog? If not you probably want to consider another breed of dog.
Second, make sure you exercise your dog in the morning. I know it is hard to get up in the morning and exercise your dog, but if you don't there can be some not so great consequences. When your dog wakes up in the morning he or she is full of energy. Leaving the house with a dog like that in it is a disaster waiting to happen!
Dogs in order to be properly exercised, need to be trotting, not walking. Walking your dog around the block does not count as exercising your dog. In addition, this trotting needs to be kept up for 20 to 40 minutes. There are numerous ways of you achieving this amount of exercise. You can run with your dog, bicycle with your dog, there are numerous products on the market that will help you make sure not to run your dog over or have your dog pull you over. You can also play fetch or another game involving running.
Once you achieved this amount of exercise you will probably still not fulfilled your dogs exercise needs! So in order to do so try tiring your dog out by challenging him mentally! If you give your dog a Buster cube or a Kong (two toys that you can stuff food in and make him figure out how to get it out you will have a dog that works for its food and it will probably be tired after it figures out how to get its food!
Hopefully this will help you and your dog have a better relationship!
First, hopefully you have already chosen a dog that will fit the amount of exercise that you are able to give the dog. If you are still in the market for a dog, however, research dogs so that you can get one that will fit your lifestyle. A border collie, for example, has enough energy to run around in a field all day herding sheep and then come home and play fetch with the kids. Does this sound like the amount of exercise you will be able to give your dog? If not you probably want to consider another breed of dog.
Second, make sure you exercise your dog in the morning. I know it is hard to get up in the morning and exercise your dog, but if you don't there can be some not so great consequences. When your dog wakes up in the morning he or she is full of energy. Leaving the house with a dog like that in it is a disaster waiting to happen!
Dogs in order to be properly exercised, need to be trotting, not walking. Walking your dog around the block does not count as exercising your dog. In addition, this trotting needs to be kept up for 20 to 40 minutes. There are numerous ways of you achieving this amount of exercise. You can run with your dog, bicycle with your dog, there are numerous products on the market that will help you make sure not to run your dog over or have your dog pull you over. You can also play fetch or another game involving running.
Once you achieved this amount of exercise you will probably still not fulfilled your dogs exercise needs! So in order to do so try tiring your dog out by challenging him mentally! If you give your dog a Buster cube or a Kong (two toys that you can stuff food in and make him figure out how to get it out you will have a dog that works for its food and it will probably be tired after it figures out how to get its food!
Hopefully this will help you and your dog have a better relationship!
