Why Exercise is Vital For Your Dog

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     You may not have realized how important exercise is for your dog, but it is every bit as important as exercise for yourself. As a dog ages, without regular exercise, he or she can become overweight, which can lead to a myriad of health problems such as diabetes, worsening joint pain, and added pressure on their spines. Typically, exercise does not mean you have to enter your dog into a competition, it simply means you must begin some type of exercise program to help keep your dog as healthy as possible.

Exercising your dog will improve their overall health, the same as it does for humans, but your dog is unique and therefore, he or she will require their own unique form of exercise. Typically, small or toy dogs do not require as much exercise when compared to larger dogs simply because it takes more exercise for a small dog to walk around the block than a big dog. Moreover, some breeds, such as working breeds, need more exercise naturally, because they were bred to work, and therefore, without exercise they easily bore and can become destructive.

If you have an unruly dog, chances are, you are not providing them with an adequate amount of exercise and they are bored. Think about a time in your life when you were bored, you began engaging in activities just to not go crazy from boredom. This is the same concept with dogs, they are bored with a lot of pent of energy and therefore, they begin digging in that sofa cushion until they have destroyed. You come and are angry that the dog would do such a thing, but you fail to realize that he or she did it because they are not getting exercise.

Therefore, if you are physically able, you should begin taking your do on at least one long walk each night to get all the pent up energy worked out. You will notice that your dog is calmer, happier, and more attentive, and does not engage in destructive behavior. Exercise can in fact, do all of this for your dog, which is why you should not assume that your dog is fine with minimal exercise because this is not true. If you cannot physically go on walks, you can engage the dog in a long game of fetch, which most dogs adore. Once the dog has the hang of fetch, he or she will never bore of it, but they get the same amount of exercise or more that a long walk provides.

There are always ways you can exercise your dog and when you are giving him or her exercise they need, your dog is suddenly the best-behaved pooch you could imagine. Dogs need exercise, that is the bottom line and if you are not exercising your dog, you are not experiencing the best dog you could, because when your dog receives adequate exercise, he or she is no longer bored and is healthier internally as well as externally.