Its really good to give your puppy opportunities to develop their flexibility and balance since these help to develop core muscles and joints. Some activities can also help develop their awareness of their body in space. Here is a great link to share ideas puppy exercise.
Mental exercise is also really important – we discussed the importance of sniffing games and this week we will develop this. The calm blanket game is starting to teach problem solving and thinking skills. Any training we do which makes the dog think will increase their ability to learn.
The right kind of exercise – involving physical and mental – is hugely important and supports brain development, makes the puppy feel good and obviously strengthens muscles, bone density and fitness. However, we need to mitigate against high impact activities – such as jumping out of the car, or repeatedly chasing a ball – as this can cause injury and lead to long term health problems. Growth plates in puppies don’t close until 14m+ (depending on the breed and whether the dog has been spayed or neutered) – high impact exercise, repetitive activities before the growth plates close can lead to increased risk of orthopaedic disease in the future.
Have a look at this great article from Canicross which sets out more information.
We know from research studies on free roaming dogs in other countries that they spend a lot of their time walking, exploring, scavenging and standing observing and limited time in fast activities (such as sprinting after prey). Similarly the spend only short periods of time playing rather than charging around and this is mixed with regular breaks and rest periods. Heres a brilliant video showing this group of free roaming but owned dogs in Mexico.
Dogs have no sweat glands and can only pant to regulate temperature, so we need to be mindful of the type of exercise and the weather. Similarly think about the physical size of your dog and the length of their legs compared to the size of your stride. Walking at a normal human pace may mean a smaller dog (or puppy) has to jog to keep up – this can be stressful for their body to keep up for prolonged periods of time.
Best types of exercise
- Slow walks, with lots of opportunities to stop, sniff and watch – this is what we referred to as a ‘watching’ walk last week.
- Short walk which is to explore the environment – walk the puppy on a long line and give them decisions about where to walk. Lots of opportunities to stop and sniff.
- Walks on a long line where you follow where your dog explores – reinforcing positive choices to come back to you
- 2-3 short walks a day rather than 1 long one
- Short intervals of play with familiar dogs
- Short intervals of play with toys (to avoid risk of repetitive behaviours) – roll a ball, or throw it only a short distance
