To wonder how unfit dog owners manage?

[Bamboozleme]

I love walking and run 4x a week. Children sport-mad.
we have a lab
2 long (and fast!) walks a day plus and 20 min evening stroll

scrolling through my steps history and realised… on the days I run and do all the dog walks (I mainly do all the dog walks despite promises otherwise!) my step count is never below 25k. On days I won’t run, never below 18k.

Some days - substantially more!

how do you fare if you don’t enjoy walking and / or unfit and have a dog that needs and enjoys max walks?!

So why are you asking the question?

My children and I walked greyhounds from our local rescue during covid

absolutely fell in love with them

This is so frustrating 😂. What people? Again, I imagine the pool of people who are lazy, unfit, and hate walking yet take on a dog who likes/needs 2-3 hours of walking a day is very, very small!

Hopefully

so then the question applies… to them!!

Well done you! 👏👏👏

😂😂😂

Good luck in finding someone from that very small pool of people to answer your question then 😁

Which is good news when you think about it!

OP, on my vet’s recommendation I’ve vastly reduced my two dogs’ daily exercise. Mine are super high energy; a sheepdog and a collie. My husband was bringing them for 8+ mile hikes pretty much every day along with shorter walks, sniffing strolls, and loads of field running that I was doing with them.

Then they started getting a bit destructive. Vet pointed out that we’d made them so fit, we’d basically put them into training for longer hikes and, when they weren’t getting them, they had excess energy so would now need 10 miles, and shortly that wouldn’t be enough for them and they’d want 12 etc.

We’ve dialed it right back, now just hike once a week, have introduced more short walks for sniffs, and started some brain-focused agility training.

They’re much calmer now and get exhausted after the brain work.

@Bamboozleme

What you seemed to be saying was that lazy people who don't walk their dogs couldn't have sports mad and fit children.

It would be worth you examining why you did that.

I used to be very fit and healthy. Then I had a life changing accident.

Was I just supposed to give up my dog?

Though I don’t have sports-mad children so not sure if my vet took that into account 🤷🏻‍♀️

What kind of brain focussed agility?

He has a lot of “brain games” at home but I like the idea of incorporating with being outside in the garden.

like obstacle courses in the garden?

But the question was if you have one of these types of dogs and you don’t like walking and or unfit

You don't need to be fit to walk a dog - especially if you can have them off the lead. I walk for 5-6 hours a day and barely break a sweat walking my off-lead dogs - they just run about while I walk at whatever pace I fancy.

And if you don't like walking at all, I suspect you wouldn't get a dog in the first place 🙈

I was recommended to scatter feed (for a different reason) - you could try that.

Basically fling the food around the garden.

Also have a slow release hard plastic ball. That the dog chases

Your vet sounds great @SquirrellyTheSquirrel and they're absolutely right.

Yes, dogs should be fit and should get plenty of exercise, but they don't need to be out walking miles everyday. In fact, many dogs find miles of exercise quite over-stimulating - especially if they're reactive or nervous.

Mine is lead reactive and benefits hugely from a day off occasionally - it gives him a chance to re-set and he's much less stressed meeting other dogs afterwards.

Allow your dog to sniff is one of the best brain development things you can do. So rather than ploughing on on your 4 hr "fast" powerwalk, go in the woods or somewhere and let your dog sniff to his heart's content.

Mine won't be getting a walk today because the Walker is off

A day off will do him no harm.

Love the idea of flinging around the garden! He will love that. He does get his brekkie “served” in various puzzles but love the idea of him foraging

🙏

Thought I was doing well with 8000ish steps a day with my retriever 😂 Sometimes he has less, sometimes more, depending on my variety of chronic illnesses. He would walk until his little paws dropped off but is equally happy tearing around the garden for a bit and having a quick 20 min trio to the park.

No 4 hour walks here!

a lot of sniffing goes on. He bolts ahead. Stops, sniffs, waits for me. Rinse and repeat

I'm 35 weeks pregnant with pelvic girdle pain so when I take my dog now I take her to a field and throw the ball for her. I get to stand in one place and she races round for an hour playing with her ball and other dogs 🤷🏻‍♀️

My dogs would hate you forever if you tried to take them out for any longer than an hour!
What an unnecessary comment - clearly different breeds have different needs.

So how do you cover that much ground? If you’re not speed walking and it doesn’t take the time it would at average walking speed?....

There isn’t a logical way left...

Your vet sounds great @SquirrellyTheSquirreland they're absolutely right.

I felt like such an idiot when he pointed it out, @coffeecupsandwaxmelts, it was just so obvious. I’d be at home scratching my head as they chewed holes in my cushions thinking “how can they be energetic again, they did 8 miles this morning?!”

They’re definitely happier now. Well able for a long hike at times but it wears them out more and for longer.

@Bamboozleme For brain games, like other posters, I do scatter feeding around the garden. Tie treats up in towels and let them snuffle them out, have toys from the pet shop that they have to figure out to get the treats. They love all of those. We have a massive back garden and they just love chasing each other- I find that ten mins of rubbing around the garden like that had then more tired than anything else. Walks are too predictable for them; they know they’re basically going forward with some deviation for sniffs. When they’re chasing each other, they have to constantly think because they need to turn and hide. Garden feels like Cheltenham when they’re going over the flowerbeds.

For agility, I have some old pallets that have been chopped to different heights. I get them to run a loop to jump over increasingly tall pallets. None of them are high enough to be taxing, or that they could injure themselves if they ran into them, but it’s more the brain work for them of figuring out how they’re going to jump while running. I also have an old seesaw that I’m trying to get them to walk along but they’re having none of that.

While my dogs are high-energy due to the breeds, they get most exercise from each other. They’re constantly running and jumping outside together, you can see their little brains whirring when they’re chasing and trying to outfox each other. I really don’t think a human can give a dog that level of development.

I run 4x a week