Dog seems happier and more settled with LESS exercise?

[giddly]

We have a 1 year old medium sized mutt with strong working roots (maybe spaniel / hound / terrier). She really looks the sort of dog that needs huge amounts of exercise, but to be honest she seems much happier and more settled on the days when she doesn't get much. Her recall is work in progress so we can only let her off in very specific places: when we go for a long walk where she can be let off she have a great time but for the rest of the day is unsettled and barky - I usually have to put her in her crate and shut the door to encourage her to settle and have a nap, but even after she's slept she is really restless. On days when I feel she doesn't have enough exercise (at the minimum we could be talking 1-2 miles lead walk with limitless opportunity to mooch around our reasonable garden plus a bit of training) she actually seems much happier and more settled. If she's happy is it OK to let her have some "chilled" days like that - to me if doesn't feel anything like enough? She's very slim and fit as the architypal "butchers dog".

Too much exercise can lead to an adrenalin junkie that needs more and more to get their fix.

Exercise is like food I reckon - each dog is different ... you know your dog better than anyone, sounds like she's happy as she is. I have two dogs (different breeds but the same weight). One eats more than the other to maintain the same weight.

That's interesting Lilcamper. Our trainer recommends that you don't exercise too much when they're young as they get more manic, but this just seems counter-intuitive to me. People seem quite hung up on 40 mins twice a day (which is what I had in mind) with some time off the lead, and I feel bad, but she's so much more relaxed with less exercise (she's quite an anxious dog).

He's better now but at that age my youngest found too much exercise over stimulating and was not able to settle well. We just cut back. Now a few months on it's not an issue, but Lilcamper is right. For each dog there will be an optimum level of exercise.

Thanks - for various reasons she's had limited exercise for the last few days and is very chilled and cuddly at the moment. Think I'll just go with it and adapt as necessary if she seems to need more as she gets older.

I have a very similar dog to you - 2 y.o. terrier spaniel cross - definitely working lines (is a rescue with docked tail) and she doesn't need anywhere near as much exercise as you would think. She used to get half an hours off-lead exercise per day (and it was all sprinting, she roams for miles) but I've recently hurt my leg so she only gets 20 mins of extendable lead exercise per day. Haven't seen any difference in behavoiur at home, she's still very chilled and sleeps all day.

My dog is 3 now and she's always been like this.

She likes one walk a day in the afternoon of approximately one and half hours. That walk can be a bit longer or shorter and that's fine.

From time to time I've tried taking her out for 2 shorter walks each day because I felt mean only giving her the one walk a day.

However, it just doesn't seem to work for her and instead of settling nicely with a mixture of play and sleep in the evening she is restless and demanding and doesn't seem to know what she wants.

We play and train a bit in the morning as well so she's getting exercise then, but she's definitely happier with more time at home.

I suppose it's also a matter of what they get used to.

Interesting - weed your dog sounds really like ours (she's a rescue and has been docked too). Thanks for your experiences - I'll stop worrying and enjoy it!

This is our lovely old English sheepdog after a day of no walking!

He loves his usual hour long walk each morning but on days like today when I can't walk him (and forget to get our local teenager in to walk him!) he shows no sign of missing it.

He sleeps all day and all evening with bouts of leaping round the house, up at the kids, zooming about the garden but there is no discernible difference in this on days where he isn't walked - happens once a fortnight so regular but not frequent. I'd just relax and enjoy the odd day off, especially if it's wet.

You know your dog better than anyone. My girl is a little like this, she likes to have a decent walk (1-2 hours) off lead mostly over the fields once a day including lots of ball throwing (she's a lurcher cross she will retrieve things forever!) fast running/ swimming etc. and then she is free to go into our large garden as and when she pleases. Anymore and she just doesn't enjoy it and gets agitated. She's a home loving girl really, never happier than when snuggled up indoors.
I discussed with my vet as I was worried about her not getting enough exercise and he said if she's happy, well behaved, eating, playing, her weight is perfect then it's just down to the personality and preferences of each individual dog. He also said she probably get more exercise having the freedom of the garden than she would on that extra walk anyway which is worth bearing in mind.

We have a pretty large (nearly 2 acre), enclosed back garden and my dogs thrive with a morning off leash walk and then spending much of the rest of the day sleeping on the deck/pottering around the garden. The days we do longer walks, they struggle to settle and bark a lot more. They're both small-medium sized dogs though.

Great photo Minty!