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Walking is NOT exercise!!

130K views 148 replies 102 participants last post by  germanshepherdlife20 
#1 ·
For a very young puppy, a walk may be enough exercise to tire them out for a few hours.

But for an adolescent dog a walk just won't cut it. Unless you are speed-walking. And then you better go several miles in order to tire out your dog.

If you want a dog that will SLEEP (or at least be calm) while you are at work all day you need to TIRE THEM OUT.

Spend 15 - 20 minutes throwing the ball and having them RUN to get it and bring it back. I'm not talking about throwing it 20 or 30 feet. Get a Chuck it and throw that ball a good 50 - 100 FEET!!

Take the dog for a bike ride (with the proper equipment) and set the pace so they are trotting. Put in a good 20 - 30 minute round trip.

THOSE are ways to tire out your adolescent dog. Walks just aren't enough.
 
#144 ·
I'd have to agree with what alot of what people are saying here, every dog is different. Shadow my 7 month old male GSD (currently lying on the floor whinging behind me :) ) and Elbow a 9 month old Sprollie, just in from tearing around the back yard. We have a big yard between 1/3 and 1/2 an acre and they get plenty of runs through that. My wife has recently started taking Shadow for a 3km walk in the morning before she goes to work and I bring Elbow in the evening for whatever I can manage. When they are playing together outside 15 - 20 minutes and Shadow is ready to call it quits. Elbow on the other hand is just warming up, if I could connect him up to the electricity grid I'd never work a day in my life again!!!
 
#145 ·
If the dog is willing you can get a really intense workout playing fetch. Some dogs I've interacted with just won't keep the game up long enough. My last dog was down to chase a ball long, far and full speed for a 30 min window at max pace and he'd come in and just collapse for a nap lol.
 
#148 ·
If your dog is a working line dog, cardiovascular exercise designed to tire him out will likely only turn him into a super athlete over time. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing as long as he is properly conditioned. If you are looking to help your dog get great rest, you need to give him a job. Training in obedience as someone earlier suggested is an excellent way to do that. Adding new behaviors to the training regimen is the best way to keep that fresh. I took it to the extreme and started doing igp with my dog because the more I gave her a job to do the better her behavior was everyday, sleep, manners, everything.
Workingg line dogs, if I could be so bold as to generalize, love to please. They love being presented with a challenge trying to figure out what it is that you want from them and then giving that back to you. Anthropomorphizing a bit here I know but when it comes to tiring out a working line German shepherd, this is literally the stuff dreams are made of. 😎
 
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