Your dog needs a variety of important things to stay healthy, including a good diet, regular veterinary care, and proper grooming. But one of the most important (and often overlooked) things you need to provide your pupper is regular exercise.
In fact, exercise won’t only keep your dog physically healthy, it’ll also keep your dog mentally and emotionally healthy too. Providing plenty of exercise and physical activity can also help address a number of behavioral concerns owners struggle with.
The problem is that many owners don’t know how to provide enough exercise for their dog. Don’t worry – I’ll share 11 of the best canine exercises below!
First Things First: Keep Your Doggo Safe While Exercising
Before I share some good exercises to enjoy with your furball, it’s important to discuss some of the safety aspects of canine exercise. Just like humans, dogs can suffer injuries if they don’t exercise safely, so you need to keep a few key things in mind.
- Consult your veterinarian before starting an exercise regimen. It’s important to ensure your dog is healthy before initiating a new exercise routine. Your vet will likely check to make sure that your dog’s joints, muscles, and cardiovascular system are all operating properly before giving you the green light.
- Match the exercise to your dog’s breed, health, age, and preferences. While healthy young adults belonging to athletic breeds may be able to do just about any exercise you like, older dogs, brachycephalic breeds, and those with health problems should be provided with exercises that are suitable for their abilities.
- Monitor your dog for signs of exhaustion. While you want to help your dog burn some energy, you need to keep things reasonable and build up the duration and intensity of any exercise gradually. If your dog starts panting uncontrollably, slowing down drastically, or even laying down, give them a rest.
- Ensure your dog remains hydrated. Dogs may not sweat very much, but they lose a ton of moisture through their mouths while panting. So, be sure to offer regular water breaks so that your dog can replenish the water they lose.
- Use caution in extreme temperatures. Exercising in hot weather can cause dogs (especially those with heavy coats or short faces) to become overheated easily, so watch for signs of heat stress. Cold temperatures can also cause problems, especially for small, lanky, and thin-coated breeds. So, consider throwing a coat and a set of booties on your pup to keep them safe when exercising outdoors in the winter.
- Give your dog plenty of time to rest afterwards. Your dog will need time to recover after strenuous exercise, so be sure that they have a comfy place to lay down after you stop. In fact, most dogs will take a well-deserved nap after exercising.
There’s one more important thing to keep in mind: Several of the exercises I share below involve quite a bit of impact, including fetch, running, and potentially agility. These activities can be hard on your dog’s joints and back, so be sure to monitor your pupper closely and limit the amount of time you engage in these exercises — particularly if your doggo is older, overweight, or otherwise prone to joint problems.
Also, think about the type of surface your dog is exercising on. Dogs can run, jump, and play for longer on soft surfaces (such as grass) than hard surfaces (such as concrete or hard-packed dirt).
11 Great Dog Exercises
With safety out of the way, we can now turn our attention to some of the best ways to get your doggo more exercise. Just remember that for the best results, you’ll want to pick an activity that your dog enjoys.
1. Walking
Walking is undoubtedly the most common way owners get their dog exercise. It may not be a super high-octane activity, but it remains an effective way to provide stimulation and help your pup burn some calories. Best of all, walking doesn’t require any fancy equipment or force you to travel — simply grab a leash and some poop bags and head out your front door.
As with every form of canine exercise, you’ll want to tailor your walks to suit your dog’s needs. For example, you don’t want to force puppies, senior dogs, or those with health issues to walk for miles and miles. A lap or two around the block may be plenty for these kinds of puppers. On the other hand, a healthy husky or Dalmatian may want to keep walking long after you’re ready to throw in the towel.
2. Jogging or Running
If you have a high-energy dog, you may find it helpful to pick up the pace and actually jog or run instead of simply walking. As a bonus, this will help give you quite a bit of exercise too.
Just keep in mind that jogging or running will wear your pooch out much more quickly than a basic walk will, so be sure to keep tabs on them. If they start to fall behind or exhibit signs of fatigue, go ahead and take a break and let them recover. Also, remember that your dog’s body temperature will rise more significantly while trotting around, so provide plenty of water and be especially careful during the summer.
3. Swimming
Swimming is one of the best exercises in the world for dogs (not to mention people). It is a low-impact exercise that helps burn a ton of calories, and most importantly, it’s a blast! Many dogs love splish-splashing around on a warm spring or summer day.
But swimming does present some unique safety risks, so be sure that your dog is a strong swimmer before letting them jump into the water. If you’re worried at all, consider fitting your dog with a canine life jacket. It’s also important to note that some dogs — especially brachycephalic (short-faced) breeds — often have difficulty swimming. So, you’ll want to find another form of exercise for your pug, Frenchy, or shih tzu.
4. Hiking
A fantastic form of exercise for adventurous doggos, hiking is both physically and mentally stimulating, as your dog will have the chance to smell an array of new, interesting, and unusual things while heading down the trail. Plus, hiking provides a ton of physical and mental health benefits for humans too, so it’s truly a win-win situation.
Just make sure to keep your dog on a leash and be sensible about the trails you select. Start with easy, relatively flat trails (like the Green Lake Trail) for your first few forays before working up to harder trails; you don’t want to start with something as strenuous as the Cable Line Trail.
5. Hide-and-Seek
Hide-and-seek is a fun way to give your dog some exercise, and you don’t even have to leave your house to play. You may not be able to exhaust super-high energy dogs (looking at you, Aussie cattle dogs) with a simple game of hide-and-seek , but it will still provide some exercise and tons of mental stimulation.
There are a few different ways to play canine hide-and-seek, but the simplest involves having your dog “sit” and “stay” in one room, while you run off to some other room to hide. Once you’ve found a good spot, call your dog. When they manage to track down your location, throw a puppy party and give them a lot of praise.
6. Stair Recall
Another form of exercise that works well for days in which you’re stuck indoors, stair recall involves having your dog sit at the bottom of a staircase. Tell your dog to “stay,” and then walk up the stairs yourself. Have your dog wait for a second or two and then call them up to you. Dole out the praise (and/or treats) once they arrive at the top.
You can lather, rinse, and repeat in this fashion if you like, or you can incorporate a ball or your dog’s favorite toy to cut down on the number of trips you have to make up and down the steps. Just stand at the top, toss the ball down the stairs, let your pupperino fetch it, and then climb the stairs back to you.
7. Agility Work
Agility work is a wonderful way to get your woofer some exercise, and it also provides great bonding and training benefits too. Many dogs absolutely love learning to negotiate agility obstacles, and some may even enjoy partaking in competitive agility trials.
You will need a bit of space to set up agility obstacles. You may be able to play indoors if you have a small four-footer, but you’ll probably have to move to the backyard to give big dogs enough space. There are plenty of commercially manufactured obstacles you can purchase, but you can also make things like weave poles and jumps with little more than a few PVC pipes.
8. Doga (Dog Yoga)
Doga is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: You and your dog pose and stretch in various ways that help to lengthen muscles and reduce stress. Beginners will probably find that joining a public doga class is helpful, but experienced yogis may wish to simply practice at home.
Doga obviously isn’t going to result in an exhausted pet, who collapses and pants on the floor for 10 minutes after you stop. It’s a low-key, low-impact activity that’s designed to be calming. But it still provides physical activity, and it’s ideal for older dogs or those who’re suffering from health issues. In fact, stretching may help some dogs with hip or leg problems feel a bit better.
9. Circuit Training
Human circuit training involves the completion of a series of different exercises in rapid succession. You may, for example, do 10 pushups, then 10 sit ups, then 10 pull ups, then wall-sit for 2 minutes, and so forth. It’s designed to allow you to get in some strength training while also enjoying an aerobic workout.
And with a little creativity, you can let your dog join in on the fun. Basically, you’ll want to have your dog perform a trick or activity between each one of your exercises. You may have your dog turn in a few circles or lie down and get back up between your sit ups and pull ups. Or you may chuck a tennis ball up the stairs between your plank session and wall sit. Well-trained dogs may even be able to learn to perform various tricks or activities while you’re doing an exercise.
10. Fetch
Perhaps the easiest way to get your pet a considerable amount of exercise, fetch is a classic form of canine exercise. Not all dogs are interested in retrieving a ball, Frisbee, or toy you’ve just hurled across the backyard, but many simply love this game. Just be sure that you always play in a safe, fenced area to prevent accidents.
And don’t worry if you don’t have a major-league-caliber arm, either. There are a variety of ball-throwing products on the market that’ll make it easy to fling the ball across your backyard or the dog park. And many will alleviate the need for you to bend over or touch a slobbery ball if you don’t want to.
11. Doggie Dancing
Doggie dancing involves you and your dog completing a series of choreographed steps in a manner that’s reminiscent of dancing. It may involve your dog following you in the heel position, circling you, using their paw in various ways, or weaving between your legs. But honestly, your imagination and your dog’s abilities are the only limiting factors.
While doggie dancing does help your pup burn calories and get some exercise, the biggest benefits it offers are likely the mental stimulation and chance to bond with you. If your dog ends up enjoying the activity, you may even want to consider checking out the competitive circuit.
Let Me Help Your Dog Get Some Exercise When You Can’t!
Hopefully, you’ll find that one of the exercises discussed above is easy to work into your dog’s regular routine. But this can understandably be difficult for some owners — especially those who work outside the home and have trouble fitting regular exercise into their day.
Fortunately, there is a solution: I offer several dog-walking services that can not only provide your pup with a needed mid-day break but also the exercise and mental stimulation they need to thrive. In fact, I bet you’ll notice your dog becomes more manageable and stops exhibiting as many troubling behaviors after just a few sessions.
Head over to the dog walking page now to learn more!
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