Today’s topic is the dog’s exercise and its direct link to family dog training in general and to the dog’s behavior indoors in particular.
One major thing to remember about your dog is that it’s not a human being but a beast (shocking, isn’t it?). Many dog breeds are originally working dogs (shepherds, hunting dogs etc.), so they’re not supposed to sit on the sofa all day long. If you don’t give your dog the exercise he naturally needs and the opportunity to spend his energies in a positive way then he’ll just find his own way to spend his energies (and that’s where all the shenanigans come from…). Many of the dog behavior problems come from lack of exercise. They can’t help it – they must spend those energies in some way… it’s in their genes.
I recommend taking your dog to the nearest park and making him run (walking isn’t going to make your dog very tired unless it’s a really long walk). My best way of making my border collie tired is by playing fetch with a KONG frisbee. Beary loves his frisbee more than life itself (and it’s a nice toy for me, too =)).You can check out it’s amazon page here.
So what’s the connection between family dog training and the dog’s exercise? Well, if you make sure your dog isn’t pumped full of energy before training time, you’ll see that the training goes better.