Exercising With Your Dog: A Complete Guide

Overweight Dogs

Just like people, dogs can become overweight — even obese. As many as a third of all dogs are overweight. Excess pounds are hazardous to your dog's health for many of the same reasons they're hazardous to ours: they can lead to heart problems, diabetes, and a shortened lifespan.

Sometimes people can overcome a weight problem without assistance. But if your dog weighs too much, he's going to need your help to get back in shape. Here are some of the reasons dogs become overweight:

Lack of physical activity
Poor eating habits
Treats, rawhides, and bones that contain too many calories
Food available outside of normal mealtimes
Food from people other than his owner (table scraps are a good example)
Medical conditions like hypothyroidism
Behavior adopted from the owner (a dog might pick up the nervous habits of an anxious owner)

Getting your overweight dog back in shape requires a plan, some changes in lifestyle, and a consultation with your veterinarian. Effective weight control depends on reducing your dog's food intake and increasing his exercise — but improving his diet is key. A better diet alone has more impact on your dog's health than exercise alone.

How will you know when your dog has hit his ideal weight? Some signs:

You can feel his ribs easily, but cannot see them easily
He's "cut" (defined) in the loin area
You can feel or see a bit of his spine
His back is not so flat and wide you could rest a beer on it

Why Exercise With Your Dog?

Just like us, dogs need exercise, and it does the same things for them that it does for us: it keeps them healthy and happy. For dogs — and dog owners — there are even more benefits to a regular routine: it helps curb behavioral issues like hyperactivity, aggression, and destruction. When you exercise with your dog, you get a chance to bond with your pet and establish your leadership.

Before You Start

It's always a good idea to check with your veterinarian before your dog begins a regular exercise routine. Keep these guidelines in mind, too:

Puppies younger than 16 months should not take part in a vigorous exercise routine — their bones are still growing, and the stress of a difficult routine can lead to early hip and joint issues.
Overweight and senior dogs should get a vet's OK before starting a vigorous routine.
Pugs, boxers, and other short-nosed breeds get winded sooner than other dogs, so keep the exercises less vigorous and the sessions shorter.
Dachshunds, basset hounds, and other breeds with short legs and long backs can develop back problems, so check with your vet before beginning.
Food is just as effective a motivator during exercise as at other times — but use it sparingly. Keep the pieces pea-sized and limit the total amount. Don't feed your dog a full meal's worth during active exercise, or he may fall victim to a potentially fatal stomach condition called bloat. Great Danes, bloodhounds, and Weimaraners are especially susceptible, but the condition can afflict any breed.

How Much Exercise?

A normal, healthy adult dog needs about an hour of exercise a day, which you can break into two sessions. Puppies and senior dogs need roughly two 15-minute sessions per day.

How to Stay on Track

It's called an exercise routine for a reason — it works best if you do it regularly. Make it a commitment and a priority to exercise with your dog (it'll be good for your health, too).

Schedule a specific time every day that's just for you and your dog to exercise
Start slowly and work up in intensity and duration as you both make progress
Vary the exercises to keep from getting bored
Make it fun

What Types of Exercise?

To your dog, exercise is no different than almost everything else in his universe: it's more fun when he's doing it with you. A big flat grassy backyard may strike you as an open invitation for your dog to run and play, but once you turn around and go back inside the house, your dog probably sees the yard as the perfect place to lie in the shade and catch some shut-eye.

You've heard me say this before: "Like people, all dogs are different." Remember that when you're planning your dog's routine. Dogs of different breeds, ages, sizes, and abilities require different levels and types of activity:

Some dogs are fulfilled by a simple walk around the block; others need something more active
Retrievers like fetching and swimming
Sledding dogs like pulling carts and jogging
Dock diving, agility, flyball, tracking, herding, protection sports, and tricks are other activities that might interest your dog

If You Go to a Dog Park

Dog parks offer lots of wide-open space to exercise, but also some dangers. You may not know the other dogs, how well they are trained, or how attentive their owners are. So enter at your own risk, use caution, and be prepared. Before you take your dog to a dog park — or any off-leash environment, even the sidewalk in your neighborhood — be sure he knows Steve's four commandments:

Come
Stay
Heel
No

Be aware of your dog's limitations and what might set him off. You know your kids are little angels, but you also know that if a scuffle breaks out on the playground, you have to be open to the idea that your little angel might have started it. Hard as it may be to believe, the same wisdom applies to your four-footed canine angel.

Swimming in a Pool

If you let your dog swim in a pool, make sure he knows the way out. Place a marker — a planter, a cone, anything visible from his vantage point — near the steps or other exit, and make sure good things happen when he reaches that marker.

Exercises for You and Your Dog

The 3-Paced Walk

You and your dog walk for 30 seconds, then jog for 30 seconds, then sprint for 30 seconds. Repeat.

Benefits: Aerobic conditioning; strengthens the heart and lungs and boosts metabolism.

Before you start: Your dog should know heel and how to walk properly.

Brooks' Tip: For greater impact, move your arms as vigorously as you do your legs.

Sprints

Sprint to a nearby tree and call your dog to come. When he's midway to reaching you, say "down" and "stay." Then do some jumping jacks or squats while your dog holds the stay. Release the dog on your terms and repeat.

Benefits: Increased cardiovascular strength and endurance.

Before you start: Your dog should know come, down, and stay.

The Weaving Grapevine

Perform walking lunges while your dog weaves through your legs. Start with a small handful of treats in each hand. Step forward into a lunge, guide the dog through your legs, and reward with kibble each step. As you progress, reward every two lunges, then every four, increasing the number of lunges between treats as you both improve.

Benefits: Strengthens and tones your inner thighs and glutes.

Brooks' Tip: Keep your knees in alignment with your feet. To keep your balance, focus on something at eye level in front of you — don't look down.

The Shuffle

You shuffle sideways while your dog heels forward.

Benefits: Increases range of motion at the hip; works the inner and outer thighs; strengthens ankles and knees.

Retrieve and Repeat

Throw a ball or toy for your dog to run down, retrieve, and return. Alternate throwing to the left and right to work both sides of your body.

Benefits: Aerobic exercise that's fun for both of you.

Brooks' Tip: To increase the intensity — and the fun factor — once your dog retrieves the ball, run away and have him chase you.

Tug o' War

Note: not for all dogs. This game is a favorite of almost every dog and, depending on your pet's size, can be a real strength exercise for you. But your dog must know the rules: the game starts only when you say so, and when you say it's over, it's over right now.

Benefits: Strengthens your arms and shoulders.

Before you start: Be certain your dog is not aggressive, does not tend to bite, and immediately obeys a "drop it" command.

Brooks' Tip: Use a rope long enough that your dog can't accidentally bite your finger, and never lift your dog off the ground by the rope in his teeth.

The Stairs

You and your dog run up a flight of stairs, run down, repeat.

Benefits: Aerobic exercise for both of you.

Before you start: Your dog should sit this one out if he's overweight, a breed with short legs or a long back, very young or very old, or if the stairs are crowded.

Down and Stay

Put your dog in a down-stay while you perform a set of cardiovascular exercises — jumping jacks, squats, squat jumps, even running in circles. He must maintain the down-stay.

Benefits: Your dog learns self-control that could save his life, while you work on your cardiovascular fitness.

The Two-Dog Race

Place both dogs in a stay, run 25 yards or so away, and stop. Face the dogs and call "come." The first dog to come and sit (or down) wins a reward — a treat or a hug.

Benefits: Sprints for you, then a sprint for the dogs.

Before you start: If your dog isn't safe off leash, use a 20- or 25-foot leash and run only that distance away.

Getting Creative

Once you and your dog get the hang of your regular routine, add some new exercises, like doggie push-ups: cue your dog to sit, then down. Keep the repetitions to a maximum of 4 or 5, otherwise your dog may become confused and frustrated. Take a break, then repeat.

Freestyle dancing and good old-fashioned stretching are also fun, effective elements of any workout — for you and your dog. Frisbee is a classic that some dogs really enjoy. Even having your dog carry a toy on a walk burns extra calories.

For some older dogs, try a food hunt: much like an Easter egg hunt, hide food through your yard. A good low-impact exercise is dissecting a Kong toy stuffed with a low-calorie treat — mentally and physically challenging.

Treadmills may be popular, but beware: they can be dangerous. If you put your dog on a treadmill, monitor them constantly. Then again, if you're going to spend your time monitoring, you might as well spend some quality time together and take them for a walk.