Dogs are earned their stripes as ‘man’s best friend’ centuries ago and since then no other animal has been able to wrestle that title from them.
It’s not surprising that they make such great companions. There are countless reasons why they are head and tail above the rest, a few reasons are; they love pleasing humans, are 100% loyal and get so excited when you come home!
Many people who grew up with dogs continue to keep dogs throughout their lives. Dogs are a great way of getting the family out, making sure that everyone gets some good exercise and just adding a bit more joy and life to your household.
However, as we age keeping a dog can become hard work, senior citizens may have developed mobility issues which make take their dog out on a regular walk an impossibility.
Exercise is important for your dog whatever their (and your) age. So we have put together three ideas you can use to ensure that your dog gets sufficient exercise:
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Dogs love chasing balls, repeatedly throwing a ball for your dog can be strenuous and exhausting, especially if you have a particularly fast agile dog that returns your throws in seconds.
An easy no sweat way of giving your dog the opportunity to play unlimited games of fetch is to get a machine that automatically throws the ball for your dog (you can see some of these throwing machines here).
There is a huge range of machines available some which are suitable for indoor games of fetch, others which are more suited to outdoor use.
All you need to do is spend a bit of time training your dog how to return the ball to the correct part of the machine so that it can be thrown again. Once they have learned this then they have access to potentially unlimited games of fetch!
Treat Hide & Seek
Most dogs are highly motivated by food. So an easy way to give them plenty of exercise within the confines of your home is to hide treats all over your house, especially in places that will make them do a bit of work to get to it, for example under the edge of a rug.
When your dog gets used to the idea of finding treats around the house they will scamper around with excitement looking here there and everywhere for a delicious snack.
This will give them plenty of exercises and a meal in the process.
Use Your Stairs
If you have stairs in your home then these can easily be utilized to give your dog some great exercise.
The best way to get plenty of exercise for your dog is by simply playing throw and retrieve which involves throwing a ball up the stays and your dog running after it and bringing it back. This can be quite high intensity so is more suitable for young energetic dogs however if your dog is older and not quite as agile you can just scale back the number of times that you throw the ball so that your dog doesn’t get too worn out.
When your dog gets the hang of stair fetch they may even work out how to play fetch by themselves like Mojo here!
We hope these tips help you to realize that even if getting out of the house is a struggle for you this shouldn’t necessarily reduce the quality of your dog’s life. A healthy dog is a happy dog!
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