Some Creative Dog Exercise Tips Help a High Energy Boston Terrier Calm Down
By: David Codr
Published Date: December 22, 2022
For this Brentwood in home dog training session we worked with 1 year-old Boston Terrier Toby, sharing some creative dog exercise tips.
Toby is one high energy pup. He tore through the house with abandon; jumping up, mouthing, barking and generally had difficulty controlling himself. Anytime you have a high energy dog, its important to make sure you are getting them physical exercise and mental stimulation on the regular; otherwise its not uncommon to see dog behavior problems develop. This is a very common problem I see as Brentwood’s resident dog behavior expert; but that doesnt have to be the case.
Most people exercise their dogs like humans, but this is problematic. Dogs sleep 13-16 hours a day on average. A long sleep overnight, then catnaps (ironically) throughout the day. The reason this is an issue is if we only exercise our dogs once or twice a day, they will take a nap and get back to 100% energy again.
Additionally, if we have one long exercise session, we make the dog so tired they come home and sleep. But if you take your dog out for 3, 20 minute walks spread throughout the day, they come home and can hang out awake with less energy. Essentially practicing calm behavior which is sneaky-overlooked important.
But walking isnt the only way to exercise a dog.
Some creative dog exercise tips
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There are a number of ways to exercise your dog. Obviously walks are great (make sure you let your dog sniff as they burn substantially more energy sniffing instead of walking alone), but so are games of fetch, playing the tug game, dogskiing, using a flirt pole, etc.
But physical exercise can be supplimented with mental stimulation exercises, aka enrichment. There are a ton of mental stimulation games you can play with your dog like feeding them out of a snuffle matt or treat dispensing toys like the Omega Paw treat ball. You can also play scent games; there are a ton to choose from such as Cookie in the corner.
Since Toby is such a high energy dog, I wanted to share a bunch of creative ways to exercise a dog. I pulled out my camera and had them film me as I ran through some ways to burn off energy in high energy dogs. If you have a dog who has a lot of energy, you should definately check out this free positive dog training video for some great ideas.
It was great to see how quickly these dog exercise hacks impacted Toby. By the end of the session he was calmer and as a result, his behavior was much better. If the guardians get into a habit of proactivly exercising Tonby or getting him some mental stimulation ebvery few hours or before they need him to be calm, the should find he is much better behaved.
These creative forms of exercise are easy to do and sure do come in handy when you dont have time for a walk or it gets too cold to be outside.
Categorized in: Dog Behavior