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Best Exercise for your Dog

GaMei

Well-Known Member
Guys,

Since Diego was a puppy i have always walked him and once he got a little older over a year i started running with him for short distances in order to drain his energy. After he passed 15 months i was no longer able to drain his energy with our walks and runs, i have a busy schedule and im not a great long distance runner. So eventually i started rinding my Bicycle with him but it was only on weekends due to not been able to ride around the house due to all the massive hills.

I did have some inline skates and i tried once to ride with Diego, i was afraid of him dragging me to the ground if he saw another dog, you see Diego is like a mirror if he sees a gently dog he becomes gentle himself but if he sees an aggressive dog he goes into a berserk mode with redirected aggression. He tried that during our bicycle rides but it was easy to control riding the bicycle.

So recently i hired a trainer and started to go to free classes administered by the Kennel Club of Sao Paulo on Saturdays on top of daily reinforcement Diego has made huge improvements and me knowing that rules and boundaries were only part of the equation i knew that i had to also exercise to help him drain his energy.

So i took him to an area near the house and that has low traffic, a lane for bicycles and a huge straight line of about 1 k and just let Diego sprint allout. My god it was fun, i did so each day at 5 AM for a week and then i took him to Iberapuera park.

At the park i can't go full speed due to the huge crowds but what the ride lacks on speed at the park it makes up for the calmness and connection you create with your dog, wow the site seen is amazing and a connection you create of trust is incredible.

He does not pull, lunge at other dogs, he just mirrors my speed and obeys each one of my commands, this is the 4th straight week that we skate each day for 30 minutes and go on weekends to the park for half day just to relax and have fun. I just wanted to share my experience of skating with my dog and see if others also skate with their dogs
 

karennj

Well-Known Member
There is NO way in hell I am putting skates on with Bear!! LOL
When he sees dogs or kids outside he gets really excited and kangaroo jumps. For exercise we hike a lot behind my house were he can be off leash and really run. The days we don't hike we do the flirt pole and a 30-60 min walk on the road.
 

GaMei

Well-Known Member
DDSK i know what you mean, i also have a Weimaraner and there is no way in hell ill skate again with him, i tried it once and almost got killed thank god it was just us and no cars around or other people. That said with my Dogo Argentino he seems to understand eeach situation, yesterday we were at the park again and it was a holiday so it was packed and i mean packed. He maneuvered with me through the ocean of people, we passed dogs, police officers (lol they think its a pit bull and its against the law to walk one without a muzzle here in SP) and maintains the same attitude, sits on comand and nothing distracts him, the only time he does anything outside of running is when he wants to let me know he is done and needs to rest.
 

DennasMom

Well-Known Member
Awesome exercise!!

I tried inline skating with my last dog - he was an AWESOME moving handrail for me, which I took advantage of, often (I'm obviously not a skater). :)
He also did OK with the bike.

Denna would probably do OK, too. My problem was finding a good place to skate or bike - not wanting to go down the middle of the street. We have some nice bike paths around here, but they get busy with work commuters.

I want to get one of these: DogPoweredScooter.com
But, would probably have the same problem of finding a good place to go use it.
 

GaMei

Well-Known Member
@Karennj yes Pit bulls, Rottweilers and Neapolitan Mastiff need to have a muzzle when they are in public areas (Mall, park, street, etc.) so the vast majority of the ignorant population confuses a terrier with a mastiff. My main issue is that everyone knows their knowledge level when it comes to dog breeds unless you are really drunk with your stupidity your thought process should be: "I think thats a pitbull, but im not sure. Let me ask the guy walking him and very before i ask him to put a muzzle on his dog"

But no that's not how it happens they accuse you, call the policy and then!! they ask about the breed. but anyways that's life you can't educate the world and just have to tolerate ignorance. But it's just crazy it's like me walking up to a civil engineer and start arguing about the type of cement he is using on the bridge when i know more about space agronomy than construction.

@DennasMom i had the same problem until i bought a car here (im an Expat) so now i just take him to a huge park
 

Nik

Well-Known Member
GaiMei - Wow that sounds like an amazing experience! Too bad I am a complete uncoordinated klutz and can't skate without ending up on my bottom. :-(
When you started with the biking together did you just use the basic heel command to keep him with you and not wandering off? With the corrections when he tries to go elsewhere did that take a lot of strength and balance on your part to correct? my boy isn't old enough for this yet but I'm wondering if once he is old enough if it's something I'm coordinated enough to pull off. :p
 

GaMei

Well-Known Member
Nik,

I started first with a double hook leash attached to the bike and a leather harness for the dog. To be honest i did not use any commands at that point with him (he did not obey any command) he did ran in front of the bike once the front tire hit him in the back (nothing major since i braked immediately) after that never again he runs perfectly to my left side and does not need corrections at all.

Same thing with the skates, use two leashes one for the harness and another for a neck collard for sharp turning at the park, it allows me to direct him to where i want to go since the harness does not allow much control.