Living with a high energy dog, especially if you are not a high energy person, can be hard. You can’t just ignore your dog and hope that it learns to calm down and come to terms with living a quiet life. You have to manage the high energy, but how? You need to create a routine to manage your dog. The results will benefit both of you and will be well worth the effort.
The bad news – your days of watching endless TV shows are over
Let’s face it, watching TV for hours on end isn’t good for you. The occasional 30-minute show, or 90-minute movie is fine, but lazing on the couch, eating chips and drinking sodas does not make for a healthy life. Your high energy dog will agree with this, so give in and spend more time with your dog. He or she will love you all the more for it, and you will be leading a much healthier life. This will lessen your chances of disease and illness, and increase that all important bond with your dog.
The good news – you’ll walk a lot
Yes, that actually is good news. Walking is extremely healthy for both you and your dog. Walking will help considerably to shed some of your dog’s high energy as there is always plenty to see and do when you’re out walking.
Try to take a different route each day. Having different routes for each day of the week, repeating them each following week, might work well. If you always take the exact same route, your dog will quickly get bored as there will be very little new to see and do each day. Dogs do like familiarity, though, so coming back to a familiar route once a week or so will work well.
Incorporate intensive exercise into your daily walks
This may not be easy to do, but try. If there is access to a swimming pool, clean river or lake, get your dog swimming. Swimming is something the dog needs to be taught and if using a river or lake the dog needs to be well trained to commands especially “come”. You could do an exercise that is easy as throwing a ball or stick into the water and have them retrieve it. The dog will do all the hard exercise, while all you will have to do is throw the object into the water again every few minutes. Running and swimming involves much more intensive exercise than walking, and a high energy dog needs that. Create games and break up walks with commands such as sit, or make about turns, turn left, turn right to keep your dog thinking and ready to follow you.
Buy treat-dispensing toys to use for bad weather days
Toys that can dispense a treat for your dog are ideal for those days when the wind blows, the rain pours, or the snow chills. These toys can also provide you with valuable “me time”. Your dog will stay engaged with the toys long enough for you to steal a show or two on TV, or even a much needed afternoon nap.
Choosing the right dog for your lifestyle is important as high energy dogs can be difficult to live with, but you can properly prepare and organize your life and their life. You might find yourself spending more time with your dog than you thought, but that can be extremely rewarding too. You will also find yourself exercising much more than previously, but again, that is not at all a bad thing, and the benefits for you both are considerable.
If you enjoyed this article you might find the following interesting as well… The Dangers of Leaving Pets in a Car, Why Exercise is Important to your Dog, Creating a Dog Friendly Yard.