Exercise And Your Dog

If you have a dog or two, you know that exercise is important. If you live in a small apartment with no yard, you know the importance of getting out and walking for yourself, but do you take your dog along with you. You should know that taking your dog for walk is just as important as you needing to take a walk to stay healthy. Dogs are lazy most of the time and we need to have a little push now and then to get up and go.

Dogs that lay around the house all day tend to become overweight and depressed. Yes your can have depression without enough exercise. Walking is an important routine that should be established when they are young. Once in the morning and then again for a short walk at night should help keep them active and healthy. Different breeds of dog have different needs as far as walking and you need to know how far your dog can walk before taking the long walk.

My Pekinese and Pekinese/Shih-Tzu have such small legs that they only need to go around the block once. This of course is a small block. Bigger dog breeds can go for longer walks without any problems at all. Although all breeds need to exercise, the amount of exercise depends on the breed of dog. My German Shepherd, Missy, who died at the age of sixteen, loved to go for walks and we could walk for miles without any worries.

If we take the time to walk our dogs and play with them at local dog parks, they will have all the exercise they need to stay healthy and live longer. Missy was sixteen when she died, but the normal life expectancy is eight to ten years old. She was happy and healthy; therefore, she outlived all her brothers and sisters. We all want our beloved dogs to stay healthy and livelonger, and walking will surely help them stay fit and young feeling.

Whether chasing a ball, fetching a stick or taking a walk, your dog will have some form of exercise that keeps them in shape and does not allow them to become overweight and lazy from being cooped up in a house all day.