How do you exercise your dogs in bad weather?
I have a couple of Dalmatians. We do a ton of walking and playing in the backyard.
I feel bad for them this week. I know they are going stir crazy after getting a foot of snow. We don’t mind playing in the snow, but the temperature has been bitterly cold.
How do you exercise your high energy dogs when stuck at home?
Gotta pay the tax.
I don’t know how well this will work for more than one dog, but searching for stuff has worked very well for me. Using their sense of smell makes them expend a lot of energy.
Initially, the “stuff” will be treats, of course, but that’s the part where it might be tricky for two or more dogs. You don’t want them to fight for the treat.
Maybe take turns at first?
Anyway, you let your dog have a sniff of the treat and then tell your dog to stay (close a door if they don’t know how to stay very well) and go hide a treat. Come back and tell him to search. If he doesn’t understand at first, call him towards the hiding place. He’ll catch on quickly.
The goal is to make them smell, and not just search with their eyes. This might take a few tries or maybe a couple of weeks. Keep trying creative hiding spots so that they’re easily reachable but not easily spotted (visually).
You might find that they’ll try to follow your scent (where you’ve been) instead of the scent of the treat. That’s good initially, but later you might want to try walking around elsewhere to throw them off.
As they progress, give them something else to sniff and hide. Follow him close as he searches and as soon as he finds the object, give him the treat. I suppose that at this point, you can have both dogs searching at the same time and treat them both regardless of which one found it.
The final step of this hide-and-seek game is to have them “signal” you when they find it. I believe the most common way is just to sit close to the thing you hid and look at you.
As you can see, I laid down several steps. Each adds more mental stimulation to the game, which is also rewarding to dogs.
He’ll catch on quickly.
heh. I, too, am heavily motivated by food.
Thank you so much for this! One of my dogs has endless energy, I think she'll really enjoy scent work as a game.
Awesome stuff! I do the same thing with my pups. We call the game “find it!” . It seems to be a fun thing for them!
Get some booties and padded vests for them, then go out like normal. I used to live in a city that would get down to -30 sometimes and we would still go out; though, for not as long.
If they're not used to booties, let them walk around inside with them for awhile and make sure to record it for us hahah.
*Also my dogs were used to the cold.
I play a game called “stairs”. One person sits at the top of the stairs and calls the dog. The other person sits at the bottom. When the dog reaches the top, they call the dog. Repeat until the dog gets tired
You have thee options.
Go out in the bad weather and exercising them like you normally would.
Fetch or similar someplace with just enough room to run around. (If you have it.)
Or let them go bonkers and exercise themselves.
Pick your poison :)
Option 4, treadmill. Surprisingly easy to train them on.
Eh.
If you want to get a treadmill for your dog, sure.
Most people won’t want to keep that around the house, and critically, human treadmills are dangerous for dogs- the start and stop sequence is too fast and ends of the belt or exposed edges and rollers are all likely places to catch a paw (and break bones.)
Treadmills can be very dangerous for dogs, though. So do your research first.
Booties and rain ponchos then just go out as normal.
Work on obedience, or teach your dog to find birch oil q-tips.
https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/training/how-to-teach-your-dog-scent-work/
When your dogs need something to do, just let them find a few around the house and give them some high value treats as a reward.
You can also sign up and take classes if there are good ones nearby.
Snuffle mat. Or, freeze their food in a slow feeder mixed with a little broth. This will give them something to sniff and fixate on for awhile.
I also play tug a lot, and fetch down the hallway.
Teach them to use the treadmill, it works great
You can keep your Dalmatians active indoors by setting up obstacle courses with furniture, playing fetch in a hallway, or using crash mats for safe jumping exercises. Tug-of-war, hide-and-seek with treats, and interactive toys can also help burn energy. If you have stairs, letting them run up and down is a great workout. Mental games, like teaching new tricks or puzzle feeders, will keep them engaged when outdoor play isn’t possible. See details to buy crash mats for gymnastic workout.
How do you exercise your dogs in bad weather?
Every day, wearing dog coat if required.