03/09/2024
[Dogs & Humans: Where do our EXERCISE needs overlap?]
We would like our dog to be our companion: at home and outside. And, let's be honest, we hope they'll encourage us to get more exercise too!
But have we ever stopped to think if our exercise needs actually match up with our furry friends?
To figure this out, let's take a closer look at dogs as a species. What do they naturally do, and what kind of lifestyle are they built for? Luckily, studies of free-ranging dogs have given us some valuable insights. Despite how much the world has changed, free ranging dogs still preserve large autonomy and natural lifestyles.
Here are some key takeaways*:
1. Free-ranging dogs spend most of their day sleeping, resting, chewing, or socializing.
2. If they choose to move, it's most likely not running fast.
3. They tend to stick to a pretty small area.
4. Hunting isn't really their thing; they'd rather scavenge or beg for food.
Have you noticed? There is no intense running, pulling, hiking in the mountains or agility in these studies. This highlights a pretty big mismatch between what we often expect from our dogs and what they're naturally inclined to do.
The fact that dogs are CAPABLE of intense exercise, does not mean that they were made for it.
Domestic dogs face additional challenges. Not only they are not prepared by nature for the intense exercise we put them through, but the life conditions of a human home make it even tougher on their bodies.
Below we will list the most detrimental things that happen to a typical dog in a human home that we and our colleagues observed.
Reading through the following paragraphs might feel uncomfortable because you may recognise yourself or your dog. We have been in the same boat and know that the change starts with embracing a mild discomfort. We will know better and can do better for our dogs, making a step forward every day.
Let's zoom out and see what often happens:
🟠We get a puppy and take them for walks. Many people tell us: "the longer the better, they need to burn energy to sleep." Why we got a puppy and want them to only sleep is another question, but our puppy's body is definitely not prepared for long walks. Their soft joints and muscles get overloaded.
🟠Can the puppy rest and properly recover after these walks? Probably not, because we have slippery floors at home. So our puppy needs to tense their muscles to stay up and walk.
🟠We also probably train the puppy to sit and lie down on command, so these repetitive movements influence our puppy's development too.
🟠And then, well...injuries happen every now and then. A play buddy runs into our puppy during a play session. We most likely just wait until our puppy recovers naturally and do not help their body to rebalance itself correctly. So then, compensation issues start appearing already.
This is the unbalanced puppy that is growing into an adult. And that we expect to become our exercise partner. Run many kilometres with us while we jog or cycle, hike with us in the mountains, swim and maybe even compete in some sports.
While asking them to perform these intense activities, we likely do not take care of their body, as we would have of a human athlete. We do not warm up / cool down or provide supportive therapies for their bodies.
What is the result? A dog's body can take a lot, but at some point, we will see the consequences. Just to name a few: ACL tear, posture changes, painful chronic conditions such as osteoarthritis, hip dysplasia.
We already discussed the types of healthy movement for dogs, recap by going through this article:
👉https://www.smilingleash.com/blog/what-is-healthy-movement-for-your-dog
Let's take responsibility and recognise that we can do much better for our dogs, and it's quite easy too! Despite the fact our dog does not benefit from jogging or long hiking trips together with us, our exercise needs still overlap.
Where our needs DO NOT overlap:
❎Jogging
❎Cycling
❎Pulling
❎Other fast-paced activities where the human sets the pace and dictates the conditions (dog has no / little choice)
❎Hiking for many hours in most cases (without proper conditioning of the dog's body and taking care of them as proper athletes)
Choose to care for your dog's health and do these activities alone.
Overlap or what things benefit both humans and dogs (the right walk duration will vary depending on the dog):
✅Getting out of the house
✅Walking
✅In Nature
✅Slowing down and being mindful
✅Having choice
✅Swimming occasionally / walking in water
All these great activities are wonderful for our mental, physical health and for our dog.
Thank you for reaching the end of this post! If you are interested in this topic, here is some further reading you will enjoy:
👉Puppies and Smiling Leash Walks: https://www.smilingleash.com/blog/puppies-and-smiling-leash-walks
👉More attention to the dogs' neck: https://www.smilingleash.com/blog/the-dogs-neck
👉Long walks on the weekends: https://www.smilingleash.com/blog/long-walks-on-the-weekends
👉Book by Julia Robertson: How to Build a Puppy
👉Book by Turid Rugaas and Stephanie Rousseau: How to Raise a Puppy
*References:
1, 2 Majumder 2014
3. Sepulveda et al 2015, Rubin and Beck 1982
4. Miklosi 2007
