exercise for your pet

Fact #1: Wild dogs roam approximately 31 miles in one day. 

The exercise that a normal healthy wild dog gets in one day is walking/running/exploring/hunting about 31 miles. Is your pet dog going to have this opportunity? NO! He will be confined to a house and maybe a small yard. This pet will most likely not be getting the physical exercise it needs even within a backyard to run in or leashed walks. Why do you think dogs love to go for a walk or love to be let out? They are itching to MOVE. This basic instinct to move is something that we literally train out of them. We tell them to sit, stay, ect. We tell them don’t scratch at the door, go lie down. This is their natural instinct to move, not lie down all the time until you decide you want to play with them or walk them. They have needs that you are reprimanding them for. I feel this is ridiculous! Especially when they are young. We tell them don’t jump on people. Yet that is just what they would do with their siblings in the wild to play. We tell them not to play bite. That is what they are supposed to do in the wild with their siblings. They are not only kept from running, but from playing and exploring, and being a dog/cat. Everything they would do naturally is beat out of them. They are made to act in a way that is not normal for them. Sit, stay, be quiet. You can’t possibly think they like this life? Just because they are happy to play with you when you finally let them, doesn’t mean they are happy the rest of the time. 

The only exercise most dogs get is going for a walk on a leash that is pulling on their neck the entire time! Our society has “normalized” walking a dog on a leash. Such a beautiful picture we think. Lets look at it from the dog’s point of view

During this leashed “walk”, the dog wants to run and play with other dogs, but we pull them away.

The dog wants to run, but we pull them back with the leash.

They want to see other dogs, their own species, but we restrain them. 

They want to chase a squirrel, but we don’t let them. 

They want to smell everything to learn about their environment, but we jerk them away.

18.

You see how boring and confining this “walk “is?

We like this walk cause we get our exercise, but the dog doesn’t want to exercise, he wants to explore.

Are we walking them for ourselves or for the dog? I know many people walk their dog to show them off. I see this at the river walk by my house. People greet dog walkers and say “oh what a beautiful dog” or “oh what a cute puppy.” I don’t know if people get dogs just to show them off or what, because they certainly are not thinking of the animals’ pleasure. What would really make the dog happy is to run leash free in woods or field with other dogs, not be on parade on a leash to see other humans. Also, they usually go on the same walk every day, boring! Sometimes the owner takes them some place new, but that is probably even more tortuous because the dog wants to run and explore and smell new things, but we don’t let them. 

You say my dog loves to go on walks! The dogs love walks ONLY because that is the time they get to go outside and get out of the boring house they live in. He doesn’t have a choice to run leash free in woods or field, where he could smell other animals and give chase to animals instead of a rubber toy or ball. If given a choice, do you really think your dog would not rather run leash free in woods or fields with other dogs, then be on a leash with you? You think your dog is happy when he goes for a walk, but that is only because he is in a boring house all day. How long is this walk on a leash? A half hour, maybe? Compared to running and exploring and hunting for 31 miles daily, as he should be doing.