beth101509 (04-06-2015)
I don't take my dog for walks and runs. They seem just fine without them. Why do I get the feeling a lot of lab owners are all guilted out about regular walks and play-dates and stuff. I do get my field dogs out training 3-5 times/week. BUT... when we go training, there are 16 other dogs in our group. My dogs maybe run hard for about 10 minutes. Then they're back in their boxes and the other dogs are run. Then we come back home and we're all exhausted.
Where did the notion that we have to walk/run our dogs for x number of miles and/or y number of hours each day come from?
beth101509 (04-06-2015)
Your dogs are getting more out of their field training than the average JQ Pet dog. I have the same observation here. It's amazing what a little structure does.
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What you do is like the high intensity interval training (HIIT) for humans, which is the best workout you can do. Many people do not have that luxury due to time or space. I, for one, work full time and live in the city. Linus gets a great workout when we go to our field lessons, but that is a 1.5 hour drive each way. Not exactly something I can do after work on a Tuesday night.
Personally, I really enjoy walking my dogs, taking them on the trails, taking them swimming, strolling, etc. Also, it can't be bad for them, right? It's good for me as well. In fact, my dogs do not require the amount of walks I take in order to be good citizens, If I have an off week for whatever reason, I don't generally have problems. My dogs are conformation dogs, too, so they are prone to weight problems. This is also a way to help keep them healthy so they live long, healthy lives.
I did retire last year from a faculty position... basically 60 hours a week. I couldn't train my dogs, nor even walk them I was so short on time or energy or both. And they spent most of their time with a pro. So retirement has been a real blessing (in every way but financially... but $ isn't everything!) So you're doing better than I did when I was working.
You are very right that the walks are advantageous for both you and your dog's health. I guess I was responding to comments from people who identify a problem with their labs (often behavioral) and they include some comments along the lines of... but I really do walk my dog (fill in amount of time and/or miles per day). In addition, had lunch with a friend of mine who is delighted to have a new puppy (Airedale... soooo cute!) but she has some physical limitations and chronic pain. She was going on about how her husband would walk the dog when he got home from work, but she felt so bad she couldn't walk her during the day because she'd read that this breed needs 20 minutes of exercise 2 times/day.
And it just made me think... why are we guilting people out (shaming, perhaps) about how much exercise they give their dogs or don't. NO dog should be neglected... and my friend in no way is going to neglect her new pup. But, she was feeling really bad about not being physically about to go trot the dog around the block.
Heck... the wonderful thing about dogs as a species (and individuals) is how adaptable they are to the lives of humans lucky enough to own them.
beth101509 (04-06-2015)
Dogs need mental and physical stimulation. Like people do.
My dog is always ready and happy to go for a walk. He loves fetching and swimming, you can see it in his eyes and his happy wagging tail. He's definitely not a walk-around-the-block dog (if I wanted that, I'd probably have gotten a Maltese, not a Lab).
Your dogs are working dogs and you do exercise them, both physically and mentally. Anyone who wants to just walk their Lab around the block, will either have his house torn down or a very bored, unhappy Labrador.
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July 12th, 2006. - May 25th, 2023.
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Exercise is not a panacea for behavior problems, but the lack of stimulation both physical and especially mental can be a real problem. For keeping them calm and well behaved, less physical more mental can be enough. The training you do, does both. The other thing, many of the dogs being posted about are crated 8-9 hours a day while the owners are at work. If you are home a lot and the dogs can roam freely around the house (as mine do), they may be less desperate to get out and stretch their legs.
For me, exercising my dogs is both about letting them have fun and mainly about keeping them in top physical condition. Like Labradorks, mine are mostly from conformation lines and will gain weight easily. I always joke about Chloe that she gains just looking at food.
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Many dogs who have behavioral issues are not getting enough exercise and mental stimulation. Most of the advice to people for more exercise is accompanied by more training in the way of games. Your dogs are getting hard exercise and mental stimulation 3 - 5 times per weeks which is often 100% more hard training and mental stimulation than the average dog is getting. It's more than my dogs are getting on a regular basis!
Labs are workers and they are an outdoorsman's dog. Yes, they have adapted quite well to our lifestyles, but to deny them of the very basics of what they were created for by keeping them in the house and yard 24/7 and expecting them to be happy and well behaved is just unfair, and most of us know that by doing that we are asking for trouble. There are certain levels of needs and when possible, a person should get a dog that suits their lifestyle. A person who doesn't want to exercise a dog more than their potty breaks should probably not get a field Lab and a person who wants a distance runner would have a heck of a time with a conformation bred Lab.
I don't think anyone guilts or shames anyone here. If a person comes to the board ranting and raving about how their dog is being bad and is awful and then says that they don't train or exercise the dog, it's unfair to say it's a bad dog. Because we are all dog lovers, we emphasize with the dog. And, if it's someone who wants or is more suited to a low-maintenance, low-energy dog went out and got a field Lab puppy, well, it wasn't the dog's fault that he ended up in a home that was not prepared or wanting that type of situation, so the owner needs to change his or her game plan to work with the dog to find a happy place.
As far as your friend with physical limitations, I'm sure that before they got the puppy, they researched if that breed would work with her situation and I'm sure that before they brought him home, they had a game plan. If that is the case, why feel bad? She can train the puppy, play games, and tell her to get a flirt pole. That was a savior when I got Sam and didn't have a fenced-in yard and we had a really bad winter that year. And the husband can provide much of the dog's physical exercise.
I don't take my dog out for walks every day. Sometimes I'll walk her to my daughter's bus stop in the morning, but even that has become less frequent since there's an ill mannered off leash dog that goes too. We just started to go to rally class once a week and practice on the days we don't go in the back yard. We blow off steam playing fetch or soccer in the yard. Sometimes we go swimming when the opportunity arises. With that said, I did make a large effort to socialize her well throughout puppyhood - going places, meeting strangers, basic obedience, etc. I think contributes more to her lack of behavior issues than our current routine.
I agree with Berna, same as humans dog need exercise period. Think how absurd it sounds, I go to work a couple hours a few times a week, that's all the exercise I need.
Sure when your young yeah, but as you get older your joints and muscles wear our faster. It's much easier if you have a regular healthy routine than nothing. Look at cookie, berna's boy in his picture in her profile. That's a senior dog out running and jumping and playing like a kid.
The other thing is there is plain simple common sense things, if you take a human who regularly runs and exercises and send him out running over a field. If he crosses ditches, ground hog holes and mole trails. Then take someone that mainly sits on the couch all day. Who is going to have the best time, who is going to make it with least chance of injury. Then say they both somehow both get a sprained ankle. Which one will recover faster. Honestly it's common sense. My dog does special strength training and stretching to help keep him strong and joints healthy so when we are doing agility there are no issues and no injuries.
I think people who come here get a range of good answers and intelligent people can sort through information and come to informed conclusions. I don't know where they get some of the notions they do, but I just through it out there because it seemed to be a theme in many posts coming from less experienced or new lab owners. Hmmm... wonder if anyone has ever written a book on 101 ways to entertain your lab without having to don running shoes, parkas, muck-lucks, rain-coats, jog-bras, etc. etc.?
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