Twenty minutes into our run this morning, John said, “Look. He’s finally panting.”
Oh, Cooper.
We started a C25K training plan, which was great for me and the big dogs since we weren’t in running condition, but it did nothing for high-energy Cooper. Lucas has bad hips and Emmett is a senior citizen, so since we completed that plan, we’ve created our own routine.
We start with walking, then alternate 10-minute walks with 10-minute runs. The breakout helps us (well, me… John’s in WAY better shape than I am), and it helps the big dogs because neither one of them can manage a full 30-minute run.
Cooper, on the other hand…
So here’s what we do. We start out with Cooper for the first round of walking and running. Then we circle back to the house and get Lucas. With both Coop and Lukey, then, we do another round of walking and running. Then back to the house to trade Lucas for Emmett, and we do the last round of walking and running with Coop and Emmett.
If you have a hyper dog and a less-than-hyper dog, I highly recommend this routine!
In truth, we were killing ourselves trying to get Cooper fully exercised and the big boys exercised since their requirements are SO different from each other. They still get individual walks, and – inspired by K9 Kamp – I’ve been thinking of ways to add in more exercise for Cooper each week. This past week, he ran the stairs, played hide-and-seek with me, and (to Newt’s horror) we played an epic game with his new Bumi all round the room above the garage.
So there you have it! I know many of you have multiple dogs, and not everyone is the same age/health/energy-level. I wanted to share our routine in case it would help anyone else.
But I’d love to know from you: How do you manage different energy requirements? Do you have different exercise routines for your different dogs? Do you find ways to combine activities for everyone’s fitness levels? Any other tips or tricks?
My boys are at different levels of couch potato-ness, but I need to start getting us up and out of the house more, if only to work on leash skills. Maybe….someday….soon.
Oooh, leash skills. That’s another topic for another day! Who knew that everything you train while walking flies out the window while running?!
Mom says she would LUV to take me and Brudder Ranger out on different walkies cuz I have more energy than Brudder Ranger does. But Brudder Ranger FREAKS OUT if mom leaves the house with me but not with him. Doesn’t matter if he’s already been for a walkie. He just loses his rat terrier mind. So that usually means that I get a shorter walkie than I’d like but we don’t know what else to do.
Wiggles & Wags,
Mayzie
That’s really tough. I really relate, though. It took us a long time to get to this point with some super specific training. Emmett, in particular, used to FLIP OUT when he’d be alone, so I totally understand what Ranger is going through!!
Holy Cow Maggie! You just tired me out reading your routine! Eeek! Glad to see you found something that’s helpful for Cooper. I now people that work outside of the home and they actually have people come in to walk their dogs during the day to release some of that energy. Cool, right? Thanks for sharing!
Oh, man… I had someone help me during the chemo year, and it was a blessing. Seriously, nothing could’ve been better! Also: doggy daycare! 🙂
It’s hard when you have a hyper dog to wear out! Our last pup was very high energy, but we’ve always had one at a time. The only time we had to worry about it was when we dog-sat my sis’s older pup. Hated to leave him home when we went on walks, but we’d go way too far and too fast for him. We’d make it up to him w/ a good game of ball – which he loved – when we got home.
The dogs must be keeping you in good shape!
I’m trying anyway! Mostly, they’re just wearing me out! 🙂
Hi Maggie! We have been struggling with this problem lately. My three dogs have high levels of energy (2 vizslas and 1 german shorthaired pointer – yes, we’re crazy!), but our oldest, Zeus, is almost 9 years old and he’s beginning to slow down. He can run and play for hours if we let him get his way because he thinks he’s still a puppy, but we have been noticing that his legs get sore and he has a bit of trouble walking when he plays too hard. So now we need to control the amount and the intensity of the exercise he gets. He loves to swim and we are lucky enough to have a pool in our house (we live in Houston, which means we have warm weather most of the year – thank God!) so he gets some of his exercise swimming, which is more gentle on his aging body. We also take him on long walks at slow pace around the neighborhood by himself or with Rocky, my other vizsla.
Rocky is 4 and Zoe is 2 and they both have unlimited amounts of energy, specially Zoe. She’s like the Energizer bunny! Rocky likes to swim and we can wear him out that way, but Zoe is terrified of the pool and would not come near it so swimming is not an option for her. I started training for a half marathon recently, so I began to take her for runs by herself several times a week and she’s been doing great. I feel like I am letting her down most of the time because she’s definitely a better runner than me (way faster and with a lot more endurance), but we are having fun together.
Another activity that works for us with Zeus and Zoe out is playing fetch with their ball. They love it, they get tired quicker and it doesn’t require to much time or physical effort from us. However, Rocky is not into fetching at all, so we need to find something else for him to wear him out like playing hide and seek.
I guess there’s not a “one size fits all” solution. Dogs, like people, have different needs and tastes, and we just need to do the best we can to make it work. It’s a lot of work sometimes, but on the flip side our dogs force us to get our butts off the couch and stay active 🙂
What you described with Zeus is what we’re going through with Emmett. He WANTS to keep up, play, run, and all that, but he gets so sore the next day. We have to limit his exercise… without letting him turn into a slug! I so wish we had a swimming pool! It sounds like you’ve got it all under control!! That’s fabulous!
Loved this post! My Rudy is a high energy chihuahua jack russel cross who is naturally missing half his hair… Even with the full winter gear, he can’t go for his beloved walks in the winter and to top that off, we live in alberta. Yay, – 40 degrees Celsius! Lol
The real reason I’m writing, however, was to touch on something you mentioned in an earlier post about the high cost of so many animals and you mentioned yearly vaccinations. Did you know the new avma protocol is on e every three years for core vaccines? And immunity has been proven for up to seven years. Look up dr. Dodd’s vaccination protocol. I think it’s definitely heathy to get vaccines, but healthier to I Lu get what’s necessary and follow the three year protocol. And an added bonus is its more cost effective, though that is naturally not the driving reason to do it. Anyway, look into it and make up your own mind, of course 🙂 but thought it was worth a mention!
Thanks for sharing, Jane! I’ve read Dr. Dodd’s blog previously but hadn’t read her vaccination protocol. I’ll look into that for sure. Thank you for taking the time to share your insights!
When we had Blue, he was a great match for Rodrigo so I walked them on the leash (combining walking and training) and Sydney got to walk off leash. She’s our less energetic dog. Now it’s harder, because with the loss of Blue, I’m living with one energetic dog and one not so energetic dog and I am excited by your game plan. I can definitely do this with our dogs.
It’s time to return to the Centennial Trail 🙂
I’m so sorry for your loss. I think the tough thing with two different energy levels is that, at least for me, I felt like I had to under-exercise Cooper or completely wear Emmett out. I’m hoping this system works – at least for now. Let me know if you try it out or if you hit on another solution! Good luck!
That is a great routine, Maggie. I usually run with Cricket, then come back and get Kobi for a short walk which is my cool down. Or I walk Sheba, then sometimes do the same with Kobi. Sheba and Kobi need to be walked more (since they don’t do other exercising much), so if I walk them, I then come back and play fetch with Cricket, usually while I’m doing some yard work at the same time (trying to multi-task here). It’s challenging to say the least. I like your plan, Cricket definitely has a higher energy level than the other two and something like that might work, and it would get me more exercise too!
You have quite a busy routine! No wonder it’s challenging… I’m tired just reading it! 🙂 It’s so hard having one with a vastly different energy level for sure. Let me know if you hit on a routine that works for your herd!
It is best when two dogs have different energy levels, it makes it easier in the pack leader selection process. If both dogs are head strong they will often fight to compete for this spot. Your dogs are adorable and I really enjoyed reading your blog.
I have a one year old pit bull and she is beyond hyper! Worse than that she is also an escape artist. She pulls apart her pen and escapes and jumps the gates on our deck. When she escapes the pen, she starts playing in the basement and DESTROYS everything! We are at our wits end and don’t know what else to do.
Sounds like she needs ALOT more stimulation – pit bulls were bred to be VERY active and need not only physical exercise but also mental. I’ve found that any time destructive behaviour comes about, it’s time to up the exercise! You can also add in a treadmill (always supervised) and even a dog backpack to wear her out quicker – both give the dog a ‘job’ and require a lot of doggy brain power to operate.
As well as that, I suggest incorporating a good amount of training EVERY day into your routine. In most dog’s cases 5-15 minutes is just enough to wear them out mentally (you may want to experiment with more or less to see what suits). As well as that, I would bring some stimulating toys (like treat puzzle toys) and long-wearing treats (such as bully chews) to the day, especially when you leave her alone while out at work etc.
The important thing to not is that any dog – but especially such a burly breed as a pitbull – NEED to be worn out EVERY day. A good measure of if they have been exercised enough is if they come home from a walk or run and flop down on the ground straight away. This is most important in the morning – if you think about it, your dog sleeps when you do at night (around 8 hours) and then has the whole work day ahead of them alone with no stimulation (another 8-10 hours). This is why it’s so important to wear them out and get them both mental and physical stimulation. If that energy isn’t expended, it turns destructive – barking, destroying or, worse, aggression.
Don’t give up, pit bulls are wonderful dogs and they need good, committed owners to repair some of the bad rep that bad owners have given them. It’s just about understanding their needs 🙂 I have a little 3kg pomeranian who is an absolute terror if I don’t do all the above with her every day! You can do it 🙂
I have 3 dogs all at different energy levels and motivations. One is a go go people pleaser. One is a mild older dog that likes to play sometimes. Then i have a stubborn couch potato of a mule that only likes to run when he picks on everyone… Also full time working mom of a toddler… It’s so hard to get everyone what they need. My high energy guy is easy. All i gotta do is throw a ball while playing with the kid.