Exercise and activity level definitions?

[misfitz]

Or something like that. The dog breed selector thread got me thinking about this. All of the questions about your (the human's) exercise level seemed overly vague to me. There are so many degrees in between "couch potato" "jogger" and "olympic athlete" that I don't think those limited options cover it, nor are very good for matching the human's and dog's needs.

And I think people define this differently. So, informal survey - how active would you say you are? What does that mean to you - what's an average day/week of exercise look like for you and your dogs? Have your dogs caused you to become more active?

I go hiking pretty much every weekend, 3-5 miles. I went on a 7 mile hike once and it nearly killed me. I walk probably 1-3 miles pretty much every day. I don't think I'm very active. I mean, I'm not out mountain climbing and I definitely don't jog!

If I didn't have a dog, I'd probably be somewhat less active. I love hiking no matter what, but Sienna is a great motivator to get me out walking daily. If we don't get a long walk, I try to make it up to her by playing in the yard or doing some training so she gets mental exercise. She won't chase a ball so I have to run around with her. We're learning agility so that will be more exercise.

Still, I don't think that's extremely active. My friend goes on 10 mile hikes in the middle of the day in August (in Southern California.) That's my definition of crazy, ahem, I mean very active.

 

[Linds]

Like you I would be way less active if I didn't have dogs to enjoy doing stuff with. Mainly because I like being out with them rather than alone.

With dogs I guess I'm fairly active, mainly during the spring/summer/fall with 6-10 miles bike rides about 4 times a week, hikes a couple times a week. More times than not I'm doing an hour min a day of some kind of activity with the dogs.

In the winter I kinda go into hibernation though and am pretty sedentary. I dislike cold and snow.

 

[Shai]

I think it's a pretty individual thing...and really, most dogs adjust to their lifestyle within a certain range of activity...

I run several days a week, hike a lot, and love to spend time out in the woods and at the lake or river. These are things I did nearly daily long before I had dogs, and things I will continue doing if for some reason there comes a day I don't have dogs again. I just choose dogs who I think will enjoy that type of lifestyle, can happily hike 15+ miles in a day, or jog six miles or so straight on a regular basis without long-term structural degeneration or other health risks, preferably love to swim, etc. provided I'm conscientious about substrate, weather, etc.

We also play around with canine calisthenics because I think it's entertaining...

 

[Southpaw]

I'd be an absolute couch potato without dogs.

I lost like 10lbs after getting Juno and to be honest I was shocked I had 10lbs to even lose. And I can actually tell that I gained over the summer--it was just way too hot for us to get out. So yeah, having dogs definitely makes me more active. I just wouldn't be motivated to go walking and biking if I were by myself.

I tailor my activity level to my dogs'. Now that Juno is older and not such a psycho freak, we do 1-2 walks a day (and they're not that long--maybe 15 or 20 minutes), and then the dog park a few times a week--where we usually just walk around because she doesn't really play with the other dogs. It's just an opportunity for her to safely run around and go swimming.

When she required more exercise, we were doing at least 2 miles walking every day, plus fetch, plus dog park, etc.

So yeah. I prefer to be lazy but I can meet the needs of an active dog.

 

[mrose_s]

I'm lazy by nature but I like active dogs so I put in the extra effort. I jog 3-5 days a week between 3 - 9km so Quinn comes with me a few times a week. I usually get out of the house for some excercise 5-6 days a week nowadays and she comes with me most places but I do like that she can settle and relax in teh house for a day or 2 with no walks and not be climbing the walls. That only came with time and patience though, 4 months ago she wouldn't be able to do that.

 

[Laurelin]

You can have the same dog and two people looking at it and call it two different energy levels. I think Mia's really easy nowadays. The other people we live with think she's the most hyperactive dog they've ever lived with- they can't stand her kind of energy. The focus, intensity and propensity to shriek while excited annoys them.

Mia as a pup needed at least 2 hours a day. Now she can go weeks without too much other than ball playing and training (found that out in our neverending 60 some odd day 100+ weather streak). She's antsy but not that bad.

We don't have a set schedule now. About 30 minutes of hard ball playing in the morning. Then some training or a short walk in the evenings and more ball. Friday, Saturday, Sunday we may end up going to the park 2-3 times a day. They're fine with resting during the weekdays and being more active on the weekend.

 

[*blackrose]

I am terribly lazy and I've found that while I'm able to get up and go with my dogs to some degree, I am horribly unhappy when I have to exercise the dogs.

A two mile fast paced walk once (might be able to do twice) a day is about the extent of what I want to do exercise wise. Play time in the yard/house is perfectly fine with me, as long as it isn't constant.

I'm happy with Chloe's activity level. We play around the house and that is basically it. Yes, she LOVES to go for walks and I think she's happier when I did walk her once a day, but walks are so stressful due to loose dogs and her reactivity that we just don't do them anymore. She's content to just laze around the house most days.

I'm more than willing to give a higher exercise regime to a younger dog (when Chloe was a pup I was taking her out every hour or two for a fifteen minute walk around the field or she would go BONKERS), but if I had to keep that up for the entire life of a dog I think I would just crawl into a hole and cry. LOL

 

[Toller_08]

I'm not overly active, but I do like to get out and enjoy the outdoors. I'd be more active if I had another person/friend who also enjoyed such things. But yes, the more energy a dog of mine has, the more active I am. All three of mine aren't really all that high energy now that they're all adults. I'd consider them all moderate energy most days. They're happy to lounge around and do nothing all day, and they never pester me to take them somewhere or do anything. But when I do take them out, they can go for a long time and are happy that we're out. Ripley has a lot more energy than the girls still, and he gets a little stir crazy after a few days of not much going on, but I used to have to take him out daily to live with him sanely. Same with Keira when she was an adolescent.

Dance actually is pretty lazy lately, which is not normal for her. Lately she just hasn't been into much more than a few ball fetches here and there and I'm not sure why. She usually has a lot more stamina. I think we're going to need to see her chiropractor, as I don't know what else it could be since she appears fine otherwise.

I like the current energy level of my dogs (not lazy Dance though -- that's concerning). Life is so much easier when I don't "have" to necessarily take them for a run, but instead we go because I want to. I didn't mind their energy level when they were younger either, though. And when I had Tango, I used to love taking her out for a run and a few games of fetch or frisbee pretty much everyday. The more mature and more laid back the dogs get, I kind of am a little more slack when it comes to their exercise as well for some reason I guess.

 

[JacksonsMom]

I wouldn't say I am personally overly active. It depends on the day, but I like to get out there and enjoy nice weather, etc. I like walking, hate running. I like doing fun things like jumping on trampolines, playing a friendly game of basketball, and things like that. Or even just taking a walk around a city, or through the woods, or trails, or whatnot. But I can't stand "organized" exercise like using exercise equipment and stuff, LOL. I am just pretty average. I can walk for long periods of time and be fine but running about kills me, haha.

My dog is a lot more active than me. Certain activities that he does, I don't benefit from. If we go to the dog park, I either stand around or sit around and watch him run like a madman, haha. We go to my dads house and he runs around his backyard or swims (which I do with him a lot, actually). When me and my brother ride the four wheeler around (no exercise for me) Jackson chases us through the fence running at REALLY fast speeds. So yeah, he gets a lot more than me. The only thing we really do together and both get the benefits is walking, we usually walk for a minimum of 2 miles every week day. Every now and then, I'll throw on the rollerblades and go around with Jackson, but that's only when we get to my dads house because I have no where else to really ride roller blades (living in the country with no sidewalks, haha). Or ride the bike with him beside me. But these aren't every week occurrences.