Our vet asked us this question the other day. I wasn’t sure how to answer such a subjective question. What is ‘a lot’? I wasn’t sure. I did know, that in context, he was also telling us that they did appear to get ‘sufficient’ exercise since both were fit and trim, healthy looking, etc. As he described, he wants to be able to feel their ribs without seeing them, and see that they have a waist. Both our pups do. But then again, they are only two and three years old, and yes, we do get them out for regular exercise in addition to their almost 24/7 access to a decently large yard and their self-induced regular play sessions throughout the day.
So what is ‘a lot’ of exercise? I had to do some research.
I first went to the site of the American Kennel Club. I’m not a fan of breeding but since that’s not what the AKC endorses, and their focus is on maintaining standards, etc, and there are plenty of arguments for why purebreeds are beneficial (I’m thinking about working dogs and the specific desirable traits such as herding, or sniffing, or rescue, etc) and was surprised to find that with all their available information, there was no specific listing for adequate exercise. It might be there, but it wasn’t in any of the categories or subcategories, and I find that concerning, but I digress.
I next went to the site for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (the ASPCA). They did have an entire section dedicated to exercise for your dog along with tips, advice, guidelines, etc. I highly recommend any new dog order read through and learn as much as they can. While they didn’t get specific, they did share that unless your dog is very young, very old, or has been inactive and already out of shape, that a minimum of a 30-minute brisk walk every day is advised. I was also happy to see that also clarified that a yard alone does not equal exercise, and that sustained, continuous running is not exactly best suited for dogs.
So let’s put a pin in the recommended ‘brisk 30 minute walk’. When a dog is on-leash this will equate to about 2 miles for us.
I went back to my search query for ‘dog exercise’ and over and over, even though sites were advertising on that term, and even ranking for the keywords, there wasn’t much specific advice. Sure, there was information about not over-exercising your puppy, and some practical guidelines about when to know if your dog is getting too much, or not enough exercise, but it all remained quite vague and highly subjective.
This is a good thing. After all, just like with humans, what is recommended, healthy, or required will vary based on current health, stamina, and training and fitness. A quick 20-mile bike ride for me might be a base-level ride, but it might be too much for others and not even worth it for a pro athlete.
So, if helpful, here is what our dogs traditionally get in terms of weekly exercise. As mentioned earlier, one is two years old and the other just turned 3. They are both mutts, but of working-breed descent. One is mostly a Belgian Malinois,and the other is Ridgeback mix. They are each just about 60 lbs, and have been regularly exercised since they were puppies. We started each slow and increased our efforts as they got older. We never ran them until they were at least a year old, and even then it’s not a regular part of our exercise given the notes above.
At least three days a week we go to one of two large off-leash dog parks located at the local reservoirs. Each is a state park and we walk about 3 miles around. The dogs, of course, and running around, fetching, chasing, meeting other dogs, swimming, etc. It takes us about an hour to do the loop.
The other days, when we don’t drive them to the park, we do in-neighborhood on-leash walks. These are more in line with the recommendation above. We have a couple of loops which are around 2 miles and take us just about 30 minutes to complete. That’s a typical week M-F. We don’t always get out on the weekends, so those days are broken up with regular fetch and play sessions in the backyard.
Conservatively, the walks total 4 hours and 13 miles each week. So I still don’t know if that’s a lot or not, but it does seem sufficient given their overall bill of good health and complements from their vet. Also, they are not destructive or depressed and are generally good dogs.
