Exercise & Enrichment: Finding Balance
“A tired dog is a happy dog,” is an enduring platitude of dog ownership. But just what is the recipe for a happy, tired dog? We tend to assume that our dogs should be satisfied after a walk around the neighborhood, or a long game of fetch in the yard, but often that doesn’t seem to be reality. How many of us have met that dog that never seemed able to calm down, even after a day spent playing at daycare or a long weekend stroll?
A sniffari or longline walk is an example of a decompressing activity.
For many of these dogs, their nearly boundless energy is explained away by their tired owners as being due to their age, or being a high-energy breed. However, when I delve into these dogs’ typical routines, I often find that they’re missing some important component–overlooking a need that the dog hasn’t been able to fulfill.
Exercise for dogs can be broken into two basic categories; decompression and high-arousal activities. Some dogs will be perfectly content with any combination, but many need a balance of the two to be truly fulfilled. The trick is finding out the right mix for your dog.
Decompression often involves sniffing, chewing, and exploring. These are lower-energy activities like walks where the dog can frequently stop and sniff, working on a food enrichment toy like a Kong, time with a high value chew, and sniffing for hidden treats. Much of what we think of as dog enrichment falls into this category. Decompression is a wonderful way for our dogs to express natural behaviors and de-stress. But for many dogs, especially younger dogs and higher-energy breeds, decompression isn’t enough to keep them truly satisfied.
The trouble is that many people with higher-energy dogs focus too heavily on high-arousal activities and don’t give the dog enough opportunity to decompress.
High-arousal activities involve running, jumping, wrestling, and other exciting play. Examples include playing tug, fetch, and high-energy play with other dogs. You can think of arousal broadly as your dog’s excitement level. A dog in the highest arousal state is in fight/flight mode– operating purely on instinct. Generally, as your dog’s arousal goes up, their impulse control and problem-solving capacity goes down. Many dogs do need an outlet for experiencing a high-arousal state in a safe way.
Most dog-to-dog play is a high-arousal activity.
The trouble is that many people with higher-energy dogs focus too heavily on these high-arousal activities and don’t give the dog enough opportunity to decompress. These dogs become very excitable, crave high-energy play and have a hard time relaxing during downtime. For these “adrenaline junkie” dogs, introducing more decompression–and possibly even reducing the amount of high-arousal play– is key to finding balance for them.
OK– so now that we’ve defined our two categories and described some of the pitfalls, how do you find the right combination for your dog? Start by taking a baseline. What does the average day or week look like for your dog? Categorize the amount of time they get for each category. You may want to add more of whatever they are currently getting less of. If time is a limiting factor, don’t be afraid to cut back on something in order to add in something else. Make some changes to your schedule and see if it has an effect on your dog’s behavior. Does your dog become more or less able to relax?
It may be a gradual process as you try different combinations, but eventually you should find the right recipe to keep your dog happy and fulfilled. Some dogs will need additional help training them how to relax, but that’s a blog post for another day! If you’re not seeing any changes at all, it may be time to reach out to a trainer for help.
