How much time for sports and walks for your dogs? – Dog Forum – Page 2
They live on the lower floor of a small house (approximately 25m2 of living space) with access to a small garden of around 30 m2 (with a corner dedicated to their needs). Between my schedule and that of my companion there is often someone at home. It happens to them occasionally when our schedules do not coincide to have days of solitude of about 10 hours, in this case I have a pet sitter who comes by in the middle of the day to take them out 30min on a leash in the neighborhood . They are totally integrated into our life and follow us everywhere, whether at home or outside.
They have the right when I work to one outing per day between 1 and 2 hours. Always in quite stimulating places (with a lot of human activity, crossings with other walkers and other dogs) and alternating between 4-5 different places: city (mine know how to walk without a leash in town, he doesn’t only the husky is attached, but I always manage to find a quiet place to untie it a bit during the ride), urban parks, nature areas close to the city. Often with a small session of ball games with the most dynamic of the 3 to meet his need for sprinting.
Once or twice a week, when I’m not working, they have the right to a longer or more intense outing, in unknown places or places they are less used to, it can be 4 hours of hiking, 2 hours of cycling, half a day by the sea, a walk followed by an aperitif in a friend’s garden, etc.
We walk very often with other masters and their dogs. Mine do not play much with others but I believe that communicating with a whole small pack increases their energy expenditure enormously.
In any case, with this program, my dogs seem to me to be perfectly balanced. They are calm at home, have no behavioral problems. They can tolerate occasional skipping of the day’s output.
Before knowing me, my companion took out a lot more his dog (x husky), rather 3-4 hours a day. Finally now he has settled on my much less intense pace, and his dog doesn’t seem particularly demanding for more. Is it age? Pack life? Or was my companion overestimating his needs because of the reputation of the breed? No idea, in any case apart from the moments of walk he is perfectly calm and relaxed.
