What Your Dog Needs

Ó2000 Canine College of California

Exercise – To keep your dog's life balanced, 50% of their interactions need to be exercise. Exercise is not the amount of time the dog is in the yard alone. It is the amount of time spent with human supervision and interaction (dog park, fetch, Frisbee, agility, etcetera.) A dog's personality is set by the energy they are born with. Dog's have different energy levels – the following is several popular breeds and the amount of exercise they need per day based on their energy levels:

Energy level	Very High Energy	High Energy	Medium Energy	Low Energy
Breeds	Labrador Retriever, Golden Retriever, Beagle, Jack Russell Terri er, Dalmatian, Miniature Pinscher, Border Collie, Australian Shepherd	German Shepard, Dachshund, Boxer, Poodle, Rottweiler, Schnauzer, Sheltie, Boston Terri er, Siberian Husky, Rhodesian Ridgeback, Maltese	Yorkshire Terri er, Chihuahua , Pomeranian, Cocker Spaniel, Pit Bull, Great Dane, Akita , Shih Tzu, Bichon Frise	Pug, Bulldog, Greyhound, Saint Bernard, Shar-Pei, Chow Chow, Lhasa Apso
Amount of exercise per day	2 or more hours rigorous exercise	1 or more hours rigorous exercise	30 minutes or more rigorous exercise	Les s than 30 minutes

•  Discipline – 25% of dog's interactions should be training exercises. Training communication with your dog in a way you and the dog both understand. Positive obedience should be incorporated into your daily activities. This is obedience that the dog does to get something ( petted, a car ride, a treat, a walk, play with a toy etc.). Most people give their dog all those things for free and then only use obedience as a way to control their dog when he is either about to do something wrong or already has. The dog soon figures out that if he can just avoid punishment by moving fast or adopting a pathetic look, he has it made.

•  Affection – The last 25% of interaction should be affection. Most owners ignore their dogs when they are being good. This is understandable because it is much easier to ignore a dog sitting quietly by your side or a dog lying on his mat in a corner than a dog who is jumping on you or running madly through the house with a dishtowel in his mouth. Because of this, most dogs quickly figure out that doing "bad" behaviors is what gets them attention. For a social animal like a dog, negative attention is better than no attention at all. Owners must train themselves to be "on the lookout" for their dogs good behavior. Remind yourself and your family members to give the dog praise, attention and treats when he's being good. Then he will be less motivated to engage in bad behaviors to get attention.

 

The problem with many human/dog relationships is that the dog gets affection, very little exercise and no discipline. These types of interactions lead to problems.