Exercising with your best friend can be interesting and beneficial.
This isn’t referring to the one you take to the gym.
It means the one that’s on four legs.
Dogs are naturally energetic and active, so it’s not uncommon to see people exercising with their furry friends.
Is exercising with your dog a good idea?
Like anything, there are some pros and cons to doing this. This article will explore the good and bad sides of exercising with your dog.
The Pros of Exercising With Your Dog
They Are Energetic and Motivated
Dogs are wonderful exercise partners.
They’re energetic and they always seem to be motivated.
On top of that, they’re always positive and they look like they always have a smile on their face.
You really couldn’t ask for a better exercise partner.
They’re always so happy and they make exercise seem like fun.
When exercising with your dog, you probably won’t even realize that you’re exercising. It would seem more like playtime.
No matter how much you keep going, your dog will keep going right along with you seemingly having the time of his or her life.
They Can Push You to do More.
Your dog may even motivate you to do more than you thought you could.
For you, the proud dog owner, it can be exciting to see your furry friend being so happy.
You probably won’t want to cut that off, at least not for a while.
Watching Fido happily run along, fetch things, and bond closer to you is enough to push you to move more.
You’ll Have an Exercise Partner That Will Never Bail on You
Unless a dog is old, sick, extremely tired, or a lazy breed, they always want to go outside and exercise.
You can count on your dog to be there for you whenever you feel like you need to get it in. Your dog will happily go along and motivate you to reach your goals.
Your Dog Will be in Excellent Shape
Like humans, dogs can get out of shape and become overweight.
Also like humans, this can be detrimental to their health.
When you exercise with your dog, you’re ensuring that your dog gets the exercise they need to stay healthy.
You won’t have to worry about your dog getting fat and having mobility issues because of the extra weight.
Exercising with your dog is essentially being a responsible pet owner.
It Can be Adventurous.
An exercise session with your dog, especially running, can be adventurous and educational.
Dogs are curious creatures.
Most of the time they’ll stay by your side, but sometimes they’ll discover things that you probably never would have discovered on your own.
Dogs have a strong sense of smell and eyesight that’s up to 20 times more sensitive than human eye sight.
When they spot something interesting, they’ll let you know.
Hopefully it won’t be some type of dead animal because dogs are known for sniffing those out. Hopefully, it will be something that you both can enjoy.
The Best Exercises To Do With Your Dog
Running
Running is probably the best exercise you can do with your dog.
Dogs are great at running. They’re really fast, and can most likely outrun you easily.
The great thing about dogs is that they won’t outrun you. They’ll run along with you so you won’t feel inadequate or alone on your run.
Of course, you’ll want to run fast so that your dog is getting a good workout also.
Knowing this will motivate you to run faster and further. You and your dog will get the best cardio workout ever.
Suicides
You don’t have to be a pro-athlete to do suicides.
Suicides are an excellent cardio workout that also helps to build lower body muscles.
With the constant stopping turning and pushing yourself, your leg muscles will get a great resistance training session.
This is an exercise that your dog can easily do with you.
We’ve already established that they’re great runners, but they’ll get that same lower body workout that you will from the constant stopping and turning and pushing out.
Both you and your dog will have extremely strong legs by the time you do a few of these sessions together.
Jumping Jacks
Your dog obviously doesn’t have arms, so they won’t be able to do the arm part of jumping jacks.
However dogs are skilled jumpers.
And it’s not just jumping over fences.
They can jump up and down just like you can when you’re doing a jumping jack.
You may have to train your dog to do this, but some dogs are so smart that they’ll catch on and just do it with you.
Not only is that something cool to see, but it’s fun and it’s efficient.
Wrestling
This is more of an activity than an exercise, but it doesn’t mean that you won’t get exercise.
Obviously you can’t slam your dog.
However some dogs are happy to wrestle around with you. You’ll get a good cardio workout.
However you won’t get a good strength workout because you don’t want to manhandle your dog.
Depending on the size of your dog, they might just manhandle you. That would be an interesting sight to see and an experience you’ll probably never forget.
Swimming
Most dogs are exceptional swimmers.
There may be a few breeds that don’t like the water, but not too many dislike it. You could go swimming with your dog in a pool, in a lake, or in a river.
It’s a great way for you and your dog to get in a good cardio session, stay cool, and have fun.
In fact, why not make it a family thing and get the whole family to swim. You won’t even realize that you’re exercising because you’ll be having so much fun.
Fetch
You may not realize it, but it takes serious upper body strength to be able to toss a frisbee or a ball a long-distance.
Mini dogs love fetch, and a lot of them are great at jumping and catching things in their mouth.
This means in order to challenge them you’re going to have to use all of your strength to throw that frisbee or ball a long distance.
If you do this for 30 minutes to an hour oh, there’s no doubt that you are going to feel the burn in almost all of your upper body muscles.
Depending on if you move back and forth to different positions while you toss the ball of the Frisbee, you may just get an excellent lower body workout as well.
You’ll also get in a good amount of cardio. It’s fair to say that playing Fetch with your dog gives you a total body workout.
The Cons of Exercising With Your Dog
Lazy Dog Breed
Some dog breeds don’t like to do too much physical activity. Some don’t like it at all.
If you have one of these breeds, exercising with your dog is going to be boring and it won’t achieve much of anything.
You’d probably spend most of your time trying to convince your dog to do something rather than actually doing something.
Lazy dog breeds include:
- Bulldogs
- Saint Bernard
- Pekingese
- Chow Chow
- Basset Hound
Limited Exercises
Dogs can be as physically fit as possible but they’re still going to be some things that you can’t do with them because they don’t have hands or arms.
You’re not going to be able to do exercises like planks, push-ups, sports, weight lifting, or other things that require your hands.
The good news is that you probably have another best friend you can do all this with. That would be your human best friend.
You Can’t go to The Gym
Dogs aren’t allowed in gyms unfortunately, so that means when you work out with your dog, you’re limited to working out at home, in a park, or on the street or sidewalk.
There’s nothing wrong with working out in these places, but sometimes you may want to be in the gym environment.
Of course, you can go to the gym whenever you want. Your dog just can’t come with you.
Consequences of Not Working Out with Your Dog
This whole article has been about the pros and cons of working out with your dog.
However, have you considered what could happen if you don’t work out with your dog?
This is a legitimate consideration before deciding if it’s a good idea to work out with your dog or not.
Overtraining
One consideration is overtraining. If you work out on your own, whether it’s at your home, or gym, or with your human best friend, you could end up overtraining yourself.
This is because as a dog owner, it’s your responsibility to make sure your dog gets exercise. That means you’re going to have to take your dog out.
If you end up doing this after you’ve already worked out for the day, you’re probably just doing a second workout session.
While this isn’t exactly a bad thing, it can be if you end up overtraining yourself.
When you over do it, you don’t give your muscles the rest they need and it can impair muscle building and muscle repair.
You May be Too Tired to Take Your Dog Out
Your dog is going to have to go out to use the bathroom, if nothing else.
However, if you’re constantly exercising without your dog, you may end up just letting them out on their own, or take them out for a brief few minutes to relieve themselves.
This means they aren’t getting the proper exercise they need. You’re simply too tired to do a second workout session, even if it’s just walking a few blocks.
Destruction of Property
Dogs who don’t get enough exercise have to find a way to burn off all that energy they have.
If you are too tired to take your dog out so they can work out like they need to, they may take it out on your personal property.
It doesn’t mean your dog is bad.
It’s just what they do when they have pent-up energy and anxiety. This type of behavior isn’t breed-specific. Just about all dogs will do this, aside from the lazy dogs.
Final Thoughts About Exercising With Your Dog
The question was whether or not it’s a good idea to exercise with your dog.
After reviewing the information given in the article, it’s clear that it’s a great idea to exercise with your dog.
For one, your dog has to get exercise anyway. You’re simply being a good dog owner by making sure they get the exercise they need.
Exercising with your dog is a great way for you to bond with your dog.
It’s true that they’re already devoted to you and your family.
However, just like with a person, when you spend more time with your dog your bond grows stronger.
What better way to stay motivated to exercise than having fun with your best friend.
You should keep exercising with your dog and if you’re not currently doing it, you should start soon.
You won’t regret it.
