Snowy Days, Happy Tails: Exercising Dog in Winter Weather
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Daily exercise is such an important part of our dog’s lifes and comes with plenty of health and mental benefits. Unfortunately exercising dog in winter weather can be difficult, and if a dog stops getting regular exercise it can cause problems (like a cranky child).
To avoid having issues cropping up, doing alternative activities at home or in the garden can be great substitutes to make sure your dog is adequately fulfilled and wagging their tail even on the coldest of days.
I don’t know about others, but I struggle during winter. It’s cold, it’s pitch black 90% of the time, I’m always hungry and that’s all when I wake up. The other reason I struggle is when it comes to walking or exercising dogs in winter there are so many more variables to face. Dealing with these variables can cause an upset in our routine because we know that if our dogs don’t get their exercise, they can be nightmares to deal with.
Why Exercise is Important
Exercise is so important for our dogs, just like how it is for us (even though some of us like to pretend that it isn’t). Exercise helps us stay healthy, strong and also helps with our state of mental health. Without exercise we become sluggish and don’t perform to our full capacity.
Dogs also need exercise to keep them healthy, burn energy, help digest food, aid their mental states and more. The thing about exercise however, is it is our responsibility as owners to make sure our dogs get enough.
Missing a walk may not seem like the worst thing and the odd one won’t really hurt but that can cause an imbalance in your dog. As mentioned exercise is great for getting energy and stress out. Not walking or exercising a dog properly can cause behaviour problems that stem from not dealing with their pent up energy – reactivity, stubbornness, inability to settle, chewing things, barking etc etc.
What Does Proper Exercise Look Like?
This is a tough one because not only are all dogs different and require different needs when it comes to exercise, but we can also do so many different things to exercise our dogs.
For the majority of us with family dogs, exercise will usually be a walk for 30 minutes and can range anywhere to hikes and runs. This is just the standard normal for us but you can branch out and find some great ways to exercise and bond with your dog.
10 examples of great ways to exercise a dog instead of just walking include:
- Swimming
- Barkour (parkour)
- Agility
- Frisbee
- Flirt pole
- Skateboarding
- Tug of war
- Scent work
- Dock diving
- Cycling
Mental Stimulation Vs Physical Exercise
A lot of you will have heard of mental stimulation when exercise comes into conversation. For those of you that don’t understand the concept yet imagine physical exercise for the body and mental stimulation is for the mind.
Have you ever worked like crazy, got into bed and realised your brain is still running at 100mph? People who struggle to stimulate themselves mentally find themselves in this position and so do our dogs.
When it comes to exercise you need a mix of both physical and mental activities for your dog to ensure a happy mind, body and soul. The best thing about mental stimulation is that it takes a lot less than exercise to do it’s job. Pairing a walk with a 5 minutes scent session or obedience session can do wonders for a dog and their behaviour.
You can discover more on how to effectively balance mental stimulation Vs physical for dogs and create a daily routine in my blog post.
Issues With Exercising Dog in Winter
Getting a dog sufficient exercise through winter is tough don’t feel that you’re the only one struggling, we all do. It’s darker a lot more of the time, the weather can be horrendous and sometimes even though we love our dogs we just can’t be bothered.
There are also risks that come into play when winter comes around.
3 major risks of exercising dog in winter include:
- Personal Risk
The first risk is ourselves. Ice is a major risk when it comes to walking dogs, especially in winter. Standing on a patch of ice could seriously injure you and with it being darker over winter the risk of this increases.
Making sure you have adequate footwear for winter is as important as wrapping up to avoid getting a cold.
- Antifreeze and Other Chemicals
If you have a dog that is anything like Jasper this is a big risk. Jasper loves to eat the snow to a point he just munches it as we walk. I didn’t think this an issue until someone pointed out to be careful of areas that would have antifreeze and chemicals.
Keeping this in mind and also wiping your dog down properly after walks (which will make sure there aren’t any traces of anything left on your dog).
- Frostbite
Dogs can suffer frostbite just like us from being out in the cold for too long. Obviously the larger dogs can stay out for longer but certain things can affect this such as breed – a husky is more likely to be out for longer and in colder weather and enjoy itā¦than a Jack Russell.
Understanding when is it too cold to walk your dog will help you and your dog avoid frostbite.
5 Indoor Activities to Keep Your Dog Active At Home
So with the risks of exercising dog in winter weather, you may find that you end up missing walks or having to cut walks shorter than normal due to weather.
We all know the downsides that are caused from a lack of exercise so below are 5 of my favourite indoor activities you can do at home with your dog to keep them active.
- Play/Tug/Wrestle
A great way to exercise a dog indoors in to just play with them. Jasper loves a good wrestle but you can play or make any game that you want. Some dogs may need a toy to get them going but this is a perfect way to play and build your relationship.
You can even make games up, me and Jasper have a game where he’ll stand in front of me, I’ll cup his chest and push him upwards and backwards, and he runs back and I’ll do it again.
- Scent Games
You can play scent games on a variety of levels. From sniffing out food around the house, to setting up games and getting your dog actually into scent work.
Scent games are great for mental stimulation as they use the Olfactory system and stimulating this for long enough can do as much good for your dog as a 30 minute walk.
Putting your dog in a sit as you go and hide treats for them to find can keep them entertained for a while around the house.
- Puzzle Toys and Treat Dispensers
These are also great for mental stimulation and getting your dog to solve challenges. These toys will stimulate independent play and keep your dog mentally occupied.
You can find plenty online but believe are a few of my favourites that I can give to Jasper to kill time. The Kong is my favourite as I can fill that up, put it in the freezer and give to Jasper, this can anywhere from an hour. Take a look, research more, you can even look into making your own.
- Obedience Training
Obedience should be something all owners do on a daily basis. At least 10 minutes a day can do wonders for any dog. This works your dog mentally and can also develop the relationship and engagement that you have.
You can spread this through the day in smaller sessions if that’s easier but you can do this when you have time such as watching TV.
- Obstacle Courses
If you have the space for it you can create your own indoor obstacle course. Setting up chairs, tables and using things like the stairs can be great for making an obstacle course, you can even buy bits of equipment online if you want to.
This can help your dog both physically and mentally as they use their brains to get through the course. You may find that you need to help them plenty to start them off so be prepared to guide them through if needs be.
Winter Walking Tips
At the end of it all you want to make sure that you walk your dog as much to routine as possible. Missing a walk can have big impacts for our dogs but I also don’t think we should feel horrible about it as long as it doesn’t become a habit.
We need to make sure that both us and our dogs are ready for these walks and that we also understand when is it too cold to walk your dog.
Click through the image below to read my short winter walking guide to make sure that you are prepared and ready for the cold moths.
Final Thoughts
There are many activities you can do at home when it comes exercising dog in winter. Above is just a short list of some of my favourite but all I can suggest is trying things out and seeing what your dog enjoys.
Winter can feel like miserable time but it can also be beautiful if you look carefully enough.
What is your experience with exercising dogs inside? Do you have any games for mental stimulation that you do with your dog that you want to share? Comment below!
