Does your furry member of the family seem to endlessly bound around your home? Do you struggle to find the time or the inspiration to exercise your dog every day? Well, we have put together 5 canine-friendly exercises that will teach you how to calm an active dog.
Having a pet really is a full-time job. From making sure their diet is in check, check-ups with the vet, love, care, and attention, being a paw parent isn’t easy. But it’s incredibly rewarding. Just one look at your dog’s face is enough to full your whole body with love and warmth.
If you are the proud paw parent of an enthusiastic and energetic furball of love, then you may have experienced how tiring it can be to try and tire your dog out. No matter how many walks you go on, your precious pooch seems to have endless energy. Which is all fine and well, until you need to take a nap or just enjoy some series on the couch.
So, without further delay, here are our top 5 tips to tiring out an energetic dog.
How to Calm an Active Dog
Play frisbee
This fun playtime is like playing fetch – on steroids. You are likely to toss a frisbee further than a ball, which adds in some extra running distance, making for great exercise. It’s pretty easy to stand in a park, toss a frisbee and watch Bruno do all the hard work.
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A good idea is to start with a soft disc as traditional frisbees can be quite hard for your dog to grab onto. There are some great dog-friendly frisbees available online.
Use a flirt stick (also known as a flirt pole)
A flirt pole is basically a long pole with a rope and lure attached to the end. You can make one of these at home with some PVC pipe, some string and your dog’s favourite toy or buy one online.
You can use a flirt pole in the park or even while sitting down (the latter works better for smaller dogs). Simply attach your dog’s toy to the end of the string and move the pole around, enticing your dog to chase it.
Not only is this a good form of physical activity, but a flirt pole serves as mental stimulation too! A flirt pole will make use of your dog’s instinct to chase something and allow for you to stand in one place while your dog chases the lure around you.
Your dog is going to be pretty tired after only a few minutes of this exercise. When you first start using one of these, make sure you stick to shorter sessions to avoid any injuries and exhaustion.
Read this: Here’s how to start running with your dog so that you will both love it!
Play a game of tug-of-war
This simple game is bound to tire out any dog! It’s a whole bunch of fun and great exercise for your dog. In fact, this simple game will help strengthen the bond between you and your dog.
Games such as these will also help to build your dog’s confidence and help you and your dog to get in some extra exercise. Tug-of-war will also teach your dog self-control and provide mental stimulation.
Bubbles for Bruno
Who knew that dogs loved bubbles so much? Teaching your dog to chase bubbles is an easy and effective way to tire him out. If your dog is not familiar with bubbles, then you can start by blowing a few at a time and encouraging him to chase them around by catching some yourself and showing Bruno that there is no need to worry.
You can make your own dog-friendly bubbles at home or buy some bacon flavoured ones online (yeah, bacon flavoured!).
Use a Kong
This is probably one of the simplest ways to keep an energetic dog busy for 30 minutes or more. Of course, a Kong does not require as much physical exertion as the other techniques, but this is a simple way to entertain your dog when you do not have the time to do it yourself.
Stuff a Kong with peanut butter and put this in your freezer the night before. Then, when your precious pooch seems to have endless amounts of energy and you have a deadline to meet or somewhere to be, then give your dog the frozen peanut butter stuffed Kong for him to nibble on for a while. There are some fantastic options available online for you to buy for your dog.
We hope these tips and techniques on how to calm an active dog have been helpful and allow for you and Bruno to spend some time bonding, exercising, and making memories together.
Read next: Owning a pet & working full time: 9 things to consider
