This month’s article focuses on April’s theme of Active Dog Month. This article focuses on keys, tips, and advice for maintaining an active lifestyle for your dog!

One of the most fundamentally important things for your dog is taking them out for daily walks. The benefit of the spring weather is that it is perfect as it is neither to hot nor to cold and as such, extended walks become a lot more bearable and are a lot more comfortable for your dog. During the summer, the pavement can get too hot for their paws and walks should be done either early in the day or later in the evening when the weather gets cooler. Please note that some dogs need more activity time than others.

Try and keep your activities versatile. Consider adding alternative routes to your walks, hikes, swimming, adventures to the dog park and games such as Fetch to keep your dog stimulated, active and keep your dog on its toes.

One of the most important things to remember is that you are walking your dog, not your dog walking you. Some things you can do to maintain control is to keep the leash short so your dog can’t get to far ahead of you as they should be walking next to you, not ahead. Another is using a harness instead of just a collar as it further helps in keeping them next to you. The other and possibly the most important is the use of positive reinforcement to encourage your dog to listen during their walks. As time goes on and they start learning and adapt to your commands – you can begin to drop the treats from the positive reinforcement program.

You ‘ll notice that when walking your dog that it will smell and relieve itself on almost every post, patch of grass or tree stump around. This is their way of communicating with other dogs around the community and notifying each other of their gender, age and health. This is their version of networking with the other canines in their community. Allow them to take their time and do this as it is important to their socialization. If you are limited on time, limit the distance and location that your dog can go to relieve themselves. Alternatively, teaching them potty cues can help with this as well.

Like most things, consistency is key and keeping a regular routine is very important and critical to maintaining a healthy and active lifestyle.

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