# Intensity



## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

Good article by Jean Donaldson https://academyfordogtrainers.com/blog/intensity-isn-t-bad


----------



## Marni (Apr 1, 2017)

Wonderful. Everyone in my family would hate stopping Zoe from bouncing on all four feet like a goat when she chases a ball. It is one of our favorite things to see.


----------



## karidyne (Apr 28, 2017)

Turid Rugaas is a huge critic of too much exercise. I believe she's completely against fetch, agility and even walks with the purpose of exercising a dog, which she doesn't think is necessary. Her point of view is actually pretty reasonable, and it's very interesting to read both sides. I do think it's important to give dogs a down time from all the adrenaline, and I think a lot of people overwork their dogs playing fetch or running on hard pavement. Migo only gets the zoomies at dusk and dawn, which are the typical active periods. The dog walker thinks he is quite lazy actually. I would personally never force a dog to do any physical activity if it didn't want to, and most dog owners that I've observed cannot read their dog's body language well enough to know how much is too much.


----------



## ShamaMama (Jul 27, 2015)

Shama seems to enjoy agility (as evidenced by the fact that she takes the obstacles without me telling her to - we're working on that - and by the fact that she doesn't sit and refuse to move as she sometimes does when we go on walks). She engages in zoomies in the back yard, on the deck, and in the house. She plays chase with the right play date. We don't take her on regular walks as I didn't want to walk her too much when she was a little puppy and then I never got around to going on regular walks after she grew up. She can walk on a loose leash at obedience class, but she still pulls when I walk her in the neighborhood, and I don't have the patience to practice loose leash walking in that context. I think she gets enough exercise in our house and in our back yard and at her obedience and agility classes. I keep thinking that at some point we'll work on short walks in the neighborhood. Ironically, I walked a LOT more before I got a dog . . .


----------



## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

karidyne said:


> Turid Rugaas is a huge critic of too much exercise. I believe she's completely against fetch, agility and even walks with the purpose of exercising a dog, which she doesn't think is necessary. Her point of view is actually pretty reasonable, and it's very interesting to read both sides. I do think it's important to give dogs a down time from all the adrenaline, and I think a lot of people overwork their dogs playing fetch or running on hard pavement. Migo only gets the zoomies at dusk and dawn, which are the typical active periods. The dog walker thinks he is quite lazy actually. I would personally never force a dog to do any physical activity if it didn't want to, and most dog owners that I've observed cannot read their dog's body language well enough to know how much is too much.


This is more about self induced form of play ,by the dog . not really exercise. Turid believes walks should focus on smelling and exploring ,not just walking from point A to B which is what I've been preaching for years.


----------



## ShamaMama (Jul 27, 2015)

davetgabby said:


> Turid believes walks should focus on smelling and exploring ,not just walking from point A to B which is what I've been preaching for years.


That kind of walk sounds dreamy. My first reaction was to think, "I'll do walks like that in my retirement," but my second thought was, "I won't have Shama in my retirement." Hmm. I'll have to think some more . . .


----------



## karidyne (Apr 28, 2017)

We go on a lot of these walks. They're fun and it's interesting to see where Migo's nose takes him sometimes.. although it's usually to a bush down the trail that he particularly likes to pee on.. :smile2: When we're in an unfamiliar place he tends to focus on me too much, but hopefully as he progresses in his nose work classes he'll be more independent soon.


----------



## Melissa Brill (Feb 22, 2017)

*lazy*



karidyne said:


> Turid Rugaas is a huge critic of too much exercise. I believe she's completely against fetch, agility and even walks with the purpose of exercising a dog, which she doesn't think is necessary. Her point of view is actually pretty reasonable, and it's very interesting to read both sides. I do think it's important to give dogs a down time from all the adrenaline, and I think a lot of people overwork their dogs playing fetch or running on hard pavement. Migo only gets the zoomies at dusk and dawn, which are the typical active periods. The dog walker thinks he is quite lazy actually. I would personally never force a dog to do any physical activity if it didn't want to, and most dog owners that I've observed cannot read their dog's body language well enough to know how much is too much.


Perry is quite good at telling me when it's enough play - it's generally when we're playing fetch and I throw it and he gets it and plops down to chew on it instead of bringing it back to me  Same with tug - when the toy gets flipped to me with an expectant look, that means he wants to play... when he then decides to plop down and chew on it instead, he's done, enough play. I don't know that I would call him lazy (though I certainly am  ), but he's good with very short amounts of play every couple of days.


----------

