[American]

I was wondering how is to much exercise, My dog is just about to turn 1yr, and 4months, this is my exercise routine I start the day off with a 30 min. bike run in the morning and then when I get back in the afternoon I take her for a 30min walk, then I take her for another bike run for about 45mins. And threw out the day when I let her out back she will play with the flirtpole for awhile. Then to finish off the day, most nights I will take her for a short Bike ride for 10-15mins. I read in some posts that you need to take some days off from it, and I tried this and my APBT just goes stir crazy. So if anybody has some tips or helpful info it would be a big help, Thank you in Advance.

[Jazer]

My assumption would be as long as she is enthusiastic about it, you are not wearing her out. Id give her a break if she seemed exhausted by the last "walk" or two, but it sounds like what you are doing is great for her.

[American]

ok thank you

[Chevy]

Sounds like you are doing well. I don't think its too much work. I know a bunch that work their dogs much harder. 5 mile walks/bike ride then more once home.

[mr.clueless]

i think its too much myself.....for the average pet dog anway...

a 45 minute bike ride at say 10/12 miles per hour is around 8 miles......
so if your doing that and a 30 minute bike ride and another 15 minute bike ride every day thats around 17 miles per day straight away just in bike rides....along with flirt pole,walking and whatever else i think thats too much for a 16 month pet dog....in fact i think thats too much for any dog !
im the first to say give a dog good exercise but this is too much in my opinion.....the dog may enjoy it now but give it time and the dog will lose drive,ambition and desire.....and if not taking in enough good nutrition will actually go backwards in its fitness.
what are you actually trying to achieve....if you want to get your dog in peak condition do it correctly...if you just want a good conditioned healthy dog then at least cut in half what your doing now.

[Debbie]

I've moved your thread into Obedience & Sports forum in hopes you get more replies to your question.

[sparksm85]

I dont agree that you should necessarily cut your routine in half but do be careful not to burn her out or to overexercise and not feed the nutrition required for that level of activity. I have a couple of dogs that really love to go for long runs several times a day and I think a lot of people would probably have better behaved dogs and dogs in better shape if they gave them more exercise but just do watch that you dont lose her somewhere along the way mentally. Make sure she is always enjoying it and watch for signs of fatigue on her muscles and joints, otherwise your doing awesome IMO.

[xdogs]

Have you slowly worked up to this level? THAT would be my biggest concern.
As far as going with what the dog is telling you.. in this breed.. I have to say that you will have to be the steward of this dog's health and best interest. These guys will go way beyond exhaustion if it is something they are excited about. And to find something a 16 month old APBT is NOT excited about, is a trick.

How exhausted does your dog appear when the day is done? How much does your dog weigh? How much water does he/she drink a day? Does spit start dripping from his/her tongue while exercising? Are the whites of the eyes (scleras) sort of reddish?
Personally, that sounds like a lot of hard-core exercise for a dog that age to me. I would probably also split the exercise up so that different muscle groups are being exercised per day, so that those muscle groups get a rest period as well. Think of how body builders exercise. I don't think they do the same routine every day and don't think that they hit the max level of exercise every day either. Muscles also need rest to develop and prevent them from being injured.

[American]

Well when we get done with our bike runs she don't seem that exhausted, because she always runs to her flirtpole when we get back like she wants to play more, then I call her in the house. She does drip a lil spit but not much, I would say she drinks a normal amount of water a day, I never really checked her eyes when we got done with her workout but I will. Oh yea my dog weighs 50 pounds. Does anybody know what exercises work what muscles?

[Bully_UK]

Hi,not sure if this has been posted befor,sorry if it has.I found it a great read.
The Importance Of Rest
The canine body is an incredible boilogical machine, second to none in the diversity of it's athletic potential. Capable of running over 40 mph, briskly walking more than a hundred miles uphill on an eleectric treadmill or pulling over a ton of weight, the canine athlete is likely the most multi-talented animal athlete the world has over seen.

An adequate nutritional intake and carefully planned, productive exercise plan are, as everyone knows, the two primary components of any conditioning progam. But, an extremely crucial and oftentimes overlooked aspect to increasing a dog's fitness and ability to compete at higher levels lies in what may be an unexpected area of the training program: rest and recovery.

Adapt or Die

Physical training (working out) is beneficail to the dog only if it forces the dog's body to respond to the stress of training and allows the body to adapt and prepare for further stressess (workouts). If the stress of training is insufficcieant to effectively overload the body, no positive physical adaptation will occur and the dog will not increase his current fitness levels. If however, the stress is too great or adequate rest and recovery periods are not provided, the results will be overtraining, exhaustion, and descreased performance and overall health.

Making physical stress and adaptation the central part of a training program is simply a way of using the dog's natural reaction to physical stress, which is, in basic terms, the "adapt or die" survival reaction. In the workout, the conditioner places a stress on the dog, and the canine body not only satisfies the demand of the stress, but also sets into motion a highly complex series of internal changes that prepare the dog to handle even greater demands in the future.
Training works in this waay because it upsets the dog's biological balance and drives the canine body to increase it's physical capacity. As do all animals, the canine body seeks "homeostasis", a condition in which it's biological systems are in balance with the enviroment, maintaining the status quo, when training stresses the body beyond this threshold, the body responds by adapting, so that the workload will become easier to handle in the future. It's as if your dog's body was saying, "Today's workout was tough, but the next one may be even harder. If I don't want to die, I'd better adapt to this workout and get in better shape."

Adequate rest, recovery, and, recuperation are absolutely essential or otimum physical training and are often overlooked or not given enough attention. The connection between stress and rest is probably best shown through an illustration: Suppose you were to rub your finger repeatedly against a piece of sandpaper every day without exeption. After a while, your finger would develop a blister, a red, sore spot that would never a chanceto heal since you rub it every day.. If, however, you were to rub your finger against the sandpaper every other day or maybe every third day, the finger would have an opportunity to recover and adapt to this stress. A callous would form that would allow you to increase the time that you could run your finger against the sandpaper without hurting yourself. With this alternation of stress and rest, the size of the callous would grow and become tougher, the essence of adaption. This point is - before your dog can adapt to the stress of training and get into beter shape, he must first recover form the last workout. Or, as the saying goes, "recovery precedes fitness gains"

Bill Kazmair, the World's Strongest Man and the world record holder in powerlifting, agrees saying, "When I'm asked how to get really strong, I always say train really hard. Of course. But, also allow enough time for rest and recovery between hard workouts or you'll never make the big gains. The biggest mistake most athletes make in my opinion, especially the new guys, is that they don't allow their bodies to recover enough between workouts".

Far and away, the single most common mistake that most beginning conditioners make is that they overtrain and overcondition their animals while under feeding them. They do not understand how critical the integration of stress and rest is to success in training. They seem to believe, in many cases, that dogs are mechanical toys that need only to be worked harder every day to get into shape. They fear that a rest or a light workout day will erode conditioning gains they have already made when the facts are just the opposite. You see, to train effectively, to make the time spent conditioning as productive as possible. Dogs need to be worked hard and smart, not just hard! Intense workouts combined with adequate recovery periods.
Not my words..

[Mollie's Nana]

Colby Dogs gave good advice, I'd go with.

[Kit]

I think part of it depends on the dog.

45 minutes of playing on the beach give Nick a beach hangover.
45 minutes of playing on the beach leaves Rosie wanting another 45 minutes.

[4pitsNgiggles]

i have a similar work out to yours- and was mentioned above about the mile marking mathematics of a "45 minute" anything- if you are like me and say "i walk my dog 30 minutes in the morning" i don't start my clock from the second i roll out till the second i roll in, i count preparation in that time. i also never manage to walk the full 30 on a 30 minute walk because we make stops.

it doesn't sound to me like you are working your dog too much. dogs need exercise everyday physically to relieve them mentally. you know your dog, just watch how he acts and use common sense. and dont reference a dogs workout to a persons. they are far less lazier than us- i mean why was it historical man chose the dog? to do work he couldn't do himself...to make his job easier.

i just started my APBT pulling a cart.

take in all opinions and weed out the B/S you gotta watch the "dog nazis" on these kinds of forums...the best way to tell is by looking at that persons dogs. it's easy to say what is and what isn't but the truth lies in the little mirrors at our feet. your dog will let you know whats up if you listen.