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If the app allowed me to asses my dogs mood then this would be useful. I have an extremely energetic West Highland Terrier and there is a fine balance between e

If the app allowed me to asses my dogs mood then this would be useful. I have an extremely energetic West Highland Terrier and there is a fine balance between enough exercise to tire him out and too much to turn him in to a grumpy, slightly snappy, stroppy teenager. We think the sweet spot is somewhere between 45 mins and 1.5 hours of walking per day - which is quite a big window

bugschivers 13y ago
That sounds like an excessive amount of exercise for a dog of that size. Have you considered training & more mental activity, all you are doing is making him fitter and require longer walks in the long run. I have a border collie who we joke runs on nuclear, and getting her to do focused activity such as playing with toys or training tricks or basic obedience can be pretty exhausting. I think that exercise is good, but you shouldn't expect your dog to simply wear out like a battery, if I did that with my BC I would end up walking for 4 hours a day!
- simonbarker87 13y ago
  Haha, good point. Yes we do all of the mental stuff as well. He is well trained and always has to do something for a reward - dinner won't be served until he does a sit, a down and a 30 second wait in his bed. We play fetch on his morning walk, we play hide the toy/find the toy and lots of tug at home. It's a good point though, I'll do some more searching for other things we can do. We have a trainer who has described him as being the most expressed terrier she has ever come across (lucky us!) and she said the most effective way to absorb his mental and physical energy is to start agility - which we've always wanted to do but he only turned 2 last week and the local club have that as their minimum age.
samsnelling 13y ago
That's crazy I have a Westie also, and you are right on point with trying to find the right balance. The reason I posted this was that I love the concept of tracking the amount exercise "Toodles" is getting to see how it affects her mood. The device looks like it's on a big dog, and I'm wondering how it will look on a small/medium size dog as well.
- simonbarker87 13y ago
  Agreed, I guess there is a minimum size that they could go down to but if it was ok I would buy one. I think people forget how much a dog's mood is affected by their walking time - playing is all well and good but there is something primal for a dog about walking, especially walking with intent/purpose. I think with big dogs it's fine to just exhaust them and they'll loll about and doze but with a small dog if you push it too far you just get a grumpy git.

bugschivers 13y ago

That sounds like an excessive amount of exercise for a dog of that size. Have you considered training & more mental activity, all you are doing is making him fitter and require longer walks in the long run. I have a border collie who we joke runs on nuclear, and getting her to do focused activity such as playing with toys or training tricks or basic obedience can be pretty exhausting. I think that exercise is good, but you shouldn't expect your dog to simply wear out like a battery, if I did that with my BC I would end up walking for 4 hours a day!

simonbarker87 13y ago
Haha, good point. Yes we do all of the mental stuff as well. He is well trained and always has to do something for a reward - dinner won't be served until he does a sit, a down and a 30 second wait in his bed. We play fetch on his morning walk, we play hide the toy/find the toy and lots of tug at home. It's a good point though, I'll do some more searching for other things we can do. We have a trainer who has described him as being the most expressed terrier she has ever come across (lucky us!) and she said the most effective way to absorb his mental and physical energy is to start agility - which we've always wanted to do but he only turned 2 last week and the local club have that as their minimum age.

samsnelling 13y ago

That's crazy I have a Westie also, and you are right on point with trying to find the right balance. The reason I posted this was that I love the concept of tracking the amount exercise "Toodles" is getting to see how it affects her mood. The device looks like it's on a big dog, and I'm wondering how it will look on a small/medium size dog as well.

simonbarker87 13y ago
Agreed, I guess there is a minimum size that they could go down to but if it was ok I would buy one. I think people forget how much a dog's mood is affected by their walking time - playing is all well and good but there is something primal for a dog about walking, especially walking with intent/purpose. I think with big dogs it's fine to just exhaust them and they'll loll about and doze but with a small dog if you push it too far you just get a grumpy git.