There’s no better partner for an active lifestyle than a dog. They’ll never cancel on you and they’re almost always ready to run, play, hike and go wherever you want to go. An active lifestyle with your dog is one that benefits both pet parent and pet, ensuring you both a longer, happier time together. By taking your dog to the vet for regular health checks and by keeping them up-to-date with their vaccinations, you and your buddy will have years of fun activities together ahead of you. By using the Shot Spot for your pet’s health needs, you can avoid lines and take advantage of our more convenient hours to keep your pet in great shape for regular activities.
Before doing regular activities with your dog, it can be beneficial to get lessons and even training with your dog to ensure that you and your dog will get the most out of your time together. By knowing how to keep your dog behaved and safe during your adventures, you’ll be sure to maximize the great results of exploring the world together.
There are plenty of fun activities for dogs that you can do together, from exercising to volunteering. Here are just some of the fun things that can bring you and your dog closer together!
1. Outdoor Activities
Outdoor activities offer a lot of room for exploration and exercise together. By bringing your dog out into the world with you, you stimulate both your bodies and your minds with the change of environment. Dogs get bored just like humans, so taking them out with you on fun excursions can satisfy their natural curiosity and need for new sights, smells and sounds while also increasing good behavior at home.
When venturing out into nature, consider bringing your dog along for the ride. Dogs can be great companions for activities like hiking or backpacking, but pet parents should be careful to pre-plan if they intend to bring their dogs with them on these activities. Dogs need to be in a physically fit state before doing arduous tasks like tackling long trails. Start getting regular activity into their daily regimen and build their fitness levels alongside your own to get them in proper shape for the stress of longer physical adventures. Pack plenty of water, tools to clean up after your dog and a first aid kit with supplies for both you and your canine.
Your outdoor activities don’t have to lead yours into the great wild! You can find exciting and interesting things to do together right in town or in the city. Dog parks can be a great way to help you and your dog socialize with other dogs and people. By bringing your dog out to a dog park, you give them a safe and gated environment that allows them to run free and play games with you or with other dogs! Before taking your dog to a dog park, it’s essential to have your dog vaccinated to protect them from any illnesses walking in with other pups. Make sure your dog is ready for a fully social experience, as some dogs prone to nervousness around other animals may have difficulty jumping right into the deep end of a doggy social situation. Bring along bags to clean up after your dog and keep an eye on smaller dogs. Sometimes, when a small dog starts to play with a bigger dog, the bigger dog can injure them by accident. With careful supervision, dogs can benefit from a good run round or game of frisbee at a dog park.
2. Training
Training activities can be an excellent way for you and your dog to grow and learn together. Mental exercises are important to a dog’s development and behavior management. There’s no downside to teaching a dog of any age new tricks and it’ll strengthen the bond between human and canine along the way.
Training doesn’t have to feel like homework. There are plenty of games that pet parents can play with Fido to teach new and useful skills. Trick training is a classic, well-loved way to train your dog. Trick training can range from teaching basic commands to competition-level training and uses treats as a motivation. Trick training can be done at home or in training classes. There are plenty of online resources available that provide training guides, tips and ideas for trick training.
Obedience training should be a standard for every dog. Obedience training helps both pet parent and pet learn to work together and helps an pet parent better understand how their dog. Like trick training, obedience training can vary in intensity, but just learning and practicing obedience skills for daily tasks brings you and your dog together to learn and secures that link between you and you will notice an increase in positive behavior in your dog once you learn how to properly command and discipline your pet.
3. Competitions
Some pet parents have higher aspirations for their time with their dog and take to participating in the different types of competitions there are for dogs. Competing can become a regular hobby that you and your dog share together that strengthens your communication skills and ability to work together. Competitive training usually involves a trainer to help both your dog and you learn how to compete and practice skills, so it’s important to consider the cost that will be involved when getting into competitions.
Agility trials are fun, complex, and involves both dog and pet parent directly. In agility trials, the human handler is responsible for guiding their dog through an obstacle course, leading them through tunnels, weave poles, hurdles and other structures that test the dog’s focus, speed and, of course, agility while showing how well the handler is able to instruct their pet.
If your pet is already a disc dog, Frisbee competitions might be right up your alley. This sport can burn up a lot of a dog’s energy and is a sport that involves the physical skills of both pet parent and dog. There’s a lot of jumping involved in this sport, though, so you’ll need to check your pet’s physical fitness and health with your vet before starting Frisbee training to avoid injuries.
4. Volunteer Work
If you’ve been looking to incorporate more community-based activities into your life, there are some ways both you and your dog can help people in your neighborhood through animal-assisted support. If you choose this path, becoming certified for patient and rehabilitation work might be essential before you start.
Animal-assisted activities are done in either a hospital setting or in nursing homes. These activities focus on boosting morale and giving people the opportunity to socialize and interact with animals in a relaxing way. Dog and pet parent teams that participate in these activities are not working on goals so much as they are providing mood-boosting bonding time between dogs and residents. Animal-assisted therapy, on the other hand, usually has teams involved in patient goals for rehabilitation. By participating in animal-assisted therapy, you and your dog can help a patient reach important landmarks of recovery while utilizing the natural bond between humans and dogs to bring some happiness to people in need. You can contact Pet Partners for more information on therapy certification and programs in your area.
The Shot Spot seeks to promote happy, healthy lifestyles between dogs and their pet parents. By providing health checkups and dog vaccinations in Allen, TX through our mobile unit, we hope to keep dogs fit, safe and active. By bonding with your dog and getting regular exercise through regular activities together, you can give your dog a better chance at a high-quality life filled with high spirits and good memories.
