At K9 Fitness Works, we know how important it is to keep your dog healthy and active. We’ve compiled a list of the Top 10 Dog Fitness Questions to help guide you in maintaining your dog’s physical health, mobility, and overall well-being. Whether your dog is recovering from an injury, building strength, or improving body awareness, we’ve got you covered with answers from our expert trainers and therapists.
Over the next 10 weeks, we will release one detailed answer to each of the Top 10 Dog Fitness Questions on a weekly basis. Each post will include expert insights, helpful tips, and a video tutorial to guide you in maintaining and improving your dog’s fitness. Be sure to check back each week for new updates!
2. How can I provide my dog with enough exercise and mental stimulation in a small apartment without access to a yard?
Transcript from the video:
Dog Question number two from you and your dog. I have a small apartment. I don’t have a yard. How can I do dog fitness? Ah, again, thinking outside of the box and something that is becoming more known are puzzle toys. I have a variety of puzzle toys. Makoa’s over here, checking ’em out. This is a great puzzle toy.
It’s this round, it kind of, it wobbles you put treats in it. I have found if I put can food in it and then treats, it’s a little bit longer of a toy, you can put food on the outside, freeze it. And that just helps keep them occupied. Here’s another one. She’s looking at all the treat toys and it rolls.
Like they have to, they have to actually work to get it out and it comes down on a little maze. Here’s another, so it’s got different layers. You can freeze some stuff. Put just some kibble in here. But the different layers help them. They gotta move their paws around. So if you’re looking at the video, you saw the puzzle toys.
If you’re not looking at the video, there are variety of puzzle toys out there. You can even make your own puzzle toys with various cardboard boxes. That’s what people used to use when before we had all these nice, nice artistic toys. We have now boxes. Just get creative, always thinking outside of the box. And what I also do is once I have played and interacted with my pup on the puzzle toys,
so that’s one thing you can do. Interact with them, kind of play with them with the toy. The second thing you can do, you’re gonna leave, fill the puzzle toy up and then leave it for them. It engages their brain as well as their body because as they’re working with the puzzle toy, they’re moving it around with their paws. They’re moving it with their nose.
So when they’re doing that, they’re engaging muscles because they’re moving back and forward. And my girl is licking the puzzle toys right now. And so that is, they’re doing exercise in their small space. And then if you wanna go like expert level, once they have interacted with the puzzle toys for a while, then you can fill them and hide them.
So I fill her food like in the breakfast in the morning, I’ll give her a little food in her bowl and I’ll have a puzzle toy ready to go. And while she’s getting her breakfast, I’ll go hide it. As she’s getting smart, she’s learning. That’s what I do on some days. So she’ll stop what she’s eating to look around the corner and see what I’m doing with the puzzle toys.
And last time she actually went and found it first and then went back and ate her breakfast. So I’m gonna have to get more creative on my puzzle toy hiding. And that might mean when we come back in from our walk, she stays on the porch, I hide the puzzle toy, then I, I put some food out and feed her. So it’s about engaging them mentally.
So fitness is mental as well as physical. And it’s the same for us when we do our fitness, right? It’s mental as well as physical health. So puzzle toys, check ’em out. There’s a lot out there. And again, you get creative with yogurt containers and all kinds of things. Boxes. I’m just thinking outside the box. Old tennis shoes,
you know, if they don’t tear ’em up and you don’t want them to tear up your shoes, you may not wanna use those. But a lot of things you can do in a small space. Okay, let me know how it goes. ’cause I would love to hear your feedback.