How To Look After Your Dog’s Health When He Plays

Playing can be a great experience, not only to have some fun together, but also to keep fit. Physical activity, in fact, is essential for living a healthy life.

For the human being, physical exercises are very important, since they can determine the maintenance of one’s weight while following an unhealthy diet.

Although it may seem strange, the same goes for dogs: if they live too sedentary lives, in fact, even man’s best friends can suffer from health problems or even obesity. 

Obesity can cause serious health problems for your pet, for example:  

• Cardiac anomalies generated by the accumulation of fat
• Problems walking normally
• Reduction of life expectancy

To avoid these kinds of problems, the game often turns out to be a godsend. If you don’t know which activities are best for your dog, we list some of them below.

The throwing of the ball

Definitely the favorite dog game! As you may have observed in cartoons, as well as in real life, our four-legged friends have a lot of fun with this activity.

The game consists of throwing a ball into the air and waiting for it to bring it back, and then repeat the action as many times as you want. By doing this, your dog will have a great time and keep fit.

Why do dogs like this game so much? Well, this activity stimulates their instinct as hunters,  since grabbing a ball is very reminiscent of the gesture of catching a prey.

This fun game, in addition to being perfect for your dog to train and stay healthy, will prove to be very useful in teaching him to be patient. Know that patience is a virtue that he will learn after playing several times.

Although this is one of the favorite games of dogs, know that you will have to teach him to play. The lessons can take a lot of time, it is true, but once the dog understands the mechanism, he will be grateful to you, as well as his health.

To play with your puppy, be sure to choose a ball that is not too big and made of non-toxic materials.

Go out for a walk

Although it may seem trivial, walking the dog is one of the activities that most satisfies our little friends. In fact, it will allow them to operate different senses.

During the walks, the dog will not just walk or run, but will also exploit its sense of smell and sight thanks to the numerous aromas present in the surrounding environment.

Likewise, this activity is very important for the health of the animal, as it will give it the opportunity to relate to other specimens of its own species and spend moments in company.

If you didn’t know, the breeds that most enjoy walking are the following:

• Border Collie
• Cocker Spaniel
• Golden Retriever
• German Shepherd

It should be noted that adult dogs must be taken for a walk every day for at least 30 minutes.

Hide and seek

The game we all loved as children also exists in a canine version. In this case, however, it is not you who will have to look for your little friend – nor will he have to look for you.

The idea behind the game is to hide your dog’s favorite toy for him to find. It is an activity that will not only help him to keep himself in good physical condition, but also to keep his sense of smell developed.

To begin, blow a whistle to announce that the game has started. As you can imagine, some training will be needed initially.

Once your dog has learned to recognize the signal, he will have to look for the toy you are hiding. At this stage of the game he will rely heavily on his sight and smell.

For this, as for most of the activities you do with your dog, remember that the most important aspect is to reward him with an edible treat every time he finds his toy.

Each of these games will greatly benefit your dog’s health.