How much do you exercise your dog?
About my dog:
I have a 4-year-old Australian Shepherd, Appenzeller Mountain and mountain hound mix. He is reactive towards other dogs because he got bitten several times in his life. His reactivity has become much better — normally he is “only” fixating on the other dog now, but I can recall him from it and he has a redirect word, so he usually doesn’t react anymore. Other things like people, bikes, or cars he completely ignores. My goal is to eventually have him 100% reliable off leash.
His exercise routine: In the morning he gets a short 10–15 minute potty walk, then he sleeps until around 11am. After that we go outside for about 1.5–2 hours (around 3–4 km) for our training outing. We usually meet 4–5 dogs, do some heeling, recall training, lots of sniffing, and also a calmness exercise for around 30–40 minutes. After the walk he mostly sleeps until 4–6pm, and then we sometimes do obedience training with his dinner, play ball, or do some nose work. And in the evening he has another 10-15min potty walk.
I’m not sure if the big midday walk is good or maybe too much. But on the other hand I think that spending more time outside gives us more situations where we can practice for off-leash privileges and work on the dog reactivity.
What do you think?