Here are some tips and tricks for exercising your senior dog.
- Take your elderly dog on frequent walks. Just remember to go slow and keep the distance short so you don’t push them too hard.
- Engage your dog in low impact exercises. Low impact exercises, such as swimming, take a lot of strain off of your old timer’s joints.
- Get your dog a good tough to chew into dog treat. This will keep their jaw muscles active from the chewing. As well as their brain, while they try to figure out how to get to the center.
- Playing with adapted technique. You can still play the same games with them. You just need to be cognizant that their bodies become slower and more fragile as they age.
- Up and down the stairs a few times. This is a great work out as long as your dog can handle it and you are able to help out if need be. Going up and down the stairs works muscles in your dog that rarely get used walking around on the flat ground.
Written by: St. Vital Veterinary Hospital