Mind: A dog needs mental exercise to sharpen their skills, whether hunting, herding, or lure coursing. It is important to keep their mind sharp especially during the off season. You can do this through obedience, barn hunts, nose work, or treadmill training (this is NOT in place of a walk but along with one). Being creative and thinking outside the box to keep your dogs mind exercised is important if you live in an area with extreme weather conditions. On extremely hot days I will feed Blaze his meals out of a treat ball, play nose work games where I will hide a small tin with anise or birch oil in it or you can just hide the dogs treats and that can work to exercise their mind, I will use a flirt pole with a toy on the end and move it around the house for him to point or chase and catch. We do Urban Agility during the spring and fall where he is allowed to explore and go over or up on different surfaces. In the forest it is downed trees or up on large boulders! The picture above is not staged, Blaze has been doing this for so long he now will get up on anything and pose. I did ask him to "feet up" his command to try to get his feet up on something and this was the result!
Body: Dogs need to move and explore. Opening the back door and letting them run your 1/4 acre or 10 acre property is Not sufficient exercise. Most dogs will actually build bad habits when only allowed to exercise in their backyard. They tend to become barkers, chase and maybe kill squirrels or rabbits, and some will make their own fun by digging or destroying property.
The dogs already know that land and desperately need to be Walked off the property. This is the only way to exercise their mind and body. Teaching a proper heel is essential for their mind and to provide the necessary control to maneuver around town or on mixed trails. If you want to add some mental challenge to that walk place a back pack on your dog. When Blaze was younger (from about age 9 months to 18 months) I used a backpack on most walks. At first it was empty and he just got use to having it on then I would place a couple bottles of water in the backpack and we would do our walk or hike through the woods. Even just a 30 min walk with the backpack on would be more like 2 hrs. Because of the added mental challenge the backpack provides. A mental challenge is more Exhausting than a physical one for a dog because they are born to move. Taking the dog off the property and to new locations help to provide that much needed ability for them to explore. Doing this on leash and off leash is essential to they whole world. Blaze is given at least 4-8 hours of off leash hunting each week. During this time he is free to explore and do what his natural instincts are which for his breed is to find and Point birds or other wildlife! When he finds something he will come back to me and bring me to what he has found! Once it was a flying squirrel another time it was a baby raccoon (pictured above). During that off leash romp I will often call him back to the heel position and walk further into the woods this has multiple benefits, it reinforces his recall, tightens up his obedience, and provides that necessary mental aspect of the experience. Heeling teaches impulse control and this helps the dog in any environment including in the home.
Soul: This is the energy part of the process and is critical to having a truly balanced dog. When a dog is in tuned with its owner and its surroundings there is this beautiful flow of energy and they move as one. The dog is so aware of that energy connection they can sense where they are in relation to their owner and make changes to their pace to stay in that heel position or if they are off leash they will check in frequently to keep that energy flow connected!
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