Written by Alex Merashi

 

The excitement of bringing a puppy home is tremendous for any dog lovers. At first, you may not realize how much of a responsibility keeping a dog is, until you have to feed him, walk him, train him, among other needs. For as long as you consider it a joy to own a dog, it should not be so hard to be the best pet owner. However, you must be careful that you do not allow him to slack and become lazy. When you realize that he is doing more sleeping than strutting, then you need to worry because he is lazy. If you allow laziness to go on for so long, you may have to deal with other health issues that come from not having enough exercise. Here are several tips to help you prevent the laziness in your dog:

 

Physical Exercise

 

The first cure for laziness is physical exercise. Sometimes all you need to get your dog active is to engage in some physical activity. Walks around the neighborhood are a pretty common practice for most dog owners. Depending on how old your dog is, his size and breed, you can intensify the physical activities from mere walking around the neighborhood to running around the block or jogging every morning. Some dogs do well with shorter sessions of play, while others thrive better in vigorous physical activities.

 

 

Give Them Attention

 

Sometimes your dog is lazy as a way to seek your attention. More especially if you are very busy during the day, you may find that your dog does not want to do anything but sleep. Sometimes this kind of withdraw is a demand for attention. Spare time in your day to be with your dog. You can take walks, pet him, and groom him, among other things. Ideally, before you can ever consider bringing home a second puppy, ensure that the first one is feeling loved and attended to.

 

Find Them A Playmate

 

With time, you realize that life can get in the way of you spending some quality time with your dog. As such, it is hard to give proper attention to him, because other things need your attention. If you have kids, then you do not need to worry too much about it. However, if you do not have kids, then find your dog a playmate. You can organize for play dates your neighbor’s dog, visit a park where there are other dogs to play with, or simply introduce a new puppy in the picture.

 

Mental Exercise

 

Laziness can be out of boredom sometimes. To rid your dog of boredom, you need to try engaging their minds. Some of the games you play do not necessarily have to involve their entire bodies. For example, hide and seek, treasure hunts, among other retrieval games, will set your dog on a mission to mentally be engaged in an activity that does not encourage laziness.

 

Motivate Your Dog

 

A motivation for dogs can go a long way as to shaping their behaviors and daily habits and routines. An unmotivated dog does very little if at all they will leave their sleeping pouch. Throwing treats at the end of the physical activity or the mental one for that case can change the ball game altogether. The idea is to initiate a challenge that has a reward attached on the other end, should he decide to take up the challenge. Try introducing toys, bone chews, or snack treats to motivate your pet.

 

However, be careful that you do not over-shower your dog with food treats. This is because you establish a habit for them to keep expecting such a treat every time they do something right, instead, keep it spontaneous, anchoring a lot of your motivation on praise, for example, ‘good boy!’ This way, your dog remains motivated and feels attended to at the same time,

 

 

Establish an Active Routine

 

It could be that your dog is lazy because they do not have a routine to stick by. Dogs do well with habits, which is why it is difficult to untrain a trained dog. Therefore, make sure you have an active daily routine in matters of potty trips, walks, feeding and crate time. Once your canine friend knows what to do, hardly will they deviate from the plan, unless they are feeling under the weather.