background

Exercise for poodles

Learn everything about exercise for poodles. Find out useful poodles exercising tips and exercisesеs that perfectly match your poodle's age.


Physical activity can maintain health in good condition and make poodle’s life longer. Good exercise is equal to walking. Here we will talk about the exercise duration, its frequency and appropriate type. It is very important to not overdo with it. Still, over-exercising is thought to be useful. Here are some tips about how making exercise balanced for each poodle species.

We will fix on

  • Physical activity advantages
  • Most suitable type of exercise for each poodle species
  • What is required for all poodle life phases
  • What to do when exercise is out of place
  • How to substitute the activities
  • Six main exercise recommendation
  • Questions and answers

The importance of having exercise

dressed poodle in a toe

The benefits from being active are tremendous. Having regular exercise provides your poodle with great health, not only physical but mental as well. It includes improving blood circulation and simultaneously preventing it from cardiovascular diseases. The amount of injures will decreases as its muscles are well-trained. Exercise is good for digestion since it prevents from constipation. It prevents from different illnesses including canine diabetes, stroke and cancer. The poodle’s bones become stronger. You can avoid having urinary tract infections. Exercise stimulates urination that helps avoid infection gathering. Arthritis develops slower. Diet, exercise, dental care and good living condition have a good impact on poodles’ life. Exercise makes your dog well-disciplined. You see how its behavior improves just taking a look at the way your poodle sticks up to the rules and the walking schedule you have set. For other reason walking and exercising is a good way to let go its curbed energy in a very useful way. You will not see any development if you do these exercise without any order and purpose. Sticking to a schedule help you get rid of some undesirable action. Exercising your dog frees its anger and irritation so that it returns home calmer.

If you do not let your dog get rid of curbed energy through physical activity, it can get rid of its energy through damaging your possession. Emotional crashes are the main reason of excessive barking. Physical activity cures this problem. Having physical exercise is a great opportunity for your dog to spend time with you since dogs usually suffer from lack of attention. Now your poodle looks forward to the next scheduled training.

You will notice improvements in sleep quality as well. Regular exercise makes your poodle sleep better. That is about the sleep length and the amount of deep sleep it has. On the contrary, sleep deprivation has various consequences for poodle’s health. Proper exercise easily manages this problem.

Make your dog happy. Poodle feels elated when it can do what it can and love, especially feeling smells and discovering new places. Let it do this and you see that being at home your dog has better mood. Naturally, socialization depends on physical activity your poodle has. Doing your exercise right can teach tour dog how to socialize. Indeed, bringing the poodle up involves a lot of issues. This concerns teaching communication with others. You are mistaken not walking with your poodle when it has a storming reaction to people, cars and dogs. There is nothing to do but teaching it good manners. Exercise helps your poodle to acquire some skills important for communication, especially self-assurance. You can improve your relationship with the dog becoming real friends. Your dog considers walks as a duties and team work.

To sum it up,

Good health, better behavior, great mood are elements provided by physical activities. Healthy nutrition, safe house, brushing teeth, grooming and an integral part of this list has regularly exercising. Doubtless, there are few situations in which you had better steer clear your poodle of exercise.

The most appropriate exercise for poodle

poodle is runningWalking is the best method for physical activity. First of all, it does not overload its tiny bones. Secondly, it gives you a chance to adjust the poodle’s body to different type of training. Having strictly planned walking you see soon that you can increase exercise. Thirdly, it is not difficult to fulfil. You need only a leash, a harness and a bit of patience for this. Walking is perfect for any weather condition. Talking about toy poodles, there is a question among the owners whether walking is a good exercise as the dogs are really tiny. The answer is that, compare your step and poodle’s one. Your normal step makes your poodle run in order to catch up its owner. So it is really beneficial for your poodle.

Does your poodle need much exercise?

One-year old toys and miniatures poodles and eighteen-month standards should have carefully elaborated schedule for exercise by you. It is a good way to spend its energy with benefits. Do not limit your puppies in active spending its time, it will harm its development. But it is better to keep the balance and to know measures.

This happens because the poodles bones grow and form during the first period of their life. Growth plates are at the major bone ends. They are a soft area with quickly diving cell that let the bones develop and grow longer because puppy becomes grown-up. When the poodle is grown-up, the plates become solid. Too much exercise at young age lead to easy injured bone tissue and difficulties with following bone growing. It is better for you to know how both not harm your dog’s bones and not to limit development.

Remember that it is good to have a moderate home playing for your poodle not to be wound up from moving. Running and walking with a good voice given for a long time should be eliminated. You should teach your poodle discipline. At the same time, it is vital for your pet to keep moving to such an extent that it does not want more. Remember to never force your puppy to play at its heart has been unwilling and not prepared for it. Examining these recommendations you should know that the walking duration leaves unchangeable despite the dog size. It can be explained by the dog pace is equal to an exercise state. Toys and standards trot and you simply adjust to their pace. Remember the rule of thumb, that is each month of its life you make the exercise five minutes longer. Here is a short mention of this rule.

poodle is walking

  • Three-month dog walks for fifteen minutes every day.
  • Four-month dog has twenty-minute walk, by the way, you can split it into two from now on.
  • Five-month dog walks for twenty five minutes a day, you can also divide it.
  • Six-month dog walks for half an hour. It can be even three walks.
  • Seven-month dog has a thirty-five minute walk. Eight-month dog walks forty minutes (15, 15 and 10 minutes).
  • Nine-month dog can easily walk during forty five minutes (15, 15 and 15).
  • Ten-month dog has fifty-minute walk (20, 15, 15)
  • Eleven-month dog can walk fifty-five minutes (20, 15, 20).

For standard twelve months mean twenty three, so the walk duration takes fifty-five minutes (20, 15, 20). On the contrary, toys and minis can move to the adult schedule of walking. Without doubt, you want to move at your usual rapid. But keep in mind the fact that young puppies do not know how to walk on leash or heel proper, so it takes time to teach it. Here we try to explain how to make your walking useful.
One-year old toy and two-year old standard poodles are thought to be an adult, so their walking and exercise should take an hour every day. The amount of time does not depend on the poodle activity. Exceptions are everywhere, so the days when you are too busy or the weather is too severe are simply considered to be the day-off for your dog.It is advisable to split this time into two or three sessions. It will be more beneficial for your dog.

Exercise your dog before your leaving in the morning. Arriving home in the evening you should take your dog out for the evening bathroom and then walk with it to get rid of the stress being home alone for the whole day. In two hours there will be a good opportunity to walk for the last third time. If you do not want to train your pet before the bedtime, spend it together with your family and your poodle.

wet poodle

It is wrong to think that seniors do not need exercise. You can go with exercising your poodle unless your vet forbid it. You will see how satisfied your senior poodle is playing around the house with you. Seniors are known for their desire to please you, so it is really hard to surprise them. So these exercises in the fresh air can remain them their childhood and forget about their boring duties and thoughts. Joint discomfort is easily forgotten thanks to regular light exercise. Muscle mass will be in a good shape as well. Physical activities help your senior dog feel younger.

Senior poodles suffer from osteoarthritis. Despite exercise anesthetizes these symptoms, you need a vet’s opinion. Control how your poodle does the exercise to find out whether it is worth to decrease the amount or vice versa. Some health conditions demand to cease exercise. That is luxating patella (slipped kneecap). Medicine and complete bed rest are recommended to make the process of recovery less painful. When your poodle recovers, you can have a bit more exercise to train its joints. Walking uphill is good to build up the muscles around the knees. Control your poodle health after this illness as the acute conditions can be. The vet should control the amount of physical exercise you offer to your poodle.

Generally speaking, healthy pregnant poodle was allowed to have exercise as usual till last week. It helps your poodle to maintain its body and mood in good shape. As the result, labor and delivery are very easy for your poodle. You can start to train your poodle in a fortnight after labor.

How rapid your walking should be?

The only advice adjusts to the dog’s speed of walking. For you it can be an ordinary walk, but it is an extremely complicated task for your dog, so mind its age, size and physical abilities. Do not hope that you can get a real physical exercise walking with your toy poodle. All in all, it is better to move, even walk slowly are profitable for you. Remember, any movement is better than just sitting. Passing a mile in 25 minutes is normal pace for adult standard poodle while the toy poodle passes only a half of this way for the same amount of time. Watch the way your poodle’s legs move. It is good if they are trotting with a short striding.

How to cope with walking troubles?

Your unwillingness to walk with your pet may be explained by several reasons.
Uncontrollable behavior while walking.
Actually, it is a wide-spread problem. Though, avoiding walking is not an appropriate way out. Barking at everything it sees is a common behavior. An only explanation for excessive barking is a poodle’s concern or simply curiosity. The more often you show your dog these things, the less it barks, as it gets used to it.
To cope with the excessive barking problem you can simply take a walk with your dog the same route during six months and then you will see an absolutely different canine. There is no magic, your poodle get acquainted with all the subjects irritated it before.
Ignoring the barking is a good method to make your pet walk silently. When your dog stops giving the voice, give it a prize.

Hot summer days and exercising your poodle

How weather really affects dogs’ health. Be sure that your dog is ready for exercising during the summer days. You can use paw wax for your poodle not to burn its paws. It is like shoes for you. Nose balsam saves your poodle nose from sunburn. It can happen if you are under the sun during twenty minutes. It is preferable to stay at home while the sun is highly dangerous. Early mornings and late evenings are good for walking.  Do not forget about taking some water with you and offer it to your pet when you are on the break. See that the water was cold. Obviously, you should take a break only in the shadow.

Frozen poodle in winter

Winter training is possible if it is planned. It is recommended to keep the paws in safe. As winters are snowy, your poodle skin may suffer from cold. So it is better to protect it with paw wax or special canine booties. Do not forget to dress yourself and your poodle for the weather. As you freeze, your walking turns out to be rushing and your training program spoils. The only thing your poodle has a chance to do is to go to the bathroom. Rolling yourself up with a hat, a scarf and a good winter coat really work for you not to be cold. In addition, you can take care of your dog’s warmth with vest, hoodie, coat or sweater. Chapped nose is the most common problem for poodles in winter. Be as preventive as possible about this thing. Just a little good nose butter saves your poodle’s nose.
Decrease the amount of time spending outdoor according to the weather condition. Severe snowstorms and extremely cold weather are perfect reasons to stay at home.

When you think that your tiny toy poodle gets enough physical exercising playing on its own

Despite being hyper active at home, you need to take your poodle to walk for the sake of socializing, learning commands and being together. Sticking up to the rules you have set is also important, so having scheduled walks are crucial for your even a very little poodle.

How you can change activities

If there is pouring rain or a severe blizzard outside, there is a way out how to exercise with your dog. When it is extremely hot, you can put a pool for your pet. Do not forget about your participation in your dog’s activity. You can also have a sprinkled water in your yard. It is a good way to exercise your dog and have fun.
By the way, offer your poodle to swim as it is not a stressful activity. Remember, that swimming is a poodles’ inborn ability. Long time ago poodle used to be a hunter dog, caught birds from the water. Now you can help your dog to refresh its knowledge about swimming being always near your poodle and have a canine life vest for its safety. Remember to have your poodle showered after this kind of activity since water in swimming pools contain a lot of chemicals which bring damage to its coat and skin. Active walks are really hard to substitute. If your opportunity to walk outside is failed, there is a good alternative it. Try to hide a treat for your dog to seek it. Your dog moves all the time simultaneously training its sniffing skills. Try to intrigue your poodle during the game, prompting and following it. A long hallway and a ball are good for fetch. The game process depends on your mood. The game may be fun and interesting if you desire to play and have a good mood as well as it can be boring if you are not interested in it.

The most important exercise tips

poodle with girl in kitchenHaving a well-developed schedule goes first. Life is unpredictable thing and time after time you need a passive rest, such as sitting on the sofa and watching TV. How nice to have next to you your pet! But if you do not have the opportunity to train your poodle outside, you can do it at your home.
Remember that having exercise is extremely important. No matter whether your poodle has already got rid of curbed energy or not. Exercise is good for now and then. Your dog is hardened, health and active. Anyway, it helps it live much longer. Your walk should be beneficial for your dog. It should learn it either to communicate with other dogs or get rid of fear. Define what do you expect of each walk and try to fulfil this task. Your flexibility toward poodle exercising is welcomed. You have to understand that with changing age, health condition and whether you should change the amount and type of exercise. A harness should be used constantly as it may save your poodle’s life. If you connect a leash to the collar, your poodle can have collapsed trachea or other minor injuries as your pet is overactive. Why the harness is so good, you may ask. The answer is that this controlling rope share the poodle weigh equally to the back, chest and shoulders, not only to the neck as a collar and a leash do. A harness makes the walk more enjoyable since it is easier to control your poodle. If you train your poodle to go to the bathroom in the exact place, you should not let it do these things during the walking. You should bring your pet to its spot and only then you can keep walking. Arriving home, let your dog pee and poo before entering the house.

Answering questions

Putting my toy poodle in a stroller is considered to be pampered? Or it is better to be stricter with my pet forcing it to walk? 
If you see that your poodle is satisfied with this type of walking, why should you limit it? Moreover, if you are tired and cannot walk with your pet, you can use a stroller or a canine sling. Definitely, it is better than being home alone. These useful things are kind of safety, likewise a car seat or bicycle basket. By the way, you are the one who controls its movement.

Can over-exercising bring damage to poodle puppy health? 

Puppies overactivity is not good to some extent. Nevertheless, being energetic is puppies’ inborn ability. If your little poodle is too passive, be on the alarm. The only thing you should be cautious about is pain which damaged growth plates cause. Playing and running is good, but do not force your poodle to do it. It exercises as much as it can and want. Do not forget about breaks. Playing games are extremely fun activity for both of you.

As it is extremely cold outside during approximately five months, I find a good substitute for outdoor activities in a canine treadmill. Is it beneficial for the poodle?
It is usually good for physical therapy. Treadmills help dogs of the larger species to lose weight. Nevertheless, it is quite costly and designed for one dog. By the way, even tiny poodle can walk outside in the winter for twenty minutes. Bear in mind about appropriate items to protect its body, especially paws and nose. And if there is no opportunity to go out, play fetch or something like that with your dog. Surely, it will like it much more than training alone on this bizarre machine. In addition, your dog is more likely to be injured using this machine.

What to do with your dog excessive barking at the other dogs?

You should find out the reason for doing this. Simply walk in your poodle’s shoes. You sit at home all the time and only one time a day you are allowed to go out for twenty minutes, no more no less. This precious twenty minutes you spend on the leash and you are not allowed to play with others. It makes sense to make a conclusion that dogs bark mostly because of discontent. Do not accept barking as a kind of protest or riot. If you let your dog play with its mates, the problem may be solved.
Trust your poodle. It cannot bring harm to others if it is barking being on the leash. After all, you do not know its behavior till you let it communicate.
It would be great to ask the other dog’s owner if you can let your poodle play with his. Remember, that sniffing each other is a kind of greeting. Keep in mind that scent glands, which hide the information about the dog’s health condition, mood and sex, have the rear end area location.
That is usually enough for your dog, so you can keep walking. Let your dog play with other canines, of course, if its owner allows. Watch your poodle while it is playing, keeping the leash in hand and being ready to pull it off (here is one more reason why harness is better than collar).