Tips for Your Pitbull to Spend Energy
The Pitbull is a very active breed and with an energy that is not usually found in other breeds. In addition, the unburned energy in a dog can be dangerous, because it emerges in unexpected ways. Obviously, if your dog is a Pitbull, you cannot let that happen: you must keep your body and mind accustomed to burning that excess energy.
Here I present ten methods for you to tire both physically and mentally to your Pitbull, besides, with it, to keep it healthy and balanced:
GIVE HIM LONG WALKS
The walk contributes to the mental and physical balance of the dog. Of course, in the case of a Pitbull, the walk should be longer to make sure it burns all its energy. If you do not, you can show unwanted behavior.
MAKE IT RUN
It is vitally important to run a Pitbull. A Pitbull that only walks is practically impossible to tire. You have many ways of doing it: throwing him a ball or a frisby, taking him out for a bike ride, or running with him directly.
By throwing a frisby or the ball, you will also be working on your relationship with him, since bringing the object back will help reinforce your leadership position. Running alongside him on foot or by bike, on the other hand, also contributes to your dog perceiving you as an active leader, which translates into respect.
MAKE IT OVERCOME OBSTACLES
In order to exercise all your muscles, and perform exercises with it that tire you more than a few walks or a few races, you can choose to make it climb walls, go down ravines, jump fences, zigzags , etc. Of course, always in situations that does not pose a danger to the dog. In this sense, it can be interesting to work with him some kind of competition like the Agility, where, in addition, you will reinforce your authority over the dog. But if it is not possible, you can always practice these exercises in the field or in playgrounds when there are no children.
PASS IT IN THE SAND / SNOW
The sand and the snow suppose a difficulty at the time of running for your Pitbull. This extra cost in effort translates into more burned energy, traveling the same distance if the land was easy and accessible. Depending on the volume of the snow, for example, the dog must run jumping, thus contributing to burn their energy and strengthen their muscles.
TAKE HIM FOR A SWIM
Another interesting way to exercise those muscles that normally do not use too much, is taking it to swim. If your Pitbull likes water, you can take him to a pond, lake or beach and throw objects to him so he can go and look for them swimming. It’s amazing how much energy they burn when swimming.
SOCIAL
Very important for the mental health of your dog. Being in contact with other dogs will cause it to become physically depleted, but more importantly, it will unleash all the mental energy in the game and in dealing with other dogs, bitches and puppies.
PLAY WITH HIM
Playing tug-of-war with him, or running and crashing, etc. It helps your dog to be mentally balanced, understand that you are an active and cheerful leader, and it will also help you burn energy and exercise.
EXERCISE YOUR MOUTH
One of the characteristics of the Pitbull dogs is that they are prey dogs , created with the aim of supporting the immobile cattle with their powerful bite. This instinct of prey they still have, that is why it is advisable (almost necessary) to exercise their bite. Of course, it must be done by applying the orders of “Presa” and “Drops” (or similar), and the dog must obey instantly. A Pitbull that exercises its bite discharges a great amount of energy, and we can consider that, if it obeys the aforementioned orders, it is a balanced dog, aware of its power, but that knows how to control it. In addition, exercising your bite you contribute to the correct development of your facial muscles.
KEEP YOUR MIND WORKING
The mind of a Pitbull must be accustomed to work, to think, to relate causes and consequences, etc. A Pitbull can take hours to get physically tired, but mentally tiring it is much easier. However, you should not stop doing it because it’s easy. A Pitbull who does not exercise his mind correctly will discover cause-effect associations on his own and following his own criteria of what is good and what is bad, which can be dangerous. His need to discharge that mental energy will make him work those associations that he has created to relieve stress. Therefore, it is necessary for you to strengthen the cause-effect relationships that interest you and use them to download your mental energy.
IF YOUR DOG IS ESPECIALLY ACTIVE…
Note that this is NOT necessary or recommended for most dogs, including Pitbulls. However, in extreme cases (we started using this method with the Pitbull of a friend who was self-hurt to discharge their excess energy) , it may be useful to place a bib to your pit bull dog , make it run and perform the aforementioned exercises with an extra weight , for example, a car tire. The extra weight will help tire the animal more and strengthen its muscles. But, I repeat, it is NOT necessary in most cases.
