Physical or Mental Exercise?

Sangmort

Out of curiosity, which do you guys think "tires" your pup out the most?

- Physical Exercise? [ running, walking, jogging, etc. ]

- Mental Exercise? [ obedience training, toys that require thinking like kong wobbler, etc. ]

Obviously, the best answer is "both" or a "combination" of the two...but for the purpose of this question, I'm curious as to which one is the most. ~

okiron

You know, it really sucks that you can't see results until after you vote. You guys will have to keep me updated on the poll results since I can't vote lol.

ala-chan

Oh, I was the first to vote, I guess...
Mental exercise. Etsu can run and play for hours, but 20-30 minutes of mental exercise and he's absolutely done...

JessicaRabbit

I would have chosen a third option of a combination of the two. SO I am not voting.

sunyata

I am definitely going to go with mental exercise... My girls can run and play and hike for HOURS and HOURS on end without getting tired...

But, if I give them something mentally stimulating, they are done in a matter of 30 minutes or so...

tjbart17

I voted for physical, but I wanted to add physical with them being allowed to think a lot. Like hiking. Koda and Maymay are constantly on the hunt while hiking. Their minds are very active on the changing environment and what is going on around them.

Together, they can play for hours and hours and not get tired out becaue they don't think very much.

Brego_mellon_nin

I have voted for mental exercise as this is what i experienced with my GSD when she was a puppy. When would just walk or throw ball or something, she could go on for hours and hours, but with tracking or other mental stimulation she went totally dead within half an hour and slept for like 2 hours. Depending on the kind of mental exercise of course...

As she got older it was more equal but still mental exercise wore her out more quickly...

dlroberts

I voted for physical exercise mostly because my dogs have a relatively short attention span and tend to get bored before mental exercise will really tire them out. I can hike them for hours and really tire them out, but after 10 minutes of something mental like tracking games they loose interest. Minute for minute, I would agree that mental exercise is more tiring for them. But if you can't do it for long enough then it's not as beneficial.

amesylph

For Ki it's structured physical. Running around and playing on his own will not tire him out but a structured run/hike will. So it's really both but just a training session or just him being a dork don't work.

shishiinu

Mental, almost every pup I brought up as hunting dogs are really difficult to train when they are young because they get bored too easily. I know a number of people who wont even really get into training their big game dogs until the dog has reached at leased a year. The last few months putting Taro on the pigs, if I went past 5 minutes of training then he would get bored and wonder off. So yeah lots of physical exercise will wear out a pup but training is probably the mood killer for young dogs.

Heidi

I said physical because it seems like Rakka's been getting tired after relatively little exercise lately, but now that I think about it, it's probably just the heat.

Although, I am surprised at how effective bike rides are at tiring her out, because those aren't really mental at all. It's JUST running, but I guess it's a fast enough pace that it works quite well!