The dogs I've lived with were always up for a run, a game or just frivolous adventure. A dog will never turn down the opportunity to be playful. They're not great exercise buddies, at least not in our conventional notions of exercise.
I reckon dogs understand exercise as part of a lifestyle - like our forefathers. Dogs get their exercise through play, chasing objects, running through obstacles, pummelling down other dogs and (at times, painfully), their owners. Man, too, was not made to lift dumbbells in an air-conditioned room. He was made for movement. Our self-imposed restrictions of time force us to consider exercise as confined to a stuffy, closed space, with moving mechanical parts. The irony for most people is - if they had a choice to climb stairs at their apartment, they would choose the elevators. Then, spend ten minutes on a cross-stepper at the gym, satisfied that they have 'exercised.'
There are some who take their dogs out for runs or tie them to their bicycles and go out for a ride on a road. That's better, but the poor dog is stuck to its owner's rigid path. Much better to let the dog's curiosity lead you - people have found their soul mates by going with the dog's instincts ;)
I reckon dogs understand exercise as part of a lifestyle - like our forefathers. Dogs get their exercise through play, chasing objects, running through obstacles, pummelling down other dogs and (at times, painfully), their owners. Man, too, was not made to lift dumbbells in an air-conditioned room. He was made for movement. Our self-imposed restrictions of time force us to consider exercise as confined to a stuffy, closed space, with moving mechanical parts. The irony for most people is - if they had a choice to climb stairs at their apartment, they would choose the elevators. Then, spend ten minutes on a cross-stepper at the gym, satisfied that they have 'exercised.'
There are some who take their dogs out for runs or tie them to their bicycles and go out for a ride on a road. That's better, but the poor dog is stuck to its owner's rigid path. Much better to let the dog's curiosity lead you - people have found their soul mates by going with the dog's instincts ;)
