How To Keep Your Dog Healthy and Happy

As a responsible pet parent, it is important to ensure that your dog is healthy and happy. There are many ways to keep your furry friend feeling joyful. Spend quality time together and provide them with lots of mental stimulation, attention, and love.

Although their needs vary depending on their breed, the following tips can help make your dog feel happy. Try to follow these simple tips to ensure your dog feels more contented and relaxed each day.

Regularly Change Your Daily Exercise Routine

Walking with your dog can be beneficial for both of you, physically and mentally. Aside from meeting their exercise needs, it is also a great time to bond. You could visit beaches, woods, parks, or go on country walks.

This helps mix up your routine while giving their paws a break from concrete pavements and providing them with mental stimulation. During these walks, your dog will be sniffing out new scents, so try to be patient if they linger. Give them time to explore.

Praise Your Pet

The key to your dog’s happiness is maintaining a good relationship with them. When giving praise for their good behavior, make it both physical and verbal. This shows how much you appreciate them and is an important aspect of positive reinforcement training.

By nature, dogs love to socialize and enjoy interactions. Bonding with them and giving them praise and rewards leads to obedience, compared to the fear they feel when you punish or shout at them. Some pet owners neglect to praise their dog after the puppy-training stage. However, it is crucial to maintain that bond to ensure your furry friend stays strong.

Rotate Dog Toys

Just like humans, dogs love variety. To prevent your furry friend from feeling bored with their toys, group them into sets and rotate them weekly. Giving them the next set after a week will make it seem as if they have a new collection of toys. This way, it will take longer for these playthings to be neglected by your pet.

Play With Your Dog

It means a lot to them if you play games together. Playing games helps keep your dog mentally and physically fit. Try to avoid letting your dog become destructive and bored.

Although some games can make your dog feel overexcited, such as rough-and-tumble games, this should not prevent you from engaging in physical activity. A fun chasing game, such as a flirt pole, would be good exercise, especially if you have a small space outside. It can also help you train your dog with basic commands such as wait, look, sit, take it, and drop it.

Give Your Pet Something to Do

Dogs were bred to do particular jobs, such as finding, guarding, hunting, or herding. You can use their energy by assigning them jobs or chores.

Some tasks you can give them include fetching your slippers or newspaper, placing something in a bin, closing the door, waking someone up, putting their toys in a basket, bringing a written message to your kids upstairs, or picking up an item you’ve dropped. This will make them feel like a valuable member of the household.

Allow Your Dog to Have Fun Indoors

If there is harsh weather outside, it can prevent them from exercising and playing in your yard. The good news is that there are many activities to keep them busy indoors, such as the traditional hide-and-seek.

You could play tag with your furry friend, let them search for treats hidden under plastic cups, look for toys hidden somewhere inside the house, chase a ball downstairs, or learn a new trick. Another idea is to create an obstacle course using blankets, chairs, and brooms.

Or you could practice basic skills with your dog such as waving, high five, coming, staying, rolling, down, and sitting. Give the commands randomly to keep them thinking, and don’t forget to reward them with a treat afterward.