Relationship Between Dog Size, Yard Size And Exercise?

[wuffles]

I do think it matters in a way, because mine would definitely need less formal exercise if we had a big backyard or acreage. But if you can meet their needs in regards to training and exercise, yard size isn't a big issue.

[whiskedaway]

We have one medium (soon to be two medium) dogs in a small-medium yard. The dogs can run around, however they can't get up heaps of speed. Akira gets walked twice a day for 20-30 minutes each time, though she is very active. We also do training with her at agility and obedience, and then another three days a week at home.

[corvus]

I think yard size does matter if you have more than one dog and they play together. My boys don't need me to be there to start a game with each other. Usually I have to go out and break it up before the neighbours start yelling about the noise. Makes me sad that my dogs can't play whenever the mood takes them. I agree that they would need less formal exercise if they had a bigger yard. We'd take them out daily anyway because it's part of our lifestyle to get out and about with the dogs.

[Vehs]

I have a massive yard and a tiny house - D just sleeps all day. All his toys are concentrated in one area so I know during the day he doesn't move much!

He'll do some zoomies in the yard occasionally, but he gets walked for an hour each day (half off lead) and I think that tires him out enough

[SpotTheDog]

Medium to large bull arab x. My enclosed yard space is about 850m2. His dog run within that is 65m2 (the area behind the garage is fenced off for him). When I'm out, he's in his run. When I'm home, he's either inside with me or outside with the run of the garden and his run combined (for instance if I give him a lamb bone he has to go into the yard with it).

I like to walk him about four times a week, but as he grows that requirement is going to increase. Currently, at nine months, he's doing well on his own during the day, but then taken into the house when I get home, he sleeps in my room on his own bed, and we go for a bushwalk with a swim in a dam four times a week.

I think there's a balance between time alone in the yard, accompanied time in the yard, accompanied time in general, and time out for a walk. I'd rather see someone with a dog that was walked once a week on a Sunday, but lived inside the house with them mostly and spend the majority of hours every day with human companionship, than see a dog kept in a concrete / wire run 22 out of 24 hours a day with an hours walk every morning and an hours walk every evening.

[Keira&Phoenix]

I have two dogs, a Bullmastiff X (30kgs, 3 yo with hip displaxia) and a Amstaff X (approx 13 kgs currently, 5 months old healthy) we live on a quarter acre block approx 1000m2 (they have the run of the whole yard) they get walked 1 -2 times per week but they get to play chase in the backyard every day as well as getting to go for a 1 - 2 hour swim in a pool every day. As Keira has bad hips and Phoenix is still so young I think this is definitely enough exercise but as Phoenix gets older she will go for more walks etc. If we moved house onto a smaller block I would walk them both at least once a day and try to continue swimming although it probably wouldn't be everyday.

Edited January 23, 2011 by Keira&Phoenix

[poodlefan]

I don't think its as easy as "the bigger the dog, the bigger the space it needs".

IMO its activity level, not size that should dictate space. I'd say an active smaller breed like a JRT (and there are many) would need more space than a dog like a Greyhound or Newfoundland.

So suggesting that people should tailor the size of the dog to the size of the yard isn't always helpful.

I have four dogs on a 900sqm block and with the exception of the odd game of fetch, all exercise is out of the yard. As far as I know my dogs are not self exercising.

[raineth]

my dogs are giants and we have a reasonable suburban sized yard. They can run and zoom around in it.

They get walked every day and are taken to bigger places for off lead running a few times a week.

One of them runs with the bike as well.

They do self exercise, in that they wrestle strenuously once or twice a day - its a good workout, they are always puffed afterward.

[Pretty Miss Emma]

2 border collies.

House is similar to a terrace, but with a yard a bit larger than what a terrace would have. (It's a set of units designed to look like terraces so I guess we are 1/2 the size of a normal house block).

Kenzie gets a walk around the block every morning before I go to work. Emma might just get a quick wander in the park. Every evening Emma gets a walk around the block (or similar - she's 12 and with her recent blindness, and now non-blindness but loss of fitness due to all this that's all she's up to and she's more than happy with that plus a romp in the off-leash park across the road!). In the evenings Kenzie gets one/combination of... 40-90min walk, off-leash run at the wetlands, agility training (class), obedience training (no class), trick training (no class), games (either in the house or in the yard) - all depends on the weather and what time I get home from work. At the moment because I'm on holidays we aren't doing the morning walk but usually there is at least one "outing" per day for the girls of varying types. Me being at home wears my girls out a bit because they have to do everything with me!!! So no matter what I'm doing they are following and checking up.

I find it's more about brain work and how their time with their humans is used rather than actual space required. That being said, while I would love a 3rd dog while I am in this house I won't be able to get one as I would need to factor more time in to my day to be able to exercise/entertain them (I really enjoy and can see the benefits of taking my dogs out on walks seperately, so if I had a third dog I would want to be able to do this also - maybe not all the time but at least a few days a week). If I had a larger yard so that we could have more active games I think that would be a bit easier for 3 dogs.

[Monah]

2 acres, 2 medium dogs, high activity levels.(most days also have girlchilds border collie too)

They only play if I'm outdoors. BC and viz go absolutely mental and use the whole garden, tearing around like maniacs ;)

Spin has a run around but the others are so rough she generally sticks with me..

viz usually does flyball, agility etc. but ATM I have some issues so we are sitting it out for a couple of months..

All dogs get beach runs and off lead around the corner at an open area near the airport.

Sometimes these things depend on weather (rain and floods recently), health, snake possibility (summer/long grass)

They swim in the pool most days too.

Have a fetch game every morning while I have brekky outside.

2 daily walks, bike rides when OH is home (I cannot ride a bike :D )

girlchild and her partner take the viz and the bc for bike rides and beach etc. along the esplanade here, takes about 2 hours. about once or twice a week when they are not at work.

We spent a year in Darwin in a duplex that had a garden less than the size of my paved pergola here and I thought OMG!

But it was so hot for the dogs, and the cyclone fencing allowed them to watch the world go by, inc. dingoes, wallabies, birdies and kids playing etc. that they were very amused.

We took them to the uni oval every day for a run, and if cool enough, around the 'block' on lead (bitumen/paths very hot!)

I was very surprised how well they coped after not having a large garden. However , when we got back home they went really crazy :p and made full use of the space and you could see they loved it.

We will be moving this year or next to a suburban block, I'm sure they will cope very well. ;)

when we had wolfhounds they had one big run (around an hour) at the oval, and needed a bomb under them the rest of the day to get any movement..LOL.

[W Sibs]

2 small dogs... 1 big backyard.

Emmy gets walked twice a day. Charlie gets walked once a day.

My 2 use the backyard a lot. Both are very outdoorsy kind of dogs.. Charlie has lizards to hunt, and Emmy loves to run around, go into her pool and follow Charlie.

Saying that, I'm outside a lot too and my dogs are usually where I am.

I take my dogs for walks and outings a lot despite having a big yard, it's mostly for their mental health. New people to meet, new sights, smells etc.

[Henrietta]

My Chi x is quite an active small dog and we make full use of our large suburban yard. I also have friend's with secure properties that we visit. I can't imagine her living in an apartment... and dog parks are out for her. I don't know if in her case it is a breed thing or just an individual dog thing. Who knows what she really is anyway... just a very energetic small dog I guess.

My parents' dog is a bit more sedate at her age and has never been a hugely active dog, but still enjoys her walks and the occasionally zoomie. She loves playing with the little dog.

We walk daily, most days - mostly twice a day for the little one who is a bundle of energy unless I go to training or a friends house to visit and run around and she is already buggered.

[jacqui835]

Thanks for all the replies guys. Yeah I definitely belong to the camp who believe you don't need a huge house to have a larger dog and that walking and other forms of exercise are important regardless of yard size, however, I have noticed a few things with my own dog.

He is an active young male entire doberman, very fit. I have kept him in terraces and apartments in the Eastern suburbs of Sydney, a semi with what I thought was a large backyard at the time, and he now lives on a 1/4 acre block in Adelaide. I walk him almost every day, and our walks always include an off-lead romp - used to be in Centennial Park, now in Adelaide he's turned into a waterbaby because we spend so much time at the beach. I noticed as soon as we moved into the semi that he loved having a backyard, something he'd never really had before. We were only there for 3 months, but he would run around in it at least once a day, so I noticed that he wasn't as hyper when walk time came.

Now in our huge house in Adelaide, well, he didn't even go for a proper walk yesterday - we were flat out so just a quick run around the block, but he's asleep on the floor next to me. He loves running around in our backyard, chasing the birds, his toys, invisible enemies etc, and it actually seems to drain a decent amount of his energy. I know that walks are important for so much more than just the physical exercise (not to mention they're great for me) but it is reassuring to know now that I'm starting full time work that my dog seems to have more to do while we're not here now that we have a backyard.

[rose of tralee]

Single Dal 10 yo

She 'dogs' me from room to room, needs to know my whereabouts at all times. Just like the previous three Dal girls. She goes out as required (door always open) into large backyard but toileting mostly occurs on walks. I put down 2 x walks daily though if she has one long one the second would be a mini down the street and back. When the backyard is in deep shade around 4 pm, she may seek out a squeaky toy and ask for play.

She also has sight, sound and smell from the street tho' little happens there during the day.

[Esky the husky]

Mine's a husky (but the size of a Mallie :D So I think she's verging on 'large'

The yard is Huuuge, especially for the rent we pay.

In fact the yard is so big that the block is being subdivided in half So soon we'll only have half a yard :p

I do something with Esky every daY. Sometimes other dogs come over to play, sometimes we walk or bike with her and at the moment we're just getting her used to her racing harness in the yard.

It's too hot at the moment for anything strenuous though!

Having said that she spends her days inside because I feel safer that way ;)

[corvus]

My last dog lived in a very small yard with no grass, just garden beds, for about a year. At the end of the year we moved to a place with a big, grassy yard. She was sooo happy. She would go for a romp down the yard and she liked to spend time rolling in the grass. It's the simple things. She didn't give any indication she was missing anything when she was at the other place, but she sure was happy to have grass again.

[JulesP]

Whilst my dogs don't spend their whole time running around they do seem to enjoy the garden. They better, I just paid $500 to get it mowed for them ;)

[Koemi]

I have one small (10kg) dog, my old place had a tiny yard and the place I've just moved into has only concrete! He's 7 years old and has been pretty lazy for most of his life. He's got odd-shaped legs so can't run for too long and we do some training etc at home. He lives with my ex at the moment (maybe for the next few months) and doesn't get walked when he stays there. I walk him at least 3 times a week and he's more than happy with that. When I lived in a house with a massive backyard he only used it to rough-house with my house mate's dog.

I am getting a toy breed pup in a couple of months that will be hopefully doing agility and obedience as it gets older, and will be coming to work with me. My dogs are involved in most things I do and my previous and current both seemed happy with the amount of activity they had. However, they were older dogs and I'm kinda scared of how active a pup is going to be ;)

[RoxyNHemi]

I have one small, one medium with a decent size back yard. they have the occasional hoon, but are more than happy to spend time inside in our company or on their beds on the verandah.

It is a hard call, as when I was living at home with mum + the danes, they had a large yard to run in, however they spent most of their time curled up sleeping in their 'holes' they dug, or would prefer 'their' loungeroom couch. our girl you sometimes had to drag her out the door to go to the toilet!

[PRADA68]

I have two small dogs and one large dog. We live on acreage however my part of the yard is only smallish my dogs do not have free run of the acreage as we have horses on that. However they have the freedom to come and go as they want in the house and yard and tend to stay in the house, snoozing and taking it easy. I walk them rarely but they do get frequent car trips. I do not work so I am home most of the time with them. We do however play ball, games and they do their zoomies a couple of times a day. They are perfectly happy they are not destructive and it works for us. It is not the size of the yard but how you interact with them and I could not agree more.

edited for spelling*

Edited January 24, 2011 by PRADA68