Exercise for Toy Breeds

I've never owned a toy but do you have access to an agility club? I was just at an agility trial this weekend and was amazed at the number of toy breeds that were competing. There was even a 3 lb chi there. It was the cutest thing. 

Yeah I'm shocked at how much Kayla loves this agility stuff! I always felt it was more for the hearding breeds; but she's in a little agility class with all these tiny toy dogs and it's just so cute!

I'll start doing some local searching for agility clubs. [ I live in FRAMINGHAM, MA / MetroWest]

A public indoor arena would just be ideal but I've never noticed any besides soccer domes and gymnasiums. In one of your videos I saw Neiko doing agility indoors in a big arena, I was so jealous! haha I was like aww I want one of those...

My Harley like to play fetch and he gets a case of the zoomies everyday.  Anyways I am sure you can come up with some indoor activities for your Pom. 

BTW Harley does obedience and agility...he loves both.  I also have 3 kids that tire him out everyday.

My boy likes to run around with her toy in his hand and she chases after him all over the place. Or sometimes he'll just do it sitting on the couch and make her jump on and off and on and off. Tug-of-war. We also run down the hallways and play fetch every now and then.

I just wonder what is "enough". Just like as a human you know how much exercise is going to keep your body tone & in shape and at what activity level. I was wondering if anyone knew exercise durations & activity levels for a small dog?

Great thread - I would also like some ideas.  I take Zoe to agility and obedience but that only accounts for one or 2 evenings.  I try to take her for walks as much as possible but I know it's not enough because she has a high activity level.  When you throw a ball or toy, she will chase after it and bring it back a few times, but prefers to play the "keep away" game rather than give it to me to throw again. 

jenns

When you throw a ball or toy, she will chase after it and bring it back a few times, but prefers to play the "keep away" game rather than give it to me to throw again. 

ahhh I know exactly what you're talking about hahaha. The "ha, ha, my toy, come and get me!" so cute... if she does that we just turn it into a game of chase because she lo0o0oves to run!

How much exercise would you typically say you provide?

My prediction/guess was a good 45mins throughout the day of high-pulse activity. Part of me wants to think it's more than this...

I'm not a toy breed person, but have you considered doing agility with Kayla?  At our club, we have a MACH2, MACH5 and MACH6 Poms and they are FAST, those Poms are amazing!  You mentioned in another thread how hyper and excited she gets while training.  Now some of us in agility WISH we had a dog like that, lol!  I have to work harder to get Kenya excited for her runs than the effort it takes to actually train her.  She does the obstacles with great technique and takes my direction very well, but she can be so "chill" about it.  If I had a hyper little Pom I'd enroll that dog in agility yesterday!

Yep! She LOVES agility (we just recently discovered this) and do a class every other week. She looks SO SAD when we're leaving! I'm thinking about taking her more often and finding ways to practice at home or outside of the class room. I had no idea agility could be so much fun for little dogs too.

Even though Casey has the run of "his" room, and sometimes the whole house when I'm gone, he rarely does anything but sleep. He's often snoozing in the same location that I left him in...

We go for long walks in the evenings, once it's lighter out again I'll start taking him back to the park after work, right now it's too dark. On the weekends we spend almost the whole day running around doing stuff together - so he's pretty exhausted from that.

We play fetch in the living room and such when I'm home from work. On my lunch hour - I come home and he spends almost the whole time outside running around.

I would love to do aglity with him... but we recently found out he's deathly afraid of the equipment....

Who ever came up with the saying Lap Dogs? Toy dogs can be some of the most energetic dogs around! I have three Cavaliers and two of them can attend Agility, Obedience and Tricks classes every week, and still they have more than enough energy to burn off. No one can really tell you how much exercise your dog needs, it’s down to you and Kayla to find the right balance, but just little things like setting small jumps up in your apartment (I’m not talking about the horse of the year show jumping set-up) maybe just a few cushions lined up on the floor, it’s amazing how much energy a small dog can burn off with such little things, very good for when it's cold and wet outside.  

Hope you find the answers and all the best