Regular exercise pays off in the long run.  We are finding this to be true especially for our senior dogs who have always been active.

Chesapeake Bay Retriever Regular Exercise
Storm Will Be 9 In June And Still Gets Regular Exercise

Since they were pups, our dogs have hunted all Fall and the rest of the year they trained for hunting and hunt tests, even during the winter months.  While the senior dogs are officially retired from testing, they are not retired from hunting so they continue with their training.

Chesapeake Bay Retriever
Thunder Is Still Training At 10 Years Old

It is always nice when the vet compliments our senior dogs on their fitness and muscle tone.  Our hope is that by continuing their training, they will be able to continue hunting well into their senior years.

Here is a recent video of 10-year-old Thunder retrieving a training bumper in the water.  I was standing at the edge of the pond and threw the bumper at an angle back from me and then turned around quickly to try to capture some video.

Thunder loves his water marks and still has the drive to retrieve them.  Of course ducks would be better as far as he is concerned, but he will take a bumper when it is not hunting season.

Have your pets seen the benefit of regular exercise?

14 thoughts on “Regular Exercise Pays Off In The Long Run

  1. Chessies walked along the towpath much of winter….nature walking. As soon as the weather warmed up a bit they were back to swimming. We are careful with our senior girl, she would never leave the water, so she is called out and dried off. No shivering!
    Still waiting for true spring and full-time swimming.

  2. We are all addicted to exercise and moving around. Even Katie who has been a huge walking fan her entire life really wants to keep walking despite having all her issues with her back end being weak. She just needs her walks, and our vet says she wouldn’t be with us today had she not had such an active life.

  3. I agree, and I think that regular exercise is what has helped keep our senior girls active too. Both have arthritis, but neither are on meds for it right now (just supplements). We’ve been a little off our routines with the move and all, but I still get them out playing, and soon we’ll get back into the swing of things!

  4. So far, the biggest benefit we’ve seen from regular exercise is the fact that it’s kept Barley from sending me to the looney bin! But we’re hoping that it proves to also have long-term benefits for her as she gets older, too 🙂 So glad to see how well your pups are doing!

  5. This is such an inspiration. Rodrigo and Sydney are now six and it’s wonderful seeing Sydney playing again with her siblings now that her leg has healed and she’s lost so much weight. I plan to make sure they continue to be active as they grow older. Thanks for sharing 🙂

  6. Thunder it’s a pleasure to watch you! To stay fit and healthy is important and even when we have super bad weather a little bit training always goes :o)

  7. Hi Y’all!

    Yep, my vet just complimented me on the last visit. They always talk about my strong heart beat and fitness. People think ’cause we’re old we don’t like to work and play…

    Y’all come on by,
    Hawk aka BrownDog

  8. Shadow still loves to run after her ball and take walks at the park, despite the arthritis and not having Callie with us (in her earthly form anyway).

  9. When Miss Harper Lee was diagnosed (years and years ago) with hip and elbow dysplasia, the vet said the best things we could do for her were keeping her weight down and exercising. She just turned seven and is doing better than ever . . . no surgery or medications, just supplements. I like to think the regular walks have been good for her humans, too. 😉

  10. Well you know, we do lots of walking. It wasn’t enough for Sampson to help keep up his muscle tone, but he was also plagued with injury. Delilah is (best guess) 10 to 11 years old and I am always complimented on her looks. She keeps in pretty good shape, I think it’s the jumping backwards for her meals that does it. 😉

  11. I loved seeing this video of Thunder swimming – water is the perfect element to exercise in, especially for those senior pups (my two are almost 5 and love to swim). Congrats on your fit pups!

  12. Great video! We’ve kept our guys in good shape, but as Sophie is approaching 14 years old, she’s losing a lot of strength in her back end. At 11, arthritis is starting to become evident in Dakota.

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