How To Build A Dog Exercise Wheel

A dog exercise wheel is among the many tools that your furry little friend can use to keep himself engaged. To make it, you first need to know the items you need for the project. Then, you need to build the object itself. After that, seal any sharp edges and then create a cage mount. I know that sounds a little hard to understand, but I’m going to explain it in the next step-by-step section.

1. Get The Items You Will Need To Make The Exercise Wheel

To make the wheel of fun, you should get all of the following items:

a) An old tin which is a bigger size than that of your dog

b) Pliers

c) Drill

d) A 3½-inch bolt plus a nut

e) A screwdriver and a screws

f) Tin snips/high-quality scissors

g) A wheel from a skateboard (one that has bearings)

h) Washers

i) Marker

j) Tape

2. Make The Wheel Out Of The Tin

a) You will first need to turn the tin, making sure that the tin’s bottom is facing upwards. Now, mark the center of the tin’s base with an X. Then, drill a hole through into the mark.

b) Take the wheel from the skateboard. Use a green sharpie to trace the wheel from the inside of the tin.

c) Then, using the green tracing, cut out a hole. Make sure that you leave around an inch between the cuts.

d) After cutting, take the pliers you have and make sure that the wheel fits the opening that you have made.

e) Drill the screws into the tin. Make sure that they go through the wheel

3. Seal The Sharp Edges

If any piece of metal is sticking out, you need to use something like a gorilla tape. This will help your dog from getting injured. No need for any handy work to hurt Doggie, right? 

4. Fix A Cage Mounting

In the tin’s inside, you can add a one-layer tape. This will allow your Doggie to have maximum traction while the dog is running inside the wheel.

Enjoyable Exercises For Dogs And For-Fun Equipment

Exercise is the building block of a healthy lifestyle, and I am sure that you want your Doggie to be the healthiest in the neighborhood. Well, I will bring you in on some of the best ideas for exercising. You can choose any that you want, and indeed, your dog will get the remedy the dog needs to live a wholesome life.

The ideas you will get here will not only exercise your dog, but there will make him more obedient. And no – I’m not talking about the usual ones: playing fetch, going to the park, or just taking a walk. These ideas are interesting enough to make both you and the dog excited.

While most of the activities (ideas) require you to purchase some equipment, there is no need to sweat. You can get them for low prices, or you can choose to make them yourself. I’m sure you have time for your furry friend. 

Here are some of the ideas. Make sure you explore all or most of them.

Exercises to be done indoors or in the backyard

1. Using spring poles – with this one, you will need to fix a toy or a rope to a spring, where the spring serves the purpose of providing resistance. This is a good exercise for multiple dogs, especially pit bulls. The dog that is willing to jump, bite the toy, and hang on to it is the winner (or best exerciser). The item of exercise here is jumping up and down.

2. Treadmills – yes, you guessed correctly! This is the same treadmill as the one used by humans. You can get a baby-sized one. Then, you can stick a treat at the front of the mill. Now, when the dog tries to run after the snack, it will be exercising on the treadmill.

Exercises to be done outdoors

1. Hiking – this classical exercise has made it to this list. And you shouldn’t worry about smaller dogs. They can hike a long way, and the dogs have surprised many dog owners. As you take the dog for a hike, have it in mind that the dog needs to have its supplies.

2. Climbing mountains – This is not an easy one to take in, considering that the weather may make it unbearable for the dog. Always check the shape of the weather and make sure that you don’t have to deal with snow, ice, or rain. Otherwise, it can be one great exercise.  

Exercises to be done in unique course set-ups.

Agility exercises – if you choose to go to a course in a field, you can make your dog take activities that prove whether he is agile or not. Many times, the dog will not be on a leash, and he will be negotiating obstacles. Most agility courses include the following:

Weave poles

Teeter totters

A tunnel

A pause table

Bar-and-tire jumps (that have wings)

Fly ball – This exercise is seen many times during competitions. Most dogs enter the competition in relays of four canines. Each dog in a relay team will do the following:

a .Jump over hurdles (four of them).

b. Get a ball (mostly tennis) from a box, one that is loaded with springs.

c. Jump over so that the other relay team member joins.

These competitions are organized like tournaments in Britain and North America.

Lure courses – if your dog loves to chase things, you can engage it by luring. This is one of the ways to tire your dog down quickly.

Exercises that engage scooters and bicycles

1. The Hooking – While making safety considerations, you can hook your canine friend to your ride. The trot alongside you serves the dog well and acts as a good workout. Be advised to do this at least thrice a week, especially if the only thing there is to ride on is merely a pavement.

2. Bike pulling – you can hook up one on more dogs in front of your ride. Then, you will give them commands to pull you. As you take this one up, make sure that you have the dog’s safety at the back of your mind.

3. Scootering – While you are on a scooter, you can let your dog pull you. This exercise is best done in areas where there is little traffic, such as parks and trails. Indeed, it is safe to scooter than skiing or cycling, and there is more fun.

Other scootering moves you can make are like getting a dog-powered scooter, which will work well if you are in an urban center. With this scootering exercise, the dog will pull the scooter to provide power, but you will man the steering. The good thing about scootering is that the dogs do not need to be trained expertly, as opposed to others like dog sledding and scuppering.

The only caveat would be that you may spend a lot on the dog-powered scooter.  

Exercises that involve towering

1. Carting – in some places, dogs have been seen to pull people as well as goods. Smaller dog breeds are favorites for pulling toy wagons either at costume parties or parades.  

2. Cross-country for carnivores this is not about dogs racing each other. If you are an athlete, you can tag your dog along by letting it pull you using a tow line.

3. Roller-skating – Like with the previous game, you will need to hook yourself to your furry friend. Then, you will let the dog run. When it does, let it pull you as you skate.

4. Skijoring – have you ever heard of this one? If you have, then you can take your dog and fly along on those skis in cross country. Interestingly, dog enthusiasts have made this a competitive sport!

An exercise that involves water

Swimming – many dogs are good swimmers, and they will enjoy following you as your paddle your canoe. 

Exercises that involve some mechanical equipment 

1. Dog exercise wheels – this has been expounded in the first part. But to remind you, it is the same as the one used by hamsters. The only difference is that it is bigger.

2. Dog walking – this is the most common of all exercises, and it needs no explanation.

Well, I hope those ideas are more than enough for you to improve your dog’s exercising and training. At all times, make sure that the dog is safe. This is because some of the exercises may expose your animal to a lot of danger. Always have someone with you if you are trying out a new activity. 

Dog Training 101: Shape Your Dog’s Behavior

Sometimes, exercises become training. Using acceptable training methods will improve the quality of your dog’s behavior. A trained dog is better in all senses – it will have the calmness and composure expected by its human parent. Also, training helps to improve communication between the dog and its owner.

Seeing that training is a beneficial thing, I have organized some ways that will help cultivate particular behavior in your dog. I will look at luring, shaping, catching, and prompting. Read on:

1. To Lure

This is where you do a form of prompting, but it is not the same. Luring involves teaching the dog to follow something that is with you. This way, you control their behavior by putting them under your spell. 

Think about the trick you played on your dog the first time you gave it a treat. You probably had the treat under your palm but popping out through a space between your fingers. Then, maybe you had your furry little friend follow you around while sticking the treat near its nose. You will see that you can get your dog to do anything through luring.

Luring the dog will help you to make it behave in a particular way. But, here is some information you need to know about the method:

1. Do you want to keep a piece of food in your hand all the time? If no, you should know that the lure may get removed and faded. Subsequently, the behavior achieved may get lost.

2. The lure may make the dog lose its mind, such that it cannot feel what’s happening to the rest of its body. If that is the story with your furry friend, ensure that you choose another method. 

3. Luring cannot teach complex, chained, or distanced behaviors. Get another method from this training toolbox to handle those behaviors.

2. To Shape

Dog behavior experts used the phrase ‘successive approximations’ to defined training by shaping. The word is supposed to translate to you having an image of how you want the dog to behave at the end. For this image to be achieved, you need to reduce it to milestones whose sum is equal to the picture.

In most shaping techniques, the use of a clicker is employed. The clicker marks when a milestone is achieved, that is, when the dog does the exact behavior you ask it to do.

However, the clicker is not the only marker tool. You can use verbal cues, or any other that will achieve the results you want without harming the dog.

3. To Capture

Capturing has been used interchangeably with ‘shape,’ but they have a difference – a subtle one, though. Capturing does not have successive approximations, and it focuses on the target behavior in totality.

When your dog makes the right move and does the behavior that you desire, you can use a clicker just like in shaping.

Shaping is the best method if what you want to do is behavioral control in and around the house.      Whenever a dog gets the click, he or she knows that what they have done is impressive. This makes your life and that of your dog to be gratifying.

4. To Prompt

A prompt is like a trigger – when it happens, something comes after that. We can call it the motivation for behavior. Prompts in training and controlling dog behavior are common, and here are some of the examples:

a) Gesture prompts – they include crouching and clapping. Most times, they are used to beckon the dog to come your way.

b) Physical prompts – you may touch the dog’s paw, and thus, you make them want to get picked up by you.

c) Verbal prompts – making a continuous shush helps encourage a dog to quiet down.

Prompts are easy to use and do not require any special training.

Stats On Dog Walking, The Most Common Dog Exercise

As I finish this exercise-training guide, I see that it is essential to give attention to dog walking. Researches have been done, and I will bring you in on the findings.

Look at the numbers that got recorder when many dog owners were asked about dog walking.

Percentage Of Dog OwnersWhat They Believe About Dog Walking
64%It reflects how much they love their dog.
95.5%It makes them feel like the dog is part of their family.
56%When the dog comes from their walk, the owner rushed to greet it – a sign of missing their companion.

What do dog owners think their dogs feel when they go for a walk? Check the following table out:

Percentage Of Dog OwnersWhat They Believe About Their Dog Felt During The Walk
70%Happy
46%More energetic
41%More relaxed
93%Without stress 

Looking at these numbers, you see that dog walking is a treasured exercise. If you cannot do any complex training or complicated exercise, consider taking your furry little friend around the neighborhood. Sometimes, that is all the dog needs.

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