So today’s article is going to be one of the more common questions that I’ve gotten, and that is, people want to know what to expect when it comes to how much exercise their dogs need. Like, what does it, what does a typical day-to-day routine when it comes to exercise, mental stimulation, that kind of thing, like, what do they require day to day? People want to know that. So I’m gonna do that article for you guys today. That’s the subject.
So let’s not waste any more time. And I will reveal to you all what it is that I do day to day with my three Belgian Malinois.
– So, the first potty time of the morning is right at 7:00 a.m. I get up and I let all three of my dogs outside to go potty. When they come back in, they do not immediately all get to be out.
So what I mean by that is, they all get up at 7:00 AM and they all get to go out and have an opportunity to go potty. We come immediately back inside the house where they have an opportunity to get a drink of water and then that’s it. Riot and Fury go immediately back into their crates for another two hours. So, from seven to nine, I am out with Storm. She gets two hours out, completely by herself. And I do this on purpose. I do this because, right now, Storm is a puppy and she just simply cannot be out around the big dogs all the time. Or the energy in the house is just unmanageable. I don’t want her to learn these habits. I don’t want these interactions inside to become part of the behavior that is acceptable in the house.
And because Storm is young, I need her to see me as her main source of interaction and play and all of that. Now, if I just let her out with the big dogs all the time, they’re far more interesting to her than I am, just by nature. And so I would not be able to capture her attention and build that bond and relationship the same way.
So her time out with them is very structured and it is not very often. So Storm is out with me from 7:00 to 9:00 AM. (scissors clicking) So she’s usually super crazy and rambunctious in the mornings. When I first let her out of her crate, if I don’t get her right into working or doing something to occupy her mind, then she is an absolute terror in the house. She will run and jump on the furniture and crash into the walls and the cupboards and just be crazy.
So I need to get her mind occupied right away while she’s out of the crate. You know or it’s just craziness.
So once our little morning session here is over, she’s just out with me for a couple of hours and this is good for her in the sense that she’s learning how to behave in the household, how to be a good dog around my children, how to interact with my kids, with guests. When someone comes to the door, if the phone rings, if I’m gonna vacuum, I mean, you name it. She’s got to be able to understand good manners and behavior in the house. And these two hours that she’s out solo with me in the morning are the perfect opportunity to be working on those manners and fine-tuning those expectations. Your puppy is learning from you all the time.
So these two hours that she’s out in the morning with me are a great opportunity for me to just, kind of, teach her the ropes. So now we’re moving on to Riot and Fury and these guys get to come out once Storm has had her time.
So these guys pop out of their crates around 9:00 AM and we have some breakfast first, and then we head outside for some exercise. Here they are being pushy at the door and no, we are not perfect. We’re still learning all the time.
So I’m just giving her a little spatial pressure to back her up because I hate, hate, hate being crowded at the door.
Good dog. (dog panting) So these sessions typically last about 15 or 20 minutes, honestly. I like to come out and play a little fetch with them. I like to ask for simple obedience, you know, in between throws that kind of thing, so that they’re getting physical exertion along with some mental exertion as well because you could truly run these dogs for miles.
And they’re still gonna want to go, go, go, go, go. So physical exercise is not enough for a Belgian Malinois. They truly need the additional ask of behaviors and mental work. So I might do some things like ask Riot for a heel, right? I may ask him for a, between.
Okay, front. (dog barking) (foreign language) (dog barking) (dog panting) Done. Same with Fury. Heel. You know, just asking for some behaviors in between your throws.
Now, one of the things that you’ll notice is that on my dogs right now, because they are off leash and we are in a neighborhood here, they do have their E collars on.
I am not using their E collars during these, you know, informal exercises. This is just for fun. This is for us. This is to build relationships and get them some exercise and that kind of thing.
But they do have their E collars on even though I’m not using them, just as insurance for recall. There are a lot of people who walk their dogs in my neighborhood.
And while my dogs have no issue whatsoever with other dogs, some of the other dogs in the neighborhood are not as well-mannered and I need to have the E collar on my dog just in case something were to happen. It just acts as insurance in these situations but I’m not using it during these sessions at all. (dog panting) Look at your face.
(dog barking) Look at your face. Oh, crazy. (dog barking) Enough. Good. So the session, like the one that you just saw, lasts, you know, about 15 or 20 minutes, sometimes a little bit longer than that, depending on if I have the extra time.
And, I typically do that a minimum of three times a day, but, on a typical day, I probably get out there maybe five, maybe six times a day. Not all of the sessions last as long. Some of these sessions are much shorter, because I just take advantage of potty time, for example, right? If I’m going to take my dogs outside to go potty, I usually take them together, which means I can just grab the Frisbee or just grab the ball and go do a few throws and ask for some obedience and that kind of thing.
And that might just be, you know 10 or 15 minutes versus 20 or 30.
So, you know, this is all very sporadic, but I’m going to do my best to kind of give you, like, a solid overview as far as my opinion and my personal experience are concerned. So, I think that, on average, you should expect to spend at least two hours a day on physical and mental exercise with a Belgian Malinois. I know there will be people out there who disagree with that because I know that there are people out there who think that a Belgian Malinois requires a lot more than that every day. And I just disagree. I just disagree.
Based on my own experience, based on friends, many many friends that I have that also have Belgian Malinois that are incredibly well-trained and well-behaved.
Some compete in sports. Some don’t, some are, you know personal protection dogs like mine, and they’re not spending four and five hours a day with these dogs working and training and exercising these dogs. That, to me, is just more of an effort of the people who have Belgian Malinois who don’t think that other people should have them. It’s more of a gatekeeping, I think, it’s more of a scare tactic, I think, to keep people and to prevent people from getting Belgium Malinois, because, you know, they’re just kind of, they feel like they’re the self-proclaimed gatekeepers of the breed.
Look, I get that. I understand that. But I also think that it does miss service to the breed because people who could genuinely successfully have Belgian Malinois are kind of deterred away from that, because, most people, myself included, don’t have four or five hours a day to spend with a dog. I do not have that kind of time. And I would go so far as saying, 99% of people don’t.
Nobody has five hours a day unless you’re doing that as a profession, like, you’re a professional dog trainer, right? To spend with your, even if you are a professional dog trainer, do you have five hours a day to spend with your dog, training with your dog? Probably not.
So again, I think that that’s a gate-keeping tactic to keep people from purchasing Malinois and bringing Malinois into their homes. And it’s something that I staunchly disagree with.
So, this is my attempt at being transparent with you guys, giving you guys my honest opinion based on my experience with three Belgian Malinois. I think two hours a day is a great average to shoot for. That’s what I try to shoot for every day. Some days I don’t get that much time with them, and other days I get more. So, you know, I just think this is a nice average, you know, that you can expect.
So shoot for two hours a day, but don’t do it in chunks of time. You’re Malinois is not gonna be happy with a two-hour training session. That is way too long. That is not fun for the dog, and it’s probably not very fun for you either. So, though I’m spending, or aiming to spend at least two hours a day working with my dogs, it’s little sessions throughout the day.
It’s not an hour here and an hour there. It’s, you know, 20 or 30 minutes here, 10 minutes here, 15 minutes here. Maybe a potty break that turns into a 20-minute session.
That kind of thing. So, you know, the biggest piece of advice I would like you to leave with from today’s video is this.
I get a lot of questions from people asking me how much physical exercise a Belgian Malinois needs. And while the question is a good question, I think that it somehow gets lost in translation, because, the truth is, is that a Belgian Malinois can, will run and exercise and catch a ball for you until they drop dead on the field. They are gonna go, go, go, go. So, it’s not just about the physical exercise that you can offer your dog. And, in my opinion, and my experience, it’s more about the mental stimulation that these dogs need.
Belgian Malinois are incredibly smart, and if you do not keep their mind occupied, you, lots of times, they’re gonna have a dog on your hands that is naughty, that’s gonna be interpreted by you as being a bad dog or being a naughty dog and having bad behaviors and that kind of thing.
So, you need to be more worried about whether can you provide the mental stimulation, the mental exercise that this type of dog needs. It’s not so much about the physical, while that is important, I believe that mental exercise and simulation are more important than the physical. So, make sure that you make that a high priority, and shoot for two hours a day.
Again, I do not believe a lot of people out there are trying to tell people they need to spend four or five hours exercising their dogs every day.
I think that is just a load of crap, you know, and feel free to comment and rip me apart and tell me how wrong I am. But you know, this is just my experience. This is just me being honest with you. This is full transparency on my behalf. I have been able to have three Belgian Malinois successfully incorporated into my family, two of which these Malinois are very driven, one is not so much, but still a pretty high-energy dog, you know, compared to any other dog.
And you know, I’m not spending three, four or five hours a day every day on my dogs.
I’m just not. And I’ve been able to manage this successfully. And I think a big part of that is because I ask a lot from my dogs mentally and not just on the field, but off. I ask a lot for my dogs mentally, especially when it comes to being in the house and having manners and obedience in the house.
That’s a big ask for them mentally. And so I’m constantly trying to keep my dog’s mind occupied.
I don’t allow a lot of free thinking and thought in the house. I’m usually giving them a task. And whether that task is place, whether that task is lay down, because I want you to lay by my feet while I finish this email, or whatever it is, lots of times, it’s not just free time out.
I’ve asked my dog to do something. And so that requires my dog’s mind to stay busy because they are completing a task. They’re doing something that I’ve asked them to do. And that, for me, has proven to be a very successful way of incorporating them into my family and having good manners and good behavior inside the home.
