How do you exercise your bully(ies)?

[bullmama]

A lot of people have been mentioning tredmills to me lately. My bullies have a pretty large backyard, and we do not walk them because we don't want to make public all of our bullies to the neighborhood. We have had bulldogs stolen from us twice, so I guess we are a bit paraniod.

Plus, it gets really hot here in the summer. They play and run in the backyard, and we have flagstone that helps keep their nails nice. But during the summer they will not be able to go out for long periods of playtime, although we also have misting system on the patio for the hot summertime, I still would not let them out for probably more than 20-30 minutes at a time. I just want to make sure they continue to get exercise.

I am also planning on getting a couple of skateboards for them to play with on the patio.

I am thinking of getting a treadmill that they can go on "walks" inside.
Has anyone tried this and are they scared to get on it?

Also, how does everyone else exercise their bulldogs?

 

[Aqualung]

I take her to the local dog park,she loves it!!

 

[TessaAndSamson]

We go on short walks. Do you ever run into issues at the dog park? My Samson got attacked once, he was just sniffing this male pitbull and it attacked my poor Samson. Latched on to his head and wouldn't let go. One of the worst days of my life and I am so thankful Sam did not get seriously injured. Has a permanent small bald spot on top of his head from one of the pits teeth though. And my brother's westie got ring worm right after a trip to the dog park. Can't imagine where else he would have gotten it so the assumption is that he got it at the dog park. I will never go back to a dog park again, I tryed once and I was freaking out inside the whole time. If something were to happen to Samson I don't know what I'd do.

 

[LisaRN]

All I have to do is walk anywhere - with any kind of food..and Chester smells it and comes running quicker than a greyhound! Seriously.. Chester still is SO bad when we take him for walks.. We do have a big backyard that he roams in, only when we are out there though, as I have a pond and I don't feel like fishing him out

 

[Mugzilla]

in the summer time, my bullies main source of excercise is SWIMMING! yes, they can swim, contrary to popular belief that bullies cannot swim. however, they both have life jackets, which makes swimming much more enjoyable to them instead of a state of panick.

the goal with teaching any dog to enjoy the water is just that--teaching them to enjoy it. tossing them in or forcing them in is not ideal. that's a great way to ensure they hate the water for life. i go into the water and gently nudge them in as well and hold onto their life jackets and ensure they know i'm 'right there' until they're comfortable doing it on their own. my female eb still pretty much loves to hate swimming. she wants to get in and will beg to get in, but as soon as you put the life jacket on her, she loves to act like she doesn't love the idea. she totally does though, but she is still afraid and needs a human by her side at all times to keep her calm.

swimming is a great way to exercise them and keep them cool at the same time. some public pools have 'doggy days', usually the last day or days that the pool is open for the summer, where dogs are allowed to swim. if you'd like to see if your dog enjoys swimming, that might be a perfect opportunity for it

before i had an inground pool, i would fill up a kiddy pool prior to playing in the yard. my female eb loves to fetch (and it certainly gives her good exercise). after bringing the ball back each time, we'd get in the pool and splash around to keep her cool between each fetch.

also, turning on a sprinkler in the backyard for the dogs to race through and play around in is a great idea to keeping them cool while they're active.

combining any type of exercise with cool water fun is a great way to keep your bully physically fit/healthy as well as cool

we only walk the dogs in the very early am or after dark in the pm during the summer time. otherwise, it's just too hot for them where i live. even with the cooling coats and collars.

during the fall and winter, we hit up public parks and daily walks and loooove to go camping!

 

[Mugzilla]

Do you ever run into issues at the dog park? My Samson got attacked once, he was just sniffing this male pitbull and it attacked my poor Samson. Latched on to his head and wouldn't let go.

oh my! that sounds horrible. how does samson act now in dog parks?
years ago, we lived in an apartment with a doggy park. tilly LOVED the doggy park. she is the reason we chose that apartment one day when i wasn't there, my friend took her to the doggy park. she was playing and enjoying herself. 3 or 4 people came in and brought their dogs. one of which targeted tilly with a vengence. he had her on her back, actually attacking her, and his humans did NOTHING to stop him. they just stood there. my friend raced over and literally threw the male dog off of tilly. his humans still did nothing. they just stood there and tried to say he was playing. tilly was BLEEDING and terrified and they still tried to say he was just playing. the male dog kept coming back trying to attack tilly and my friend kept literally throwing him away until she and tilly could get out of the doggy park. his ignorant humans did NOTHING and acted like tilly must've been the problem. hello! she was there before him, playing with the other dogs and minding her own business. your dog attacked her unprovoked. it still pisses me off to think about it. she never acted the same in that doggy park after that. she had deep lacerations on her face and neck from that dog and was emotionally traumatized. it's so sad.

 

[Aqualung]

I've never had a problem SO far at the park..The dogs are friendly and the owners keep a good eye on all the dogs there..Alot of pits and pit mixes frequent the park and I've never had a problem with them,most are very well behaved..She likes the people better than the dogs.. She will go over to say hi,as soon as they talk to her,she rolls over and wants a belly rub..Most people get a real kick outta her. As soon as my pool is ready I'll be getting her a life jacket so she can join us in the pool..

 

[TessaAndSamson]

I never take him to dog parks anymore because I just feel too uncomfortable. Samson is so important to me I don't know what I'd do if some dog seriously hurt him. I have been through so much with him that I've become pretty protective. Like he broke his front leg in the joint and had to have orthopedic surgery to correct it, he has pins in his leg now. So that has always concerned me at the dog park even before the attack because the dogs get too rough sometimes and I'm afriad he'll injure his leg again.