I just saw someone’s funny but also real IG reel that said “just work out at home!”. And in this video, her golden is zooming and jumping around in a storm of pup-crazy while she is failing miserably at trying to get in a home workout.
Her hooman baby in the background is sitting on the couch happily and peacefully, like a sweet little angel. But the dog? The dog is trying to play with the physioball, running zoomie laps around the mat and moving it out of place, jumping on her back and lap– the dog is doing the most. LOL.
I can totally relate because when I was a new dog mama, my little boy would literally come paw/claw/scratch the base of my skull the moment I would enter the first downward dog of any yoga flow I tried to enter. The very first time I tried to do an at-home workout as a new dog mama, he literally burrowed himself under my shirt. To this day, sometimes he will still try to engage in his griffy shenanigans like trying to sit on my chest, trying to lick the sweat off my face, and trying to lick my earholes (it’s an extra special behavior that may very well be unique to Nalu alone…).
So what do you do if your pooch wants in when it’s time for a human at-home workout? Here are my top five tips as a dog mama and certified health and hormone coach.
In addition to being a dog mama and certified health and hormone coach, I’m a professional Montessori educator by trade, which informs how I observe behavior and decide how to educate and guide. In the Montessori method, we are taught that there are “human tendencies” that all people are inclined to do by nature. All humans need activity and routine. When we engage in activities and routines, there is a predictable cycle that we repeat: find activity, engage, clean up, then either start a new activity, or rest. When I took care of 12 infants in a Montessori Nido (professional Montessori infant program), the each baby went through the following cycle, predictably, each in their own timing: wake up, eliminate, play, eat, eliminate, sleep, repeat.
Animals, in contrast to humans, have instincts rather than ‘tendencies’. They have their own cycle of activity if you know how to observe it, and it looks like this: wake up, eliminate, movement/play/work, eat, rest, repeat. In my opinion, that is why a “tired” dog is a calm, happy dog. They need movement and cognitive stimulation/work just like people do.
1) Yes, it is annoying AF to hear this, but it’s true– a tired dog is a satisfied, calm dog . Walk the dog before you try to get in an at-home workout. AND, I recommend you make this pre-hooman-workout walk sufficiently cognitively fatiguing (brain work) at the same time as the dog is getting in their body work. Here’s how to do that.
Take the dog out for this pre-workout walk. Let them do nosework and sniff around on the walk from time to time, following their lead to an extent. but while you’re walking along your route between sniffs, move the pace. You should feel your own heart rate rise.
Throughout this walk maybe five times at random, inject an obedience command such as “sit”, “wait”, “heel”, “sit/stay”, “back”. If your dog cannot even do those commands with or without treat rewards, that could very well be the reason why you can’t work out at home without your dog going wild– they lack discipline and self-control. Just, keepin’ it real. All creatures, even humans, deserve to cultivate discipline and self-control. Discipline means “I can behave in ways that serve my best interest and the best interest of others, as needed, even if I don’t want to”. Self-control means “I have the ability to stop myself before I make behavioral decisions that lead to less ideal outcomes”. Humans need it, dogs need it. These two soft skills are how we create social harmony. So if your dog lacks them, stay on top of obedience training during all your walks and work on it throughout the day at random. The dog should understand that they are expected to obey the household leaders in every context, just because you said so. Why? Because you are the one they should look to for guidance, safety, and food in a world full of unpredictability.
This walk should take 10-15 minutes total. And it will be good for your health and theirs to get outside, warm up your bodies with the most natural of human movement, get some fresh outdoor air, and hopefully some sunshine exposure if the sun is out. If the weather sucks, crack some windows and pull back the curtains, leash up, and walk around the house for 10-15 minutes, interjecting your obedience commands 5 times. These commands I listed above are very functional for the real world; and shouldn’t feel like “training”, they should just be expected parts of every walk.
After the walk, wipe down the dog and then play fetch five times with their favorite fetch toy inside the house, perhaps as you prepare your workout set up.
Understand that puppies are going to be very high-energy and lack focus and self-control. This is to be expected of all baby creatures from hooman to canine. But that doesn’t negate the need for obedience training and lots of play/exercise (for both species!). Puppies are way smarter than people think; and I started obedience training with Nalu right away. He could lay down as one of his first tricks. He was doing leash training, basic command training, and crate training from literally day one. I used McCann Dogs Youtube videos to teach Nalu almost everything he knows. And it worked. We started formal dog training this year and he was, humblebrag, class valedictorian. Summa Cum Laude. He was legit the best in the class. And I attribute that to the DIY McCann Dogs at-home training we did at home consistently when he was a puppy. I cannot recommend them enough!
B) Crate Training is Real. Everyone wise will crate train their dog. Nalu was crate trained from literally day 1. He has slept in his crate every single night of his life starting from day 1. He traveled in his crate in my car with me from the breeder in LA to the San Francisco Bay Area. Shameless plug for the Sherpa dog carrier and Sherpa dog Carrier/backpack– we literally still have ours because it is so legit. We now use it as Nalu’s hiking backpack in case it gets too hot or too steep.
You can learn to crate train your dog from McCann’s dogs. Youtube search “McCann Dogs Crate Train” and they will show you how to do it from puppyhood. In a nutshell, first you feed all their meals in the crate for a couple weeks so they associate the crate with good times, good feelings, and reward. You throw treats in there and let them find them, like a game of fetch-and-seek. At night, starting from day 1, they sleep in their crate. I used to put Nalu’s crate on an ottoman right next to my bed like a baby co-sleeper, and pet him down to sleep, then pull out my hand out of the top of the crate and zip it up. Eventually he didn’t need to be pet and would fall alseep in there on his own; and we moved the crate further away.
Make it comfy and enticing by throwing a blanket in there. For sleep times at night, cover it with a blanket. If need be, throw a t-shirt, towel, or lovey in there that you have literally wiped your sweat/smell on. No joke, take the lovey and use it as a bath towel or sweat rag when you first buy it, then do not wash the smell off. We used this classic Hawaiian baby lovey, and we still have it in my Nalu keepsake / second griff dreams hoarder stash.
In addition to sleep at night, crate training needs to happen during the day whenever you say so, not only because it’s time to sleep at night. That way, the dog doesn’t just associate the crate with sleep times or those initial meal times. Give the command “crate” or “crate time”, and throw some treats in there. Shut the door, leave them in there for a while with the blanket up in front, then let them out after a few minutes.
You can leave the door open to the crate by default, so they can access it any time they want to rest and just chill in there on their own volition. Then, come workout time, love making, or if a service person needs to come work on something at your house, it’s also “crate time”. The only thing we cannot do with Nalu is leave him in the crate alone, with the door locked shut, then shut the bedroom door and leave. He will freak out and associate that with being abandoned, but as long as we’re in the same room together, he loves crate time and fully utilizes crates as his safety cave. So we have a crate in the bedroom and a second soft crate in the living room. Especially when they’re still a puppy, your at-home workout is actually the perfect time to practice day time, blanket-open crate training.
C) Have a special chew reserved specifically for your workouts. Whether or not you choose to consistently crate them when you work out, another fantastic tip is reserve a special, long-lasting chew just for the experience of your workout. I use this strategy when I need to work from home and run Zoom meetings– Nalu knows that special treat is awaiting him. For those who need quietude during your workout to be able to hear an instructor or maybe to teach a workout from home, I also use a bark collar to ensure that he stays quiet the entire time. If you need a bark collar that is 110% legit, I recommend this one. The long-lasting “special workout chew” that I recommend is an icelandic sheep’s horn. These chews are safe, a low-calorie, digestible slow-edible, and they last a very long time for my Brussels Griffon. A bigger dog might be able to eat through it faster, but for a small dog only using it during workouts, I’ve purchased two across Nalu’s almost 5-year lifetime. The only reason we had to let go of the second one is because it was black. That being said, chose the tan ones.
D) Teach them how to work out with you using things like KetaTov and Dog Yoga. If you tried everything above and they just want to be doing whatever your’e doing, let them join your workout for a few minutes by teaching them how to do dog yoga or dog dance. I think Nalu used to be more of a willing participant when he was a puppy, but now, if he tries to bother us during workouts and it’s getting annoying, I can proceed to rope him into the activity and then he’s over it and wants to leave, lol.
E) If the home workout is miserably failing, or if your schedule is too packed to accommodate a home workout on any given day, sometimes the best thing is to make your workout their workout. On these days I recommend two options: a) running together, or b) rucking together. If you and your dog are willing to run or jog, take it outside and go for a run/jog. If you are not a runner and/or your dog is not a runner, the next best option is to ruck. Fill a backpack with weights and wear that ish while you go on your usual walking route. This is a great way to kill two birds with one stone for us on those busier days.
Hope this helps!
puppy & paradise 