Five dog breeds that need more exercise than most people expect

Most dogs in the UK need more exercise than their owners think they will when they buy them, even when it comes to owners that did plenty of research beforehand.

However, even factoring this in, there are some dog breeds in particular that actually need far more exercise than most people expect they would, and that are widely thought to be sedentary or unchallenging to provide for in this regard when the truth is that they would challenge most dog owners in terms of meeting their needs for walks.

This article will tell you about five dog breeds that need more exercise than you probably think they do and why people often underestimate them in this respect too. Read on to learn more.

The Rottweiler

The Rottweiler is a large, muscular, and very handsome dog that tends to command attention and that has a lot of physical presence. These are one of several breeds that very unfairly developed a bad reputation for temperament in some quarters, as they’re one of the go-to breeds popularly used in films or TV to portray dogs that can potentially be great guard dogs and guardians of people or on the flipside, aggressive, dangerous, and capable of causing hard.

It’s certainly true that you’d probably lose a physical fight with a Rottweiler, but even truer that such dogs have absolutely no interest in harming people and are actually highly intelligent, hugely affectionate, and often have a huge soft spot for children.

However, they are also great watch dogs, will work hard to see off any potential threat that approached their territory, and will certainly make anyone with malice aforethought think twice!

Anyway, how much exercise do Rottweilers need? Well, many people think they need little to no exercise due to a combination of their heavy, muscular builds that indicate endurance and a fairly slow pace rather than being hugely athletic, as well as the fact that they are thoughtful and not a fizzy breed.

It is true that Rottweilers are not sprinters, and they have more of a slow canter when running (other than when in pursuit of something) than a gallop, but as mentioned, they also have a lot of endurance and stamina and so they need a lot of walks. Rottweilers really need at least two and ideally more hours of exercise a day to thrive, at a moderate and steady pace.

The toy poodle

The toy poodle is the smallest of the three poodle dog variants, and they are also as the name implies a toy dog. Toy dog traits rarely include a high degree of athleticism, and this is partially down to their size itself but also as toy dog breeds are those that tend to like their home comforts rather than being the type to go splashing through puddles in all weathers!

While it is true that the small size of the toy poodle and so, shortness of their legs does place a kind of natural cap on how much exercise they need, they do also require rather more exercise than most other toy dog breeds, which tend to be either significantly more rounded or finely built than toy poodles.

Toy poodles are fizzy, lively dogs that tend to be very high-energy but burn this off quickly; but they also recover quickly and so will be ready to do it all again in a couple of hours. This means that toy poodles usually benefit from having three or more short but lively walks per day of around half an hour at a time.

The Dalmatian

The Dalmatian is a very good-looking dog with those distinctive spots and lovely conformation, but this does tend to lead the uninitiated to believe that this means they’re largely ornamental, when they very much are not.

Dalmatians are actually one of the more challenging breeds to exercise in terms of the amount of time dedicated to exercise they need, as well as how energetic they are about this.

Dalmatians may in fact share early ancestry with dogs of the pointer type, and they certainly share many traits with them today, including having both high energy levels as well as a lot of stamina, which is one of the most challenging combinations to manage. Dalmatians need at least two hours a day of brisk, varied exercise.

The Welsh corgi

The Welsh corgi is long-backed and short-legged, and their appearance tends to lead to two completely wrong assumptions about the breed; the first that they are a toy dog type and the second that they’re not very athletic.

Both of these ideas are completely wrong, and the Welsh corgi actually has a working history and is still widely used in their native Wales as farm and herding dogs today; and as you might then expect from a dog breed used for herding, they’re really energetic, short legs and short stature notwithstanding!

Welsh corgis need far more exercise than most people think, and they will not thrive in a sedentary lifestyle.

The Papillon

Finally, the Papillon is a very pretty and very small little dog with fine bones and a very cat-like manner, all of which add up to make them look very much like the type of dogs that would spend hours admiring themselves in the mirror and baulk in horror at the idea of too much physical effort!

The Papillon is a real study in contradictions, however; they’re classed as a toy dog breed and have the pretty looks one would expect from that, but they’re also one of the most intelligent dog breeds in the world and like most super-smart dogs, are very lively too.

While the Papillon’s tiny stature does limit them to an extent in terms of how much exercise they can manage, this is not a breed to consider if you’re not a big fan of lively walks, and lots of them; nor if you’re unable to meet the Papillon’s need for lots of mental stimulation either.