So, we took Arnie out to see my brother and his 2 year old german short haired pointer on Saturday. He lives by the ocean and I wanted to get Arnie on the beach and hopefully in the water if he felt confident enough. So, lets just say Arnie and Obelix played all day long, ran their little legs off on the beach and swam like they were born in the water. It could not have gone better. They had a great time, and my brother and I had a few scotches, so it was a great day. I expected him to be pretty slow and tired on Sunday, but even today he's been sleeping a lot, and when he's been awake he's been tired. Went for a little romp this morning, but then he slept most of the day. Is it possible that he is still tired or has sore muscles and needs to recover?
Pongo would sometimes take two or three days to fully recover from his most excitingest days of play when he was little. I think it was partly physical and partly mental - just so many new experiences to process and dream about!
Mabel's the same we are staying near the beach at the moment and she is sleeping so much. It's all so exciting as we live in the midlands she hasn't seen the sea since last August. @Somatic I'm sure Arnie is just catching up on rest. I'd only be concerned if he was stiff after waking or any kind of limping.
If Arnie was busy playing and swimming for most of the day it does sound as if he is just totally tired. I would only worry if as Claire @Pilatelover says he shows any stiffness or limping. I would keep his activity levels quieter again today and see how he is tomorrow
He probably did too much, please be careful of that. In particular be careful of too much swimming. You will see written and hear that swimming is a good non-weight bearing exercise but you can overdo swimming. Consider if you were to try to run in the water, do you move as quickly and as easily as you do on land? The water impedes you. It's the same thing for your dog, if it wasn't dogs would move as fast swimming as they do running. Swimming needs to be built up to just as any activity does.
Hi @Snowshoe, yeah he must have done too much running and playing. Not worried about the swimming. We were only in the water for about 5 minutes swimming, but he was running around the sand and in the shallow parts for a while. I am at work now doing nightshift and my wife said he is awake and a terror. Wants to play and run and jump now. I think he's recovered.
My two get very tired from full days of stimulation. We're on holiday at the moment, having two agility training sessions a day, which is brand new and the most exciting thing ever for them, plus a good walk/swim at various places to switch off the brains. They're both zonked out in the evenings, but it's a happy tired that leaves them fresh to start another day in the morning. I think they believe they're in doggy heaven. You do need to be careful that you're not overdoing it physically for him - I think I've read the term "weekend warrior" on this forum in the past, which is where you take a dog way over his day-to-day norm as far as activity is concerned; it's not good for them and they really should be allowed to build up to big days out. But, as long as you manage the physicality of it, giving plenty of rest breaks, then there shouldn't be a problem. My two are very fit and active daily at home, so I don't worry about that part of it here, but the thing that wears them out more is the mental stimulation of doing new things. Honestly, they're like Sleeping Beauty once they've had their dinner. So is my husband, come to think of it.
