Anyone trained their dogs to walk on the treadmill? I'm trying to teach my 5 month old to walk on it for days when the whether is too bad to go outside and she's bored and restless. I've watched several videos of various methods. Some are truly horrible, holding the dog on it with a choke collar while it struggles to jump off and nearly strangles itself until it finally gives up and walks! I'm working on the positive method of introducing it slowly and praising and rewarding whenever she steps on it. I've got her to get up on it easily now ... as long as it's not moving. The second it moves, off she goes! Then I can't get her back on until it stops. She doesn't seem scared so much as just not sure how to get her sea legs so it's easier to just get off. It's on the slowest setting so I'm not sure what else to try. Tips for helping her feel more stable on it without holding her? If I hold her for support she thinks I'm trying to force her and backs off, so I don't want to do that. (Please, no criticisms about being a wimp for not walking her in bad weather. Sometimes it just too dangerous to go out, such as with high winds or icy conditions.)
Personally, I wouldn’t bother. Walks are far more about mental than physical stimulation so I would be using the walk time to play training games and other enrichment exercises instead. Things like scent work (teaching her to hunt for a toy) are far more tiring and likely to appease boredom than plodding along on a treadmill. Living in the mountains, we too have the occasional day when it’s too dangerous to walk; high winds can and do rip tiles from roofs, bring down amounts of snow heavy enough to crush cars, and if we have freeze/thaw, the road outside our apartment becomes a skating rink on a slope, where even the dogs can’t stand. So I understand that sometimes it is just too dangerous. Luckily, in three years of having the dogs, this has only happened a handful of times. We just spend “walk” time playing games to wear out their brains instead.
When my boy was a puppy and it was not great weather, we’d do heel work inside and walk around the house. I’d vary it with ultra slow walking and then racing around, then stop suddenly, etc. It was a lot of fun! I personally hate the treadmill and I’d imagine it would be even more dead-boring for a dog who can’t even listen to a podcast as he exercises! But I can imagine you’re at your wits end in bad weather. Fortunately where I live we never have weather so bad that you can’t go outside. Although the other day was too hot for a walk - so we played ball retrieves in the pool.
I have often had to reduce or stop exercise with my dogs for various reasons. In those days we play games. Find it is a favourite thing for them, I tire them mentally and then we do stuff like grooming massage and training. They like it it's a fun change. I don't think I'd use a treadmill on any of my dogs I be worried about the repetitive strain place in their joints, even more so for a puppy.
I can't imagine a dog enjoying walking on a treadmill. I do it myself as a short warm up and cool down when we go to the Gym, and it is only interesting because I'm watching my performance and counting down until I'm done. Dogs like to walk because there are interesting things to see and smell. Cooper loves to run at top speed, preferably playing chase with another dog. Our dogs do just fine sitting around the house without going for a walk if don't have time, or think the weather is too yucky. We try to give them some indoor interesting things to do to keep them occupied. They also play tug or bitey face together, usually when we are there as an audience.
Once I had a rainy day and our puppy was young, she needed some exercise but I didn’t feel like taking her for a wet walk. So I popped her in the car and we spent a fun 1/2 hour at our local Pet Shop (Pets At Home). There were people to fuss her, and animals to look at, plus a new toy at the end of it!
