If you have a dog, you need to ensure you treat them well to give them the best life possible. Your dog relies on you for everything and loves you unconditionally, so it’s crucial to know how to make their life good – and healthy. With that in mind, read on for some useful advice about how to create a healthy lifestyle for your dog so you can keep them with you and as a part of your family for as long as possible.
Provide proper nutrition
One of the most important things you can do when it comes to taking care of your dog and ensuring it is as healthy as it can be is to provide it with good nutrition. What this is will depend on your particular dog. For example, some need to eat larger portions than others, and some need to eat more often. There are also some dogs with allergies who need to be catered for.
Something that can help a lot of dogs, no matter what the breed, is providing them with fresh food rather than processed food. After all, if you wouldn’t eat processed food yourself, why would you give it to your dog? If you’re not sure where to start with this, check out Freshpet reviews to get an idea of why this kind of food is the best option.
Exercise them regularly
Even the smallest, oldest, and laziest dogs need regular exercise. They might not need as much as their more energetic counterparts (although lazy dogs probably do!), but that doesn’t mean they can miss out. If you own a dog, you will need to walk them and play with them to help them exercise and stay healthy.
Having a backyard is a good start, as the dog can go outside when they want to and play out there for a while. However, that’s not enough, and you will need to ensure you can make the time you need in the day to walk them at least once, if not twice. The good news is, walking is great for your health as well.
Don’t let them get bored
As we mentioned above, playing with your dog is a great idea because it helps them exercise, but it’s also good because it keeps them entertained. When a dog gets bored, it can be bad for their mental health, and they might even get depressed. Some dogs become destructive and badly behaved when they are bored, often because they want to get plenty of attention.
Therefore, it’s a good idea to keep your dog mentally stimulated. You can play games like fetch and even hide and seek to help keep them occupied, but you can also buy puzzles that are made just for dogs. These puzzles will have a treat hidden in them, and the dog has to work out how to get to it. This is ideal if you are working, for example, and you want to keep your dog entertained and occupied for a while.