How much exercise?

[NeuroticGrey]

Here's the deal - I've had my first greyhound, my sweet weirdo, Twyla, for nearly 3 months. She's settled in while she often has a long face (haha - that's a joke), she seems pretty satisfied. I'm perplexed about her exercise needs. I take her for a long walk in the morning, usually about 45 minutes. We do a potty break and lunch and again after dinner. I'm prepared to take her for another long walk in the evening, but she's scared of the dark and the various dicks who race their motorcycles around our neighborhood. She'll reluctantly go out and pee and wants to get straight back inside. Several times a week we hit a park and/or a dog park at early hours when nobody else is there. Once in a while we meet up with other greys. Occasionally, she throws her Kong balls around and plays indoors. Is this... really enough exercise for my elite athlete? I find myself oddly stressed about it. I stew about it. How much exercise do your dogs need? Should I be giving her more? Or is this ok? The question I'm always hung up on is... IS SHE HAPPY????

[HeyRunDog]

These elite athletes are sprinters not long distance runners and only need two 20 minute walks a day. Having said that, Grace is only having one 30 min walk a day because like your Twyla, she doesn't want to go out again in the evening, but that might be because of the ongoing battle with her corns or she has taken retirement really seriously. If she's not being destructive or not settling then I wouldn't worry. Keep an eye on her weight and adjust her food accordingly.

As for being happy, no more racing, soft warm bed/sofa, enough food and being waited on by a caring servant with nice walks to catch up on the pee-mails. What more does a greyhound need

They are not known as 45 mph couch potatoes for nothing

 

Edited August 14, 2020 by HeyRunDog

[MerseyGrey]

Yes, this sounds like plenty of exercise for your pup. You can look at it one way, which is that you are getting your two 20 minute sessions in all at once in the morning and so you don’t have to worry about walking her again in the afternoon/evening. If she can go out to relieve herself later in the day, this should be enough. That  ‘20 minutes twice a day’ is a guide, and each hound will vary on what they need. I think you’ll know if she needs more as she will be restless and letting you know that she wants to go out.
I’ve found that Buddy is remarkably adaptable to fit in with our lifestyle, and recently there have been days where we haven’t been able to do our usual exercise routine because of the heat. He doesn’t care. The thing that makes him happiest is being near his humans - I gauge this by how much and how well he sleeps. I think a sleepy hound is a contented hound, and that’s the only way if I can tell if he’s happy. The perpetual sad face doesn’t help at all!
I was a bit like you in the first year of having Buddy, constantly second-guessing my decisions and questioning whether he might be happier in another household. He’s currently sleeping at my feet as I type this after his morning walk and breakfast, and I know that although he might be happy elsewhere, he is just as happy here. If your girl is fed, watered and loved, she is happy. And there will come a time when you realise this yourself, and then you’ll wonder what you were ever worried about 😊. 

[cleptogrey]

basically they seem to adapt to your exercise needs. i know GH owners who jog with their dogs daily. they worked up their dog's stamina and do take hot weather into account. we are walkers- so 4 miles is no big deal. it's trial and error to keep both parties(owner and dog) happy. 

[greysmom]

I'll just add that a *really* long race for a greyhound still only takes around a minute to complete.  A normal 550-660 yard race is about 30 seconds long - less if they're going really fast!  That's considerable shorter than even a thoroughbred race - more like a short quarter horse race!  And they do this only once every 3-5 days.  The rest of the time they are getting massages, lounging in the therapy pool, laying around in the sun in the turnouts or their kennels, and eating and sleeping!!!  So two walks a day is considerable MORE exercise than they usually get when racing.

She probably *is* a bit afraid of the dark since they aren't regularly turned out late in the evenings, so being outside in the dark with only a flashlight or streetlights could be pretty scary.  If she'll pee right beofre bedtime that's really good enough!   

[NeuroticGrey]

Thanks for your advice and reassurance! I have been overthinking this, for certain. I sure wish I had a fenced in yard for her, maybe we can figure that into our next place. Until then, it's dog parks at early hours and the somewhat sketchy fenced in ball field nearby. 

[Legendaryfrank]

On 8/13/2020 at 9:18 PM, NeuroticGrey said:

Here's the deal - I've had my first greyhound, my sweet weirdo, Twyla, for nearly 3 months. She's settled in while she often has a long face (haha - that's a joke), she seems pretty satisfied. I'm perplexed about her exercise needs. I take her for a long walk in the morning, usually about 45 minutes. We do a potty break and lunch and again after dinner. I'm prepared to take her for another long walk in the evening, but she's scared of the dark and the various dicks who race their motorcycles around our neighborhood. She'll reluctantly go out and pee and wants to get straight back inside. Several times a week we hit a park and/or a dog park at early hours when nobody else is there. Once in a while we meet up with other greys. Occasionally, she throws her Kong balls around and plays indoors. Is this... really enough exercise for my elite athlete? I find myself oddly stressed about it. I stew about it. How much exercise do your dogs need? Should I be giving her more? Or is this ok? The question I'm always hung up on is... IS SHE HAPPY????

Can I just say I'm sorry for the unsavory motorcyclists that live around you  I have a sportbike and I always keep my bike quiet when I am passing people with dogs or children.

 

For my grey, he gets out in the morning for about 5 mins to pee, and heads back inside to let me sleep for a bit more before work. Then he will eat breakfast and promptly sleep while I work. I can check in on him at lunch after 5 hours and let him in our fenced yard, sometimes he gets the zoomies but other times he will just have a little pee/poo, some sniffs and be happy to go back inside. Other times I'll take him for a walk in the afternoon, and he'll be content. Back to work, then home after another 5 hours, I repeat what I did at lunch, sometimes a pee/poo here too. Then at night around 10:30PM, I take him out one more time for 5-10 minutes for a quick walk around the neighborhood, he usually knows it's time to pee because I give him a treat occasionally for the last pee of the night for a quick turnout.

 

All in all, he really only starting doing zoomies/sprints in circles in the yard maybe 2-3 times a week, otherwise he is super lazy and doesn't really want to do anything other than lay down and relax haha. I think it varies dog to dog, my guy is pretty much happy to go outside anytime and won't complain, but also won't destroy the house if I don't have enough time to take him out for walks and only have time to let him in the yard.