Have you ever heard someone say that exercise is 10% physical and 90% mental, or something similar? A lot of exercise is about your mental outlook on what you’re doing. If your mind thinks you’re tired it doesn’t matter that your legs can keep going. Your brain is telling you that you can’t go any longer, so that’s how you start to feel.

This also goes for dogs. Dogs who are mentally so engrossed in what they’re doing may not even realize that they’re hurt until after the activity. The same holds true for the opposite – a dog may look absolutely and utterly exhausted while you’re out doing some sort of activity with it, but as soon as it sees something it’s more interested in (like another dog, for example), it will suddenly feel all better and race full speed ahead at the object of its desire.

Knowing that your dog may not acknowledge pain or an injury if it’s so single-mindedly focused on whatever it’s doing means that you need to make sure you watch your dog closely during exercise. If your dog falls, twists its paw, or if anything that you think could have hurt it happens, examine your dog before continuing. Your dog might be hurt without even realizing it.

If you’re finding that your dog acts more tired during your exercise sessions and “magically” recovers when it sees another dog or something else that it’s very interested in, work on making your sessions more interesting and enjoyable. If your dog is just as excited about your run, bike ride, agility session, or whatever it is that you’re doing as it is about the things that would normally catch her attention it might be able to mentally last longer during your session.

Keep in mind that just because your dog can suddenly find more energy to do things it’s more interested in, this does not mean that you can push your dog further during your exercise sessions. You might think “Well, she looks tired, but I know she’s really not”. No – if your dog looks like it has reached its limit, you don’t push it past its breaking point. You will need to work on increasing your dog’s endurance and making your sessions more mentally enjoyable and stimulating for your dog.