Rookie and I have been best friends since day 1. It's actually kind of funny how alike we are. I didn't wake up knowing that I was going to bring a puppy home with me, but I am dang sure happy I did. I spent every single minute him when I didn't have a class or work (night shift) and when I had to study he would fall asleep on my feet. Last winter I finished my senior season of collegiate football and had nothing, but built up energy from my lack in activity over the months and Rookie loved it. Our high energy levels worked so well together. We would be active for hours day learning, walking, running, fetching, and playing other high activity games. We did this every single day for roughly 1.5 months, however all that stopped recently when I became very sick. While fighting an pneumonia I got a blood clot in my calf which moved to my lungs where I had multiple pulmonary embolisms that lead to pulmonary infraction( A heart attack in the lungs). 70% of people die, but I was blessed enough to beat the odds. I was in the hospital for 12 days total my family who isn't quite so physically active took care of Rookie. I know he was getting a lot of attention and playtime with my youngest brother, but I know it wasn't the same.

Coming home for the first time I found my face wet from puppy kisses. Before I even could sit down he was ready to go outside for a run, but I had to tell him no. It broke my heart to not take him on his run. I came home missing 1/2 of my right lung, but picked a walker, an oxygen tank, along with a doctors order limiting me from not being able to be physically active for awhile. I'm limited between 2-4 weeks from today pending on next doctors visit. Being able to only walk roughly 50 yards at a time isn't enough for any healthy puppy his age. He has been good about it, but I am starting to see him grow impatient. You can see it in his eyes how sad it has been making him.

So here are my questions. if you could please help Rookie would love it:

Q- Can someone help me please find any alternative form of long walks/runs make him happy again? (I don't have a walker or oxygen tank anymore. I am able to do anything that doesn't require running)

Q-Could his lack of exercise be the reason for him not listening as well as before and possibly a little agitated?

Q- He lost all progress on leash training. Any tips?

I want to thank any of you who take the time to help in advanced.

How old is he? Once he is fully grown, usually between 1-2 years old, you should look into bikejoring, carting, and dog scootering. I take mine out 6 days a week for 5+ mile bike rides, where the dogs are pulling the entire time and I just sit there. I don't even have to pedal. I just give commands and encouragement. I only help them when there are hills or strong winds slowing them down. Long walks and runs were not enough exercise for them, which is how I stumbled upon bikejoring. I eventually want to get a Diggler dog scooter. For you, a bike might be better, unless you are able to stand up for the entire ride. I've been bikejoring for about 5 years now. Hope that helps. Good luck!

Oh, and this is us. Any 1 of these dogs can pull me by themselves, but it's obvisouly much easier to exercise them all at once to save time.



Even my 9-year old daughter joins in the fun:

Knowing his age will help us give you ideas. Hiring a dog walker or a buddy that exercises a lot is one option. Many on here take their dogs to doggy daycare a few times a week and that wipes them out. A couple people on here have also been successful at training their dogs to walk or run on a treadmill.

I agree with Kevin and Jenn.....I am going to address the puppy end so we cover the bases, puppies require 5 minutes of exercise per every month old, so at 6 months old 30 minutes of exercise. To rebuild your bond and manners/training, I would start by going back to the beginning. Exercise of the mind and body will tire a pup just as fast as heavy exercise alone, and more importantly heavy exercise is not good for growing joints and bones. so practice leash manners, take short walks, and to tire more quickly, during the walk/leash manners, start using commands, just out of the blue, practice sit, lay down, stay, recall, etc. You can do this several times a day. I did probably 8 times a day when my girl was under 8-12 months old, and we both benefited with this type of training/walking.

Hey Rookie, sounds like you've had the puddin' kicked out of you, hope that everything's coming back together without too many long term effects.

Okay, you've had the static line and there probably wasn't anything in there that you didn't already know. Husky's need exercise!

But sometimes that just isn't going to happen and sometimes it can be a while - weeks / months before you get back into shape where you can really get out and exercise her.

The best alternative, as Renee mentioned, is to work her mind. Make use of this as an opportunity to teach her new tricks. Search is always a good exercise once she gets the idea; hide a treat (or kibble) and let her find it, then start teaching her to set until you release her to find it.

I really do quite agree with Renee, she's had a break from you with people who didn't treat her the way you did and for the time being even you can't treat her the way you did. It's time to establish a new relationship with her, built not so much on the physical as the mental.

If you have the space for it, try working with him (sorry, but I'm not going back and changing all my mistakes!) on a long lead; I have a 100 ft clothesline rope that I use for my dogs when we go on "fun walks". That won't help with the leash problem - that's going to have to be a "do over" but it might give him enough of a free run to help.

I hope that in time you can recover enough to get more active again; losing half a lung is going to kick your butt for a while but you can get a long way back toward normal eventually.