This blog will take a look at rest days, what they are and if they’re important. Plus a 3 bonus ideas of how to spend your rest days.
What are rest days?
Some people refer to rest days as a day of doing nothing, no exercise at all but I prefer to think of rest days as taking time to recover. That may be complete rest and no exercise if that suits you and your dog but equally it could just be less exercise, less intense exercise or a different type of exercise.
Now choosing which rest day is best for you your dog can be a challenge but some tips to help you out:
If your dog is not physically fit at the moment, perhaps they are young, older, recovering from injury etc., then a day of complete rest or very reduced exercise is a good bet.
If your dog is very physically fit and does a lot of additional training/exercises each day you could just reduce exercise by going on shorter walks and removing training.
If your dog’s work involves lots of mental work, taking a day of easy walks can be a good rest.
If you tend to do lots of off lead walking over difficult terrain a day of slow lead walks would be a good rest day.
As you can see there are tonnes of options for you and what is best for you and your dog will depend on your specific circumstances and also how much rest you need.
Personally I like to add a rest day after any more difficult days such as after competition days, longer walk days or after any changes to our usual routine such as going on holiday. But you might like to add a rest day every week if that fits well with your schedule.
Regular rest days help to give both use and our dogs time to recover from micro injuries, DOMS and to unwind and relieve any built up stress (especially in anxious or reactive dogs).
If you’re worried about rest days being boring why not try one of these ideas to spice it up a little?
Rest day Ideas:
Try some low intensity scent work such as scatter feeding or treat hide and seek.
Catch up health checks- vet, vet physio, chiropractic, grooming etc.
Check out a new dog friendly pub or café.
Let me know which one you try!
Jack enjoying a good rest at a café on the way home from our recent holiday
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