How Much Exercise

          How much exercise will my dog need? I often get asked that question and there is not a simple answer to it. All the dogs that I have and train and breed are active dogs, some of them less and some more. Aisha and Sage do not require nearly as much exercise or miles as Bonnie and Jessie for example. With that being said I keep all of mine conditioned at the same level but what I mean is I think Aisha would be just fine living in an apartment and going for walks off leash twice a day and chase a ball where Jessie or Bonnie would always look for more. 

          I believe it depends a lot on how the pups are raised and what is their norm, what they are used to in your pack. If they were raised in an apartment situation with an active family that goes hiking on the weekend, well that's what they will know and be OK with it. On the other hand, if you would take my best runners and want to make them an apartment dog, they probably wouldn't be very happy anymore. And there is also the other scenario, which I explored many times already. If I rescue a dog usually from a home where she lived mostly in a dog run or on a chain type life, it also requires adjustments. Usually, those dogs do not know their name and they have no recall at all. As much as I like the challenge it is not easy for everyone to succeed with these kinds of dogs as the first thing they want to do is run like crazy and run away because they were never let off the chain. I want to mention here again that I don't use leashes and all my dogs are off leash. Of course, if you want to keep them on the leash then there is not much training required. That brings me to another point. 

          I am not sure if you can ever satisfy your dogs exercise needs by walking him on a leash. I am maybe not the right guy to ask but I can not see it. My dogs run sometimes 100 or more kilometers a week, most of it pulling and on top of that, they have a free run on the farm. Exact same for horses btw. IMHO if you never let your dog run with you and let him know that it is OK or more so yet that it is desired, I don't think he will ever be mentally stable and happy. When I rescue a dog that was never allowed to run, I, of course, take it easy the first few weeks because of their muscles and tendons not being developed properly yet, but I always turn a dog that was labeled as one that wants to run away and is bad on leash etc into a very happy running dog that I think is very thankful to be here. Almost always they are so excited that they come in heat within a few days of arriving.  

          So in the end, I guess the short answer is healthy exercise and common sense. Your pup will do his best to get used to your lifestyle and that will become his/hers norm but to be realistic, none of my pups will do fine in an apartment being walked around the block twice a day on leash. Or you might think they are. In those scenarios, you probably should look for one of the designer breeds that are "bred" to live in such situations.