Exercise and the diabetic dog

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

There's another useful article from PawNation that I want to bring to your attention, since it deals with an important issue for dogs with diabetes:  exercise.  "Combating Your Dog's Cold-Weather Boredom" is mainly concerned with cabin fever and its results, such as chewing (usually on forbidden items like shoes and papers) and accidents in the house, but most of the remedies author Gabrielle Linzer recommends involve exercise.  The connection between exercise and blood sugar appears to be hard to pin down in terms of the precise effects (see the article about sled dogs I noted yesterday), but there is no doubt that exercise can help with control. 

The first cabin-fever solution Linzer mentions is almost certainly NOT a good idea for dogs with diabetes, however.  Quoting a professional trainer, she "recommends stuffing your dog's meal in a Kong."  I can tell you from personal experience with Tony that any kind of alteration in food delivery methods can wreak havoc with a dog's treatment.  Although before he was diagnosed he was happy to eat almost anything, anywhere, anytime, anyhow, after he was on insulin he became pretty rigid in his preferences, and at least a couple of times a week he would either refuse to eat or would only eat part of his portion.  I wouldn't have tried the Kong trick anyway, since he never liked Kongs to begin with, but I would hesitate to suggest this to other people with diabetic dogs simply because of its potential for disrupting the dog's feeding routine.

Her other recommendations seem very useful, particularly for those who need to keep their dog's activity level constant throughout the year.  She has some good ideas about how to play indoors with your dog, and I like her suggestion to enroll your dog in a class.

As Pomeranians are bred for colder climates and our house has a large fenced yard, Tony spent more time out there in the winter than he did in the summer.  It was pretty funny to watch him break trail in snow that was up to his chin so that he could complete his self-imposed duty of checking the yard's perimeter.  In the heat of summer, he generally wanted to stay inside with the air conditioning, and he would run around the house a couple of times a day on his own in addition to the games I played with him to keep him in shape.  

Too bad this article was published on 2/24, when we're nearing the end of an especially intense winter season instead of at the end of fall.  Keep it in mind for next year.