What do you do for exercise with your kai?

Brego_mellon_nin

Hi all.

I wanted to know what you do when exercising your kai?

I love a good walk and ofcourse plan to play with and train my kai, but one thing I really love, just for the exercise, is running, and I was planning to take my kai along, when he is ready for this.

Do any of you run with your kai? What else do you do?

tjbart17

My breeder trains for marathons with Koda's father Kuma. He can run I think she said 6 miles with her. I'm not a runner, much more of a hiker and sightseer. If my Kai's had their choice, they would be out all day and hiking somewhere. They get in this zone when hiking and even walking around the neighborhood.

Brego_mellon_nin

Oh I also love hiking, but Denmark is not exactly made for this ;o) I hope a run in a forest will also make a kai happy?

kwyld

A run in the forest is what a Kai lives for! That's Kohji's favorite thing to do, other than eating. I like to take Kohji hiking, swimming, camping, you name it, if it's involving the outdoors, he loves it. Teaching them agility is great because they are jumping, climbing and running through obstacles. Hide and seek is a fun game to play in the house and teaching them to sniff out and find treats and toys will exercise their sense of smell which is actually a pretty good workout for a dog. I've had Kohji run along side a bike with me too, but that can be an iffy situation depending on what you run into along the way

baanton

I think you will have a fabulous time running with your Kai in the forest. Just be mindful of how to exert control when distracted by birds or other wildlife, because the hunting drive will be pretty strong, I'm sure! Outdoors activity is what Kai's live for, I think. We are very unstructured with Josephine, but she seems to have boundless energy. Most often we walk with her (on-leash in the city, and off-leash much of the time when we are at our farm.) As to the running, we often joke that she is like a little pony. We have noticed she has several different speeds from "wide open" (full gallop, used when playing with other dogs primarily), and can also trot, canter, etc. Even when very young, she has exhibited a great deal of stamina. An example: While less than a year old (maybe 7-8 months?) we took her on a bike trail with my husband and I riding bikes. The trail is very flat (old railroad bed), but lined with trees and some grass land or open fields. Other than being distracted a couple times by partridge, she basically settled into a "gait" that matched a (fairly sedate) pace on our bikes and "trotted" an entire six miles pretty much non-stop. Enjoy!

TheWalrus

My dogs get two 5km walks a day. I also hunt with my Kai, and during the season we are out around 5 days a week. She'll cover around 20km a day in the mountains. Now that we've hit the off season, the dogs and I head out for hikes twice a week. They absolutely love it.

When your dog is a pup you obviously won't be running with it too much as you don't want it to over work itself. The problem that may arise is that as they get older their hunting drive will kick in, and while you may be thinking of going for a run, they'll be going for a hunt.

tjbart17

Koda lives to be outdoors. I have to drag him in at night from the back.

Both of my Kai love going hiking, walking, off leash hiking, walking on the beach, blah blah blah. Anything outside. If you are going to do off leash work, start very very young. Don't waste anytime in beginning training your Kai for this. They will go off on the hunt, and there are lots of things in the forest for them to chase. Both mine do just fine. Koda because he has been trained, and Maymay because she has a rescue mentality. She just doesn't ever want to be away from me.

Although Kais are calm in the house and do well, I believe that they have to go out everyday for not only physical exercise but mental stimulation. You will also find that they are pretty willing to go anywhere with you.

Yup they're the best....

Brego_mellon_nin

Shigeru >>
I'm not planning on running with my kai off leash. Denmark doesn't have enough nature areas, there's always people nearby so a loose dog is not a good thing. I'd love too though and will ofcourse train with my kai from day 1. But I am familiar with the hunting dogs mind, as I have lived with a karelian beardog. When her nose starts to work her hearing mysterously disapears ;o)

I'm not a hunter, but I plan to use my kai for tracking (dragged rabbit or blood trail). This is something we do a lot in Denmark...

Sangmort

"When her nose starts to work her hearing mysterously disapears ;o)"

LOL One of the best ways I've ever heard it put ~

tjbart17

A little bit of a warning on tracking. Koda became obsessed with tracking when he was about 8-9 months old. It made it difficult to go on walks. He was constantly trying to find the turkey, rabbit, squirrel, quail next to my house. His nose was constantly to the ground and he would just go off. Not far, but I would have to wait for him. We off leash walk in an open space. There are also coyote dens there so I was worried he would go off too far and accidentally run into one or worse yet track down a coyote. I had to bring him to tracking classes to teach him when to turn it on and off, and use scent sprays to encourage him only to go after rabbits. There are enough to keep him busy, but hopefully detour him from going after coyotes.

Actually, maybe tracking would be best for a Kai if properly trained, but make sure to train them to turn it off and only turn it on when you allow.

Brego_mellon_nin

Thanks for the warning. I plan to train at one particular spot or in a forest or something, so that my kai doesn't connect my garden/immediate homearea with tracking. And I will of course teach him/her to turn it off. Another thing - we don't have coyotes here, so my kai would at the most get a pheasant, a rabbit or a mouse. Not that it's okay for him to take off ofcourse!

I will probably join a tracking class because I'm not experienced myself yet and thus we will do it right from the start :o)