Pit Bull Exercise: Energy Level and How Much Activity They Need

Though not a recognized American Kennel Club breed, the Pit Bull is a somewhat ubiquitous family of dogs found throughout America, and showing up all too often at rescues. Strong and energetic, they’ve also been subjected to a great deal of unearned prejudice in terms of their temperament. Like any breed or family of dogs of similar shape and size, pit bulls — once known as nursemaid dogs! — thrive into trustworthy, gentle souls, when their owners raise them right and give them the engagement and exercise they require. If you’re thinking about bringing a pit bull into life, you’ll have a devoted companion with searching eyes, velvety ears and smiley snoots. And you’ll want to know everything you can about exercising them, their energy levels, and how much activity they’ll need. Let’s find out how to properly work out your pitty!

Pit Bulls: A Family of Dogs, Not A Breed

Though not officially a breed in and of itself, any dog called a pit bull is from a larger family of three breeds that the American Kennel Club recognizes. Those breeds are the American Pit Bull Terrier, the American Staffordshire Terrier and the Staffordshire Bull Terrier. But these three breeds, with occasional influence from shepherds and terriers, have intermingled for centuries, producing a highly recognizable family of dogs that are medium to large in size, short and velvety-coated, thick-bodied, dense, loyal and energetic. (If you see a dog that could be described by the phrase, “tiny velvet hippopotamus“, you’re probably looking at a pit bull.)

Variety Amidst Pit Bulls

As a non-breed, “pibbles” have a lot of variety in size, appearance, shape and even athleticism. But those three breeds we mentioned above? Those dogs were bred to work, and often to hunt. Pit bulls throughout history have worked as shepherds, guard dogs, and hunters of animals as large as deer and boar. But training is everything: in the 1900’s, American pit bulls weren’t called “pit bulls” at all. They were universally known as Nanny Dogs. They were so strongly established as loyal, trusting and gentle, a myth arose that they could essentially raise human children!

We don’t recommend assigning your pit bull full babysitting duties. But we do mean to point this out: all pit bulls need exercise. Yet they exhibit extreme versatility and responsiveness to training, which can effect the amount and type of exercise they require.

Pit Bulls: Baseline Exercise Requirements

Bred from powerful working dogs, pit bulls need an hour of exercise every day, minimum. They don’t necessarily need an uninterrupted hour: three 20-minute walks would do the trick, for example. But again, this is only a baseline. If your pitbull is a huge, slobbering hunk of love, you can expect those big paws will need bigger walks more often. Conversely, if you’ve recently begun caring for a pittie who’s lap-sized, very young or elderly, an hour of easy sniffs around the block could be more than enough. Regardless, your dog should be visiting the veterinarian several times a year. They can consult as to the duration, type and strenuousness of exercise your pit bull needs.

Walks

Some say it’s the center of a dog’s life: walkies. Especially if you live in a suburban or metropolitan area, strapping on the leash or harness for a half-hour walk at least twice a day is something pretty much all dogs need. Your pitbull is no exception! Remember that pitbulls are densely built with a low center of gravity. You’ll be wise to train for obedience and responsiveness as your pibble grows. Walks are a great opportunity to practice these skills. Yet even for the most docile dogs, a sturdy leash and well-fit collar or harness are going to be essential.

Running

Though they have that sweetly chunky shape, many pit bulls make great running companions! Is your pit bull is larger than life, overweight, or experiencing a growth spurt and ebullient energy levels? These could all be great times to start a running routine together.

This is really worth keeping in mind, though: even more than people, dogs need to be gradually introduced to running. Dogs don’t know when they’ve had enough to eat, and the same basic principle applies to running. If you’re an avid sprinter, your dog will throw caution to the wind keeping up with you, and might pay the price of overexhaustion afterwards. Make sure your pit bull has a chance to acclimate its muscles and joints to this new activity, and build up from a relatively short run, paying close attention to signs your dog is thirsty or burnt out. You can build up speed and distance as your running pal shapes up to it. But always remember, they can’t tell you, and might not even know themselves, when they need a break. That’s on you, coach!

Swimming

Here’s another activity to which your pit bull is more suited than you might think. Descended from game hunters and even vermin catchers, your pit bull has swimming in their genes. If you have access to a pool, lake, or ocean, your pit bull would love to be introduced. (Be sure to obey any laws about where dogs are welcome and unwelcome.) From a game of fetch in the surf to a few laps in the back yard, swimming is an unbeatable cardio workout for you and your land seal. An added benefit: if your dog is getting older or experiencing joint issues, the relative weightlessness of swimming makes it an ideal and restorative way to get the blood pumping.

Never let your pet access water with no one to supervise them. Introduce them to water for the first time with care and special attention. And if you’re going far from shore, consider a life jacket for your fuzzy friend.

Training and Brain Games

If you have access to outdoor spaces where you can safely let your pit bull off-leash, then fetch, training and teaching tricks all make fantastic pit bull exercise, with the added benefit of working out the mind at the same time as the body. Keep a range of toys on hand for your pittie, from the ubiquitous drooly tennis ball, to rope toys, puzzle toys and nice, durable things to chew on.

In addition to getting your growing pit bull trained up on the basics like sit and stay, consider enrolling them in some agility training, too: running around cones, jumping through hoops and so on. Their bodies like the unpredictable motion, and their minds, evolved from hunters and shepherds, are up to the challenge. Whether you’re doing basic obedience or full-on circus tricks, any training regiment has certain positive qualities in common: it should be scheduled and repeatable, fun and rewarding. (Pro tip: pit bulls like food. They might be a little more up for exercise after breakfast!)

“Aggressive Breed”? Wrong on Both Counts

If you’re considering a pit bull’s energy levels and whether they’re a good fit for you, you may have encountered the unfortunate reputation pit bulls have as being somehow “naturally aggressive”. This is an unfair stereotype, but it doesn’t come out of nowhere. Tragically, humans have engaged in the “sport” of dogfighting for centuries, right up until today. Because the three parent breeds of the pit bull family are all large and energetic, they have been the unfortunate preference of people looking for fighting dogs. These people have deliberately bred the most aggressive individual pitties they can find, increasing the likelihood of this trait in their offspring. They then proceed to train these individuals to be violent and aggressive, often through abuse. This is where the image of the scary, slavering pit bull comes from.

But even more tragically, that image has made pit bulls — a very populous family of dogs with many in need of rescue — less popular as pets! So let’s set the record straight: so long as you do not actively encourage your sweet pittie to be violent, there is no reason to correlate their energy levels with any tendency to aggression. And frankly, that’s true of every dog ever.

The photo featured at the top of this post is © iStock.com/GlobalP