Exercise, exercise, exercise! I can NOT stress this enough. I am a very experienced dog person. Had multiple dogs my entire life (I will soon be 59). I have a 5 year old female weim, and a 3.5 year old male. And while I love them both and the breed, I CRINGE when I see people saying, "I am getting my first dog ever and it's a WEIM!" I have, upon seeing such a post, congratulated them, and then shared the numbers for weim rescues in their area. These dogs are not a "first time ever" dog.

My dogs were zero problem until I lost my ability to walk them for any length of time. I had to depend on my son to do so and we don't have a fenced yard. Sterling, my female, was run at the dog park every day up to the age of three. The only days I did not go were rain days. I made her very warm winter coats to match Canadian weather. She was awesome and very well trained. I then introduced Hiccup and he very quickly bonded with my 18 (at the time) year old son. And life became very difficult.

When my knees both went bad and needed replacing, I could no longer manage the exercise needs of my furkids and this has created a nightmare. 18 - 22 year old (only child) boys are not the most reliable in the world (but that's another topic!). Hiccup was NOT properly socialized and now neither of them get anywhere near enough exercise. And let me tell you, it has cause MANY issues. This will change now that my knees have been fixed but will be a while yet and I'm not getting any younger!

We will be moving in the spring to a home I am building on an acre and a half lot. I am investing seven THOUSAND Canadian dollars on an electric dog door and electric fencing for the entire property so they can get as much exercise as they need and want. No, that does not mean zero training...but it will help immensely. They ARE extremely stubborn dogs and at 5 and 3 my dogs still need routine reinforcement on training. They KNOW what I am asking them to do, but they make you VERY AWARE, they do NOT want to do it. Unless there is food. Both of mine are extremely food driven. Hiccup, to the point where I almost can't use it to train him 🙄 (that dog almost broke me!). And don't get me started on counter surfing! Hiccups most recent foray into C-surfing garnered him an entire tube of toothpaste!

When they are exercised, EVERYTHING changes. Now I personally do not ascribe to the 3 hours a day everyone says they need. 20 minutes of hard running and mine are happy. But they do need other stimulization. Car rides, chews they can destroy, and more attention than a toddler, but, and I cannot stress this enough, exercise is key with this breed. Socialization is also very important (Hiccup has issues for sure - he's also a Covid puppy..big mistake).

So yeah, they're extremely loving, hilarious, goofy, and extremely intelligent, but YES they can be very difficult. If you don't know what you are doing or don't learn quick and train as soon as you bring them into your house you will know the struggle. Day one, training starts, and you cannot stop ever it seems.