A place for yeti to run

[Haley, Yeti, and Phin]

When yeti was smaller we could throw the tennis ball around my bed room and it was more than enough to tire him out. Now that he is bigger it takes a lot more and I mean A LOT more to tire him out. We have an unfinished basement with a cement floor. There isn't much to do down there so I thought we could take him down and throw the tennis ball for him so he can run and run until his heart desires. However, someone warned me that cement is hard on their joints and bodies. I totally don't want to risk hurting him. What has anyone else done to exercise their dogs?

[VScott & Lloyd]

I take Lloyd to the dog park and throw the ball with a Chuck-It. Sometimes we stay an hour, sometimes 20 minutes but he gets good full-out runs like that. I don't take him everyday, maybe a 3-4 times a week.

When we're home, we play fetch in the backyard which is concrete with a couple of grassy patches on each end. No full-on runs but he does get tired out. We also have a pool so if the kids are swimming in it, he'll run round and round the pool wondering why they're in it and hoping they're not drowning because he won't jump in and save them (my GD can swim but he doesn't like it!).

[Kamela & Beckett]

For us, we don't do a lot of indoor exercise. Beckett's main exercise comes from playing in the backyard (fenced), twice daily walks, and daycare. That said, we/he occasionally have play sessions of fetch or chase through the limited portions of our house he has access to. Yes, he is almost 14 months old and we still have s system of gates restricting him to our bedroom, the kitchen, and the living room (downstairs) of our house.

[Cindy and Olive (Ollie)]

Puppy play-dates! Ollie has a handful of friends whom she waits for, longingly, every day around 9. Her social life is better organized than mine, but they all have lovely "parents" for us to chat with during their playtime. I'd better stop typing now! But honestly, they run her better than I ever could. After her dates, she is cake in the house. Good luck!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

It can be difficult to find a good place where they can run off leash.  For awhile we were taking our guys to fenced tennis courts when nobody was using them and playing fetch, but the paved surface was tough on their pads.  We do have a very large dog park (several acres) nearby where I can take them.  I worry about other dogs there, so I only go at "off times".  I send them once a week to Daycare which also helps.  Sometimes, especially during the Winter, there exercise is just a couple long walks and some indoor fetch.