Quality of your dog walk?

Jigglypuff

I was listening to a piece on the radio that got me thinking.
A vet was saying how a walk is your dog's chance to sniff around, suss out the area, find out who's been around etc, and that it's not just all about the physical exercise.
It made me think how I view walking my dog as a chance for exercise for myself too, so I guess I power walk half the time and get annoyed when she keeps stopping to sniff at every lamp post and pillar!
So today I made sure I stopped whenever my dog wanted to have a sniff around (within reason) and gave her more time to be inquisitive! So what kind of walk do you give your dog? Is it all about tiring him/her out and the physical aspect, or is it more about letting him/her having a wander around?

david75

I heard that too and felt sorta terrible. A dog proffessor friend of mine told me the best excercise i can give him is to cycle with him running beside me which ive been doing. He bloody loves it, we go up to the park everyday, but that talkon the radio made me wonder. Id much rather cycle him than walk him.
now i confused too.

baords dyslexic

I always give our dogs a few seconds for a quick sniff and break step to do so but anything longer than 5 seconds gets a pull on the lead, but the dogs all get at least 1/2 hour on the beach each day when they can sniff away at anything they like and the funny thing is they spend less time sniffing in anyone place when they are off the lead than when they are on the lead :rolleyes:

BigBrownBear

I walk the dog 3 times a day for 15 minutes and never regarded it as 'just a walk'.
Imagine from the dogs point of view....
All the sights they can see, other dogs, people doing all kinds of weird stuff(in their eyes), new places and on a good day a cat running in terror. Makes them feel like this is their neighbourhood!
The smells...'hmmm he's been around here before'
Different touches and sounds too.:)

snollup

Would agree with BigBrownBear. It's the dogs time and not my exercise time.

Whispered

We have 2 walks a day at least, one of them is the exercise, head down travelling type of walk, the other is their time to get off lead if in a suitable area, have a sniff around, roll in the grass etc.

I think it's important to allow for both.

surime

The way I usually do it is : 15 minutes walk in the woods and local park when he can snif and do his toilet and 15 minutes fetching ball, then again 15 minutes walk. Or when I am on bike, its 15 bike/run, then if its dry I sit somewhere to let him do his business and 15min bike again. More or less, because its usually over hour!

jack presley

It's all about the dogs for me. I get my jog in either before/after their walk so I don't mind them stopping and sniffing everything and taking forever to decide whether to wee or not. My wife on the other hand is the total opposite.

littlebug

Mine is never off lead so I do make an effort to vary things. She'll be out with me at least 3 times a day and over the course of a week that will include anything from short 15 min walks to one hour + walks either on road or in woods plus runs x 2-3 per week (3-6 miles). Minimal sniffing allowed on runs though I cut her some slack for pee and poo stops. On longer walks on traffic free roads and in the woods she's usually on extendable lead and has free sniffing and mooching rein within reason.

Judging from her general demeanor her favourite is a long walk in the woods on extendable lead or long line with free sniffing rights and second favourite is running any distance with me whether she gets to stop and sniff or not. She can take or leave the others and I think sometimes they're functional but nothing more. Her most disliked walk is on-footpath where I have to keep the lead really short to keep her from jumping out at cars and there's not much to sniff anwyay. She makes her displeasure known by parking her bum and refusing to go that way
So in a nutshell... I think a good mixture is the way to go

Vince32

I always let my girl have a poke around, she likes bushes and trees ofc, but also flowers and grass, and I'm starting to notice a lot of trash around, I was convinced where I live was pretty clean, but when I really look there is trash everywhere and who knows what !!

So while she is having a look about she could pick up old wet tissues, snack wrappers, soft drink bottles, I have to be very careful what she's allowed to sniff and what not.

As an aside, I was thinking about asking the local courthouse to issue community service (trash collecting) rather than fines to help clean up the area, this is way more than a one man job.

callmekenneth

i give my dog about a 40 minute walk every day and i let him sniff/pee every time he wants. it seems obvious that sniffing and leaving his mark is what he loves so much about it, a chance to investigate and see whats been going on

tk123

I find when we're walking he sniffs more on the way up but not the way back lol - so I let him have a sniff on the way up and we usually walk a lot quicker on the way back He wears a front attach harness so it's handy in that respect - when he's sniffing the lead is in the same place instead of going up and down if it was attached to his collar. He's allowed off his lead now (he was recovering from an operation as some of you will know) so we'll head to the park as much as possible so he can catch up on playing with his buddies and running around off his lead. In a few weeks though when he can handle it and when the park is opening longer in the evenings I'll start walking him again our usual route (30 mins each way) and then we'll head into the park for some off lead time - I think this is why he hurries on the way back because we got into this routine of walk(work) then park(play) last year!

lucycat

I let my two sniff and poke around to their hearts content - they get an energetic playtime in the garden before we go - I take them over their agility jumps, through their tunnel, wrestle with them (i.e. let them jump all over me lol) and play ball. Then they are fairly tired and have gotten enough exercise (imho), so they are totally chilled on their walk and all they want to do is pee, poo, sniff, poke at stuff, talk to other dogs, etc.

But saying that, I have two small dogs so what works for me might not necessarily work for a larger breed...

TG1

I think what counts as a good walk depends on your dog too. For example, I walk my collie regularly off lead with a labxspringer and the two dogs behave completly differently. My guy never sniffs, his head is constanly up, looking round him watching his "herd" to make sure we're all still there and generally running round in circles like a lunatic, while the other dog's nose is practically glued to the ground sniffing everything and everyone we pass, to the point where he can forget about us if he gets too lost in his sniffing. When they are on the lead its the same, the labx wants to sniff everything while my collie just wants to move and gets restless if we stop to wait for the other dog.
I heard the piece on the radio too, and while I agree with it to a point I do thing good quality will mean different things to different dogs. I tried giving Bob sniffing time out on a walk after hearing this and he was looking at me as if I had two heads every time I stopped beside a lamppost...!

planetX

I have the opposite, my dog wants to power walk and I want to stop and look around... maybe not sniff though:)