1st walk in the park

[Miss Jack]

My Miniature Schnauzer puppy Scooby is 14 weeks old.

He will be going for his first proper walk in the park this weekend were all the other dog walkers go.

He has already had lots of experiances with people, dogs, puppies and even several cats he just hasn't been to the park because we were waiting for him to have his vacinations. So this will be the 1st time he's meeting people and dogs who are strangers to me too (our old Jack who we have just lost hadn't really been fit enough for walks with other dogs for a year so I've kind of lost touch with the walkers in our area)

In the three weeks we've had Scooby I have yet to see him scared of anything although he can read the cat and dog body language well enough to know when to back off!

We have been practising lead manners everyday and he has walked around other people's homes and my work on a lead.

My questions are firstly how long should his first walk in the park be. As a family we are so used to walking adult airedales (who never ever ever get tierd ) I was thinking about half an hour would be ok?

My second question would it be better to walk him alone or with my parents Airedale (she is 7 years old and called Sally) he loves Sally to bits and she has developed quite a soft spot for him.

Might seem dim questions but I've not had a puppy for 13 years and never one so little (well he seems little after Airedales )

 

[lizzybeth727]

Sounds like your puppy's going on an adventure!

It's great that you've worked on leash walking in the house, but have you ever practiced it outside? It's WAY more distracting outside, and most dogs who walk inside perfectly just fall apart when they get outside. You might need to practice that in short sessions this week.

Thirty minutes sounds like a good length of walk. You might need to go shorter than that if it's very stimulating, but I don't really think he'll get too physically tired in thirty minutes.

It's difficult to give an opinion on whether you should walk him along with Sally. If they play a lot, he'll have a hard time not playing with her while you're trying to walk, which could get annoying. You'll definately need two people, one holding Scooby and one holding Sally. Besides that, you'll probably just have to "play it by ear," see what happens.

 

[Miss Jack]

Yes he's walked outside in our garden everyday with different members of family. Also in 3 other Gardens.

I've walked carrying him around the streets, near traffic, shops, people etc at least once a day. He just hasn't had his little paws on any floor that might have had stray dogs (problems with parvo/distemper around here) In the past couple of days he's shown a big desire to get down especially When Sally or my friend's dog have been walking alongside us.

If we set out of the house together with another dog he walks quite nicely alongside them then when I get to the gate and pick him up he's like oww Mum put me down I can walk but once he realises he's not going down he just looks around. We just get some funny looks when people hear me say things like "oh Scooby look at the big fire engine"

I was thinking he could get too distracted by Sally so I think we might meet her half way into the walk. The thing is I have 2 kids aged 10 and 8 who are going to be very excited about Scooby's 1st walk so if I send them off with Grandma/Grandad and Sally then everyone might be a bit calmer by the time we meet.

 

[lizzybeth727]

Sounds like a good plan!