Walking/Not walking your dog

[Squishy22]

As far as socialization goes. Thats a big deal for me. Reggin is maturing and getting to the point where he does NOT like people in my house that he does not know, ONLY when he is restrained in some way. He only gets nervous and starts growling when he is in his crate or I am holding him back by his collar.

Yesterday the pizza delivery lady came over. Just the baby gate was up on the front door. I immediately grab a hold of reggins collar while he is trying to pull me to the door, and he starts growling and woofing. My fiance turned around and said, let him go! I did, and he did A LOT better. Like he was more relaxed about the situation. I held him back because he likes to jump on people, but its starting to make him way nervous when I do that. SHAME ON ME. No more containing him and restricting him when people are over... it makes him think that something is wrong.

Because of his issues, I am going to start taking him to dairy queen to meet people like I used to do. To home depo, to the beach, and river where people are.

 

[elegy]

I walk my dogs occasionally, but certainly not daily. It's hard to walk here in town because of all the loose dogs, and my dogs are both intolerant of dogs running up in their faces and will bite those dogs. It's not worth the hassle. There are plenty of other ways to exercise them.

I don't worry about socialization- my dogs aren't allowed to meet-n-greet with strange dogs on leash. There's too much room for trouble. They get to play with dogs whose owners I know and trust to know their dogs and react appropriately if things start to go bad.

They're both great with people and get to meet plenty of them on outings to petstores, obedience class, dog events, local town events, etc.

 

[Squishy22]

I walk my dogs occasionally, but certainly not daily. It's hard to walk here in town because of all the loose dogs, and my dogs are both intolerant of dogs running up in their faces and will bite those dogs. It's not worth the hassle. There are plenty of other ways to exercise them.

I don't worry about socialization- my dogs aren't allowed to meet-n-greet with strange dogs on leash. There's too much room for trouble. They get to play with dogs whose owners I know and trust to know their dogs and react appropriately if things start to go bad.

They're both great with people and get to meet plenty of them on outings to petstores, obedience class, dog events, local town events, etc.

See, I really wish I could take reggin to places such as petstores. It becomes such a hassle when he flips so badly around other dogs. Its baffling to me how some people claim that their dog is DA but yet they take them to petco.

 

[Angel Chicken]

See, I really wish I could take reggin to places such as petstores. It becomes such a hassle when he flips so badly around other dogs. Its baffling to me how some people claim that their dog is DA but yet they take them to petco.

Agreed, I don't take Kona to Petsmart anymore for that reason. Seems each time I'm there, there is some dog that dislikes Kona and tries to rip her face off. She's been a number of times and each one she's had an encounter with a big dog that is more than 20 feet away from her.

That or an idiot who thinks she's a pit and wants to buy her from me.

 

[SharkBait]

I would walk Matisse everyday, well, sometimes (but not v often) he misses out if the weather is really bad. Walks are usually about an hour, including a trip down to the park where he can be offleash.
There's many days i couldn't be arsed to take him out (especially considering it's raining most of the time here...) but I feel really guilty if i don't take him out, and he seems very agitated.
I don't know why i feel so guilty if i don't, i just feel sorry for him- he looks so bored otherwise. Plus it's not really the actual exercise that i feel is that important, i think it's just the mental stimulation he gets from exploring the park and meeting other dogs and that.
And my Mum always says 'you wanted a dog, you walk him' like everyday sooo... lol

 

[BostonBanker]

We rarely "walk" in the normal sense of the word. We do have a great neighborhood with a really nice path, and it is rare to be charged by an off-leash dog. But honestly, when we are home, Meg is just as happy to hang out and sleep. She's off leash at the barn with me for 5 - 7 hours a day. She does a bit of agility (generally groundwork, but sometimes equipment) at least once a day. As long as it isn't bunny season, she does 30 minutes or so of fetch outside in the evening. Two or three times a week, we do an hour or so of off-leash hiking in the woods. She swims in the pond at work if it is nice out. She's plenty tired, stimulated, and socialized without having to walk slowly around the neighborhood on a leash.

Its baffling to me how some people claim that their dog is DA but yet they take them to petco.

Well, if the dog isn't reactive to every dog it sees, why not? Dogs don't really "interact" at places like that. As long as the DA dog is walking nicely on leash, there's no reason to even know if they are DA.

 

[Ilyena]

I don't generally walk Dante anymore. I used to when he was a pup for the socialization, but looking back I think it did more harm than good because where I live there are too many badly behaved dogs, too many kids with no manners, and even too many adults who don't know how to behave around dogs. If I do take him on walks, it's always very early in the morning (like 4am right before work) or late at night, unless I take my car and drive to a more distant location with no people near.

So instead of formal walks he gets lots of playtime both in the house and outside in the yard, playdates with his doggy friends and lots of mind stimulating games. He seems to be quite satisfied with it so I don't see a reason to change it and once again have to put up with the torture our walks used to be. Owning a dog is supposed to be fun, both for the owner and the dog, and our walks was far from that.

 

[CaliTerp07]

Lucy gets walked twice a day. My husband and I both work typical office jobs, so I get up early (6ish) and walk her for 30-45 minutes. Hubby gets home again around 4:30, and takes her out for another 30-45 minutes. We live in an apartment with no yard, so if she got no walks, she'd have nothing. Plus, she adores meeting other dogs and sniffing around.

We try to take her to the dog park when we can (I often don't get home until late, after the parks are closed), and we go hiking or on other longer adventures on the weekends. She comes with us everywhere (LOVES car rides)--to the pet store, to our parents' homes, to his hockey games, my soccer games.

We're trying to teach her to play fetch, but she has zero interest in toys, so we're struggling. I think it would be great if she could get some exercise that way, but she seems to think otherwise.

 

[TheGoldenRetriever]

I held him back because he likes to jump on people,

Hey Reg, this particular item caught my eye because I had a dog that also liked jumping up and from a young age .... she was a Golden and they are known for that!

I found it really helpful to do 2 things: First was to teach her an "Up" command ... an actual invitation to jump up on me. Closely followed second was to then teach her "Off" ... meaning get off from jumping up. Ths combo solved the problem of her jumping up on folks who did NOT appreciate that from a dog. (I personally don't mind my dogs jumping up on me ... but realize visitors may not be of the same mind!)

Teaching "Up" allowed me to really study her movement to see just what she did before she jumped up. If I saw those movements when visitors came over then I could give the "Off" command before she jumped up on them ... it worked because the thought of jumping up was already in her mind as the pre-movements already started. Once reliable with these two commands she never jumped up on any visitor without an invitation, and without any physical restraint which I agree just upsets a lot of dogs.

 

[smkie]

As far as socialization goes. Thats a big deal for me. Reggin is maturing and getting to the point where he does NOT like people in my house that he does not know, ONLY when he is restrained in some way. He only gets nervous and starts growling when he is in his crate or I am holding him back by his collar.

Yesterday the pizza delivery lady came over. Just the baby gate was up on the front door. I immediately grab a hold of reggins collar while he is trying to pull me to the door, and he starts growling and woofing. My fiance turned around and said, let him go! I did, and he did A LOT better. Like he was more relaxed about the situation. I held him back because he likes to jump on people, but its starting to make him way nervous when I do that. SHAME ON ME. No more containing him and restricting him when people are over... it makes him think that something is wrong.

Because of his issues, I am going to start taking him to dairy queen to meet people like I used to do. To home depo, to the beach, and river where people are.

I have the hardest time getting everyone to stop grabbing Pepper's collar. YOur husband is right, it sends the wrong message.

She would also raise hackles when we ran into strange dogs but that is a thing of the past now. Now she looks to me and the other dogs before making her own reaction.

 

[Saje]

Well we live in an apartment now so obviously they have to get out lol. They get at least a free run in a field behind the house every day but it's much more likely that I take them around one of my favourite loops. 45-1hr. Nanook needs a lot more exercise so I try to get her out hiking. It's good for both of us. And I've found a friend with a truck who is in love with mav and she likes to take him places.

People may not think it's necessary to 'walk' dogs but it is necessary to get them out of the house/yard and into new surroundings. And of course to get them moving, keep them fit and burn off that excess energy.

eta: I think I'm going to get a bike again and condition Nanook to run with me. Not fast of course but it'll be good exercise for her. Since we moved out of the country she doesn't get as much explorin' lol Does anyone else bike with their dogs?

 

[Gempress]

Its baffling to me how some people claim that their dog is DA but yet they take them to petco.

Having a DA dog doesn't mean it tries to rip the leash out of your hands, turns into a snarling, raving lunatic, and wants to kill every dog in sight. That's on the extreme end of the spectrum. The comfort zone for DA varies widely.

Zeus and Voodoo are DA in that they do not tolerate strange male dogs coming up to them and greeting them. There are exceptions to every rule, but I'd say they react badly to 8 out of 10 male dogs that do this.

My dogs have no problem being in a pet store with other dogs. They can even stand in the checkout line with dogs on either side of them, and will be as calm as can be. But if a strange male comes right up and starts sniffing on them, they won't take it. It's not an instant attack---I usually have a moment or two to stop the contact. But any more than a moment, and they'll likely start a fight.

So yeah. I'll never take them to a dog park. However, I have no problem taking them out in situations where the other dogs are all under control.

 

[Whisper]

We have quite a bit of acreage out here and we do offleash hiking on our property and all the space that's considered "shared" property with the small group of people that live in our area. There's also a massive area that's quite remote and doesn't have high "traffic" but people ride horses, ATVs, and walk their dogs there once in a while. I love it. Here's Millie sitting near the edge of a high ledge where you can see a little bit of the space and the muddy little pond.

Millie loves the whole place.

We also sometimes walk on the road, but that's where I'm most likely to see loose, out of control dogs with no recall or or a gasping dog making his way over on the end of a fully extended flexi lead.

 

[smkie]

You are soooooo lucky!

 

[noodlerubyallie]

I don't walk the dogs in our neighborhood, too many loose dogs. However, I try twice a week to drive into town and walk around a recreation area with a 2 mile trail....so we walk about 6 miles. They get to go to the dog park at least once a week, so that lets them get a lot of the zoomies out. I also do obedience with them, so we go to the club once a week for training, and we start Tracking in two weeks, so there are plenty of outlets. We have a decent sized back yard for fetch and tag, so all in all they are in very good shape. I also take one or two of the girls with me whenever I go somewhere dog friendly for the experience.

As for walks for socialization, I don't allow my dogs to meet dogs they don't know on leash. We go to a very small dog park, so the girls have met the majority of the dogs that go there on a regular basis, so I have no trepidations when we go. I don't trust people as a rule, so I don't allow my leash aggro Sibe anywhere near another dog on leash. I make a point of pulling her away or leaving the area for a new one and waiting.

My very best friend walks all four of her dogs twice a day. It works well for them, but as a whole all four dogs have terrible manners with people and other dogs. So even though people use walking for socialization, it only goes so far. It depends WHERE you walk your dog.

 

[Southpaw]

Honestly we don't go for walks too often.

We really have nowhere interesting to go. The neighborhood park has a pretty good sized field where we used to take Molly to let her around and all that, but I don't like going there by myself because it's a prime spot for druggies and other... not so friendly activities... because a good chunk of it is surrounded by woods.

Molly is at an age where short walks tire her out now, and Lucy is of a size where it's not difficult to wear her out, either. We go for walks a few times a week, Molly gets sooo excited when she hears me grab her collar, but we're really not able to do anything more than a quick walk around the neighborhood... they'd likely be fine without it.

They get exercise in other ways, but I don't know of any areas I could take them to where they'd be able to run around on acres off-leash.

 

[SisMorphine]

Though I would LOVE IT if I could walk my dogs everyday, I can't. Usually 1-3 times a week we'll go for an hour long walk. But trust me, these bastards ain't bored! I am the GM of a doggy daycare so they come to work with me and play all day long. I also have training sessions with them everyday, and Tuesdays are training days where we drive up to Maine for some intense training sessions. They also come with me to pet stores, family events, friend's parties, etc

So I'm willing to bet they aren't exactly bored simply because we don't go for multiple walks a day. LOL!!

See, I really wish I could take reggin to places such as petstores. It becomes such a hassle when he flips so badly around other dogs. Its baffling to me how some people claim that their dog is DA but yet they take them to petco.

My friend's Mal is DA. We did work in a couple of pet stores and didn't go after any dog (well . . . except for Blue in the parking lot, LOL). He was VERY well behaved and looked to his mother for all cues.

Teeny is not DA. She is actually the dog we use to intro ALL dogs, especially ones with issues, into our daycare setting. But she is reactive out in public. Thus she wears a GL so I have control of her face and she can't lunge and act like a butthole. Dogs are crazy.

 

[SmexyPibble]

Eggh, wierd double post?

 

[SmexyPibble]

Okay, so do you walk your dogs?

No, I don't take them for walks. Although they get all kinds of leash training, at least, for when we do need to walk them [camping, etc.] so they are at least trained to walk on the leash.

Do you think it's necessary to walk a dog to make them happy?

No. The dogs need exercise to make them happy, but that doesn't mean walks. It means exercise: dog parks, fetching, hunting, agility, walks, etc. can make your dog happy in the exercise category.

Anyone not walk their dogs or only walk them occasionally?

We don't walk our dogs unless we are taking the dogs somewhere. Camping, hiking, etc. We have over 5 acres plowed, plus the woods. Now that summer's over [when summer was on they'd play & hike 6 hours straight with me some days] the dogs get training [including leash training so when we go camping and such they are at least leash TRAINED] from 4:30 to 7:00 PM. In that time frame, they get leash training, obedience training, agility training, conformation training, 4-h training with Amanda, and that's the time we take pictures.

Do you do other things for exercise and socialization?

Yes. From 4:30 to 7:00 PM they get leash training, obedience training, agility training, conformation training, 4-h training with Amanda & they get to play individually as well as as a group. We play frisbee, tennis ball, throw the rope kong, chase, etc. And by 7:00 the dogs are ready to flop down and sleep.

As far as socalization, the dogs are taken to the dog park every other week [twice a week in the summer], to the park once a month, individual training in front of stores once a month, camping three times a month, hiking once a month.

 

[adojrts]

No I don't go for daily walks unless I am training or working on conditioning for myself and my dogs. I do make an exception when I have a girl inwhelp, then we do walk twice daily and walk according to how far they can go once they get closer to the Day. Usually the last couple of days they don't want to go for a 2 mile walk lol. and thats ok, because I know they are fit for whelping.

The dogs have a large yard plus we have a farm and the dogs are allowed to bomb around etc.
Of course there is conditioning for any dog that is in training or competing, but thats different.
I too don't allow my dogs to meet strange dogs while out and about. Puppies are taken to agility trials at 3 months old, lots of socalizing there. I often take a dog when going most places and I take a dog with me now when I get my CBC's take each week at the chemo clinic at the hospital, then we usually do some rounds visiting people.