Walking/Not walking your dog

[Punkygirl0101]

I don't walk my dogs very often either. Harry is 12 years old, and he has never been on a walking regime and hes extremely healthy. He gets TONS of exercise. He fetches all day long. We have an okay sized yard, and dachshunds are very mellow dogs when it comes to their activity level. But I have posted pictures of my dachshund before, and they are very lean athletic dogs (Except Jannah. I don't know HOW that dog keeps on her weight!). They have access to the backyard all day except when they are sleeping...and they go out and run around when they please. Chase squirrels..they see a cat on the fence that is not one of ours (Happens often) they go on a dachshund frenzy! They keep themselves busy when I can't.

And then we have an alley behind our house and I let about 3-4 at a time run back there a couple times a week. There are ALWAYS new smells because neighbor's do go back there, and there are roosters that hang out back there. Its completely gated off, so there is no danger of them getting out (And they are supervised the entire time).

I do other things with them, like playing in the backyard and the dog park with the ones who CAN go. They get plenty of stimulation. And the fact there is 11 of them (Well, more like 10..Lucy doesn't act like a dog at all, more like a stuffed animal) and they all play with each other and wrestle and run around. We still go for walks occasionally though, 2 at a time for about 30 minutes each..and that seems to do the trick for them. Those are on the very few days no one is home for several hours and the dogs are cooped up inside and going in the backyard doesn't calm them down. Usually someone is always home though, so they can be in the backyard.

Not to mention I have had too many run ins with off leash dogs, and its frightening!!

I do take him out in the yard and play some fetch with him, every day. I do not think dogs NEED walks to be happy. Thats ridiculous.

Completely agree!

 

[ihartgonzo]

I don't think a walk even compares, as far as stimulation and exercise, to good, off-leash running/playing/games/obedience.

I walk my dogs often. Mostly because I enjoy walking. My dogs do enjoy it, but their excitement over a "walky" pales in comparison to their excitement over "park" or "car ride", or even playing games in the backyard. I take my dogs everywhere I can; pet stores, dog parks, parks, baseball fields, farmers markets, etc. To me and in my situation, those places will get them 100x more socialization than a walk around my neighborhood. At the times that I walk, we MIGHT see one person walking a dog, and very rarely is anyone walking alone who even acknowledges us. That is no source of socialization, for me. The most "socialization" they get is when a few of the d-bag neighbors allow their dogs to jump the fence or bolt out of the garage after us. D:

I do like walking. It's fun, and a nice bonding experience, and it at least exercises their noses. But, I definitely prefer walking them through a park, or on trails, or somewhere pretty, as opposed to the streets in my neighborhood. As far as dogs becoming "territorial" of their home without walks... well, I do think it's sad for any dog to live it's entire life solely in and around their home (if the backyard is small/average sized). But, I also think it's much more stimulating to get them to new places, rather than around the same neighborhood over and over. If anything, it seems like a dog who is walked frequently and allowed to mark around the neighborhood would become much more familiar with the neighborhood and feel even more territorial of "their" neighborhood. I try to mix up the streets we take on our walks as much as possible because of this, but there aren't many options. EXERCISE and SOCIALIZATION is super important, but a walk is not the only way, nor is it necessarily the best way, to get that. Walks around the neighborhood are very repetitive and high impact... not what I would consider ideal for a dog's main source of daily exercise.

Also... Momof2pups, can we move in with you?!?!

 

[Whisper]

Course you can, Erica. *steals Gonzo when you aren't looking*
I agree, my dogs enjoy walks on leash around the neighborhood, but not half as much as interactive games and off leash walks, hikes, and training games.