Walk Your Dog Each Day and You Will Be Rewarded For Your Efforts in Ways You May Not Be Aware
By Sue Day
Sometimes do you think that you’re the only person in the world that “gets” something??
Today a lady rang and said she wanted to bring her dog to training but the dog didn’t own a collar because it lived on 48 acres and didn’t need to be walked. I told her that there was more to walking your dog than just exercising it but she just didn’t get it. “48 acres!! That’s a lot of land to run about on!!” she said. And chances are the dog wouldn’t get to run about on that much land anyway.
When dogs go out walking – they think they are going for a hunt with their pack, that might mean just you and the dog or it might mean the whole family. They don’t understand the concept of exercise.
When walking, they are out and about catching up of the latest doggie news; seeing and smelling where the native animals have been; discovering the neighbour’s cats; learning not to be frightened of trucks, motorbikes, loud noises and lots more. They get to meet new humans and maybe new dogs if they are friendly. They see, smell and hear things they may never hear at home whether they are in the backyard or on acreage.
Last week on our regular walk Alfie (doberman x) was horrified to see a skip bin on the neighbour’s front lawn. I laughed and took him up to it for a sniff. I tapped the side to show him it couldn’t hurt him and after a couple of minutes he was satisfied that it wasn’t going to hurt him and we continued our walk.
When a dog sniffs the lamp post where another dog has gone to the toilet, it can read the following in the other dog’s urine: it’s sex, if a female whether she’s on heat or not; whether she’s had pups; they can tell the other dogs age and even tell where that dog sits in it’s own pack hierarchy. Your dog learns what other dogs are around ‘his or her’ territory just like a wolf does. This is a great way to socialize your dog.
Socializing your dog should be mandatory for everyone. It’s almost cruel not to take your dog out and about where and whenever you can. Imagine life for a dog that has never seen, smelt or heard a large truck rumble down the road; or ever seen a white dog; a black dog; a child with an umbrella – it would be frightened; maybe even terrified.
How cruel would it be not to take your dog out and let it learn that it can be safe in the outside world. A dog that is not socialized properly, will experience great fear when it has to go out into the world. Fear based aggression will stem from this type of behaviour. And it will have to go out sometime, whether it’s to the hydrobath or the vets.
If you feel uncomfortable about taking your dog out, ask someone to go with you. Get lessons on how to leash train your dog effectively or ask someone else with a dog if you can walk with them. Go to my website for information on how to train your dog to walk on the leash: http://www.messypawz.com
And have fun!! Walking your dog should be an enjoyable and relaxing time for you both.
Sue Day is a dog behaviourist with experience in puppy training, dog agility, obedience, and re homing shelter dogs. Sue owns Messy Pawz Dog Training which advocates positive training methods. Sue has made a lot of information available for free on her website: http://www.messypawz.com
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