Walking. It’s one of the simplest of activities and a must-do for dogs. It’s a pretty darn good activity for the uprights, too. Sam here, reporting for blogging duty. Someone recently asked my mom how often and how far we go walking and when she told them, they couldn’t believe it (usually at least 5 miles a day, but often times more). I think she said something like “well, it isn’t like he’s gonna walk himself!” Egad, sometimes that woman embarrasses me with her outspokenness.
Why walk your dog? Glad you asked! There are a number of pawsitive reasons to walk your pup. Unfortunately we canines don’t take responsibility for our good health so we have to rely on you uprights to do that. Sure you may have the equivalent of a dog amusement park in your backyard but frankly, unless you’re out there running around chasing us, it’s not likely we’ll do it on our own. More than likely, as soon as you blast out of the house for work, we start our day-long siesta only getting up to grab a drink and maybe shoot off a couple pee-mails. We’ll wait until you exhaustedly show up from a day in hell work bouncing up and down like a pogo stick, unable to contain our excitement and looking forward to wanting to share some time out on the road.
So let’s go over all the reasons why you should walk your dog.
- If your pup is ahem…how should I say this…a bit portly, he definitely needs to go for a walk. Remember, we’ve been lounging all day soaking up Vitamin D, besides…it’ll be good for you as well. Nothing like shedding a few calories with your BFF (best furry fur-iend)! Remember if the dog is overweight, you’re not getting enough exercise. Period.
- An exercised dog is usually a well-behaved dog. If we’re tired, we’re less likely to think up ca-razy things around the house.
Remember…we evolved from wolves. Even the tiniest, fluffiest, most adorable of us share that tiny bit of DNA from the undomesticated wolf. That means we’re still a tad bit nomadic. That excitement we experience before a walk is similar to wolf pack behavior preparing to go out on a hunt. Wander, hunt, eat. It’s what we do.- Walking keeps our minds sharp, not bored. A bored dog has too much time on his paws. See the reason above for keeping our minds stimulated and not engaged in destructive behavior.
- It may be your neighborhood, but I need to pee around it. Sniffing around is like your bookmarking on the internet. Think of it as our way to ‘pin’ stuff like you do on Pinterest. It allows us to survey the area, figure out whose who at the zoo and keeps us happy while maintaining our waistlines.
- Walking provides teaching moments which engages our brains. Mom is always making me do sits, stays, and comes. Sometimes I fur-get how to do things, so when we walk, she ‘reminds’ me of what I have to do particularly when we go to the hospital. Remember: a well exercised dog is a good dog and practice makes perfect.
- Bonding. Walking together allows us to bond more closely. We get to share fun  adventures and other peeps. Walking enriches our love for you and reinforces our relationship.
- Walking is the perfect opportunity for you to meet other people. My mom is a bit of an introvert. It’s a good thing I’m a great ambassador and able to start-up conversations. Mom would probably be a hermit if it weren’t for me.
- I can ‘hear’ you rolling your eyes now saying “but Sam…I don’t have time to walk my dog.” Like every other upright, my mom is busy (so she says) but she’s responsible and committed to me. I didn’t search her out, she found me and thinks like anything else, you make time for things that need to be done. Sure, sometimes, it’s not convenient, but it’s the right thing to do. She might grumble because it’s too cold or she’s too tired, but 5 minutes out and Bam! she’s smiling and I’m happy she’s happy. Even shortened walks work-the point is to be clever if you’re pressed for time. Maybe just chase your pup or spend an extended amount of time playing with him. I promise, we don’t keep score but we will be balanced and a pleasure to be around. You can take a longer walk tomorrow. Just saying.
So…do you regularly walk your pup? What do you do when you can’t?
Live, love, bark! <3
Such an important post: a few things that immediately resonated is bonding. There is nothing more precious than time walking my dogs. Also, my dogs are simply “good dogs” are like Zen for the pack. There is nothing better than getting out in the middle of our local park or beach – zoomies are always in order!
Even for us uprights. 😉
Oh Sam you have inspired me to go for a walk! I love all your reasons. I’m working on trying to get my chi motivated to walk, she gets outside and would rather just sit and look around. Any tips for this Momma and her chi?
Just follow the nose, works for me every time 😄
great reasons to get out and walk your pooch which I do need to do more of.
I don’t think any of us get enough steps in each day. 😉
Fantastic post today! Thanks so much for sharing the motivation!!!!
Well, there are tons of bugs out there to investigate. [wink]
My human takes me on a walky every morning. She tells me it’s mommy-Kona time and it strengthens our bond, which is important to her ‘cuz I’m her best friend and confidante. It’s also fun because I help her meet our neighbors she
Might not otherwise meet. Woofs and wags ~ Kona
Those times are the best of the day!
We are dedicated to our walks. There was only one day last year that we didn’t walk and that was because the roads were a sheet of ice. We started out but only got about three houses up and since we live on a hill, I was like, no way. So we turned around and carefully made our way home. But that was a rare occurrence, we are usually more reliable than the mailman. 😉
I’m with you, if it’s sub-zero or a blizzard our walks are limited, but that’s when we go inside and play indoor games changing each other around the dining room table. One of these days I’m gonna get caught by that knucklehead and we’ll both probably crash in a heap! LOL
Those are some great reasons to walk! Mama or Daddy get us out every day, even if it is just around the block!
Smileys!
Dory, Jakey, Arty & Bilbo
Good for the canines, good for the uprights! Way to do, guys!
I take my peeps on walks every day. Everybody in my ‘hood knows me!
Louis Dog Armstrong
Yay for you. It’s great exercise and a fun way to get to know who’s who around the zoo!
Five miles is a huge walk. Mom and I get out there every day, but we stick to under a mile. Bingo on the bonding and learning time. That is important for us, and keeps my tiny brain running on all cylinders.
Love and licks,
Cupcake
I walk about a half mile but the dogs must go 5 or 10.
I wonder if they get double mileage points since they have 4 paws? ღ
I never get taken for a walk, much less a flight which is what I really need.
Maybe the air is too hot for you to take off, Kismet.
I forgot to add this picture is so cute–where do you get all of Sams bandannas??
Thank you! Most are hunks of fabric I’ve found; they’re easy to cut into shape.
I’ve been wanting to pick some fabric up and make these for every holiday
The remnants bin is a great place to find bolt ends-great way to find inexpensive material. Sam has a couple bandanas from Joann’s & Michaels too. At $2 a pop, I can get 2 out of one bandana. Woot!
Cool thanks!
This is definitely true. We try to walk our pups as much as we can (Hayley was out of the walks for 2 weeks when she had surgery though.) During the colder months when our dogs don’t even want to go outside to potty– luckily we live in a big long house that we can play catch with them and like you said “chase them around” my fiance’ will get down on all fours and play and chase them around the house. Yes he looks ridiculous but they get worn out lol.
You know, those get down on the floor moments are the best. The dog loves it and it always makes me giggle like crazy. 🙂
This is totally awesome and so very true indeed. Mom tells me often that a bored piggy is a mischievous piggy – same thing with pooches. Mom walks Houdini… or should I say Houdini walks mom. The little *loves* to go for a walk. But the thing with Yorkshire TERRORS, they start off walking but you are going to carry them back. It’s the law. Snorts with piggy laughter. XOXO – Bacon
Sounds like someone has someone in their back pocket! For a little guy, he doesn’t look *that* bossy. 😉
Snorts with piggy laughter. You have no idea how bossy that little brat I mean guy is. XOXO – Bacon
We’ve heard that about terriers. They can be fierce, those little ones!
I have cats which don’t get walked so once in a while they get wonky. Up the stairs, down the stairs and in circles until they are exhausted. Jake, my old cat that died, went outdoors to walk himself. He could spend hours peeing on every bush and leaving little messages for other critters who may come into his yard. He was healthy until the end. Fortunately my indoor cats don’t feel a need to leave pee messages! Walking a dog does help keep everyone happy. (although Jake didn’t want them leaving a pee message in our yard!)
Just goes to show, we ALL need to ask around, survey our domains and leave messages for the neighbors. 😉
We are big on walks around here. When Cole was a pup we often walked 2 or 3 miles in the morning, then he wore out three dogs playing, then we three walked 2 or 3 miles in the evening. We stopped on road trips to walk around a town. He loved driving to another neighborhood to walk too. It is one of the best activities to share. I think walking as a pack is such a bonding activity too. We all belong together. Cole felt sad for the ‘hood dogs who never left their yards, and gave them a wide berth. LEeAnna
It’s been one of the best things about dog ownership and I cherish every rain drenched, blowing snow moment of it (which is especially easy to say when it’s been 90+ degrees since fur-ever). 😉
I take my dogs for a walk every day, I’ve never missed one except this once when the weather was just too bad, it would have been dangerous to go outside. It’s important for them and though I might grumble about it sometimes, it makes me happy too. -Ellie
We’re the same way…rain, snow, whatever…we’d be out there and both of us benefitted! Somedays it’s the only thing that kept me human. 🙂
Hi there, Sam. Benji and I go out walking twice a day – same route. We do an average of about 9kms. a day. This does not happen everyday – sometimes it’s just too cold or its raining but we try to manage it both times each day. Wont be too long and we can get back down to the Wetlands again.
Bravo, John! I imagine you have such fun walkies with sweet Benji. 🙂