YAY, January is finally over and its with great pleasure we are now seeing a grand stretch in the evening! This is when things should be getting easier for all us dog owners, bright daylight hours for walking the dog instead of freezing cold and wet walks after a hard day at work.BUT When is a walking the dog NOT really walking the dog? Read on….
What are you doing? People are usually surprised when I ask this in regards to dog walks. Number one answer is, I am taking the dog for a walk…. Well lets think about this a bit. If your significant other said they were bringing you out for a meal, rushed you out the door, rushed you through ordering your food, pulled you away from your tasty dessert, spent half the time while at the restaurant talking on their mobile phone and then to top it was too busy to talk when you got home or just sat in front of the TV for the rest of the night, how would you feel? Then imagine that this was the routine every single night while you were spending every day waiting for them to come home from work.Now that’s a bit of an extreme comparison I know, but think of your dogs daily walk from their point of view. Is it a rushed 30 minutes around the block, with a tug on the lead every time they stop to smell? Is it a mad 1-hour jog around the local park attached to you while you do your daily run? Is it a resentful march down the road by the household teenager while spend the whole time texting and grumbling?
Dogs are amazing companions, the love us no matter what we do. YET time and time again the small window in the day when they get to exercise and sniff and have fun we make it about us, the humans wants, needs and schedules forgetting that your pet dog can’t read the newspaper or a magazine, nor watch a great TV show, or play a video game when we are out of the house. We are their only entertainment provider and their daily walk is their favourite time of the day! So what to do? In as much as is possible, when I know we are all so time poor during the working week, make your daily dog walks about setting some time aside for you and your dog.
- Let them have a moment to sniff the flowers or the lamppost.
- If you are finding walking your dog a difficult task, sign up for some loose lead training lessons and take the pressure off your arms and shoulders. You can’t give out that your dog pulls you along all the time if you haven’t taken the time and put in the effort to show them how you want the to behave when on the lead!
- Ignore the phone while walking your dog when possible, there is no Facebook post that is that important! And it will still be there for you to click like or comment on when you get home.
- Consider the harness and lead or collar and lead you use when walking your dog, is it comfortable for them and for you?
- What route do you take on your walk? Is it the same area every day or do you change it up a bit so your dog is experiencing some new environments.
With the brighter evening now coming in, and hopefully some warmer weather enjoy your time out & about with your pet.
