Is Your Dog's Walk De-Stressing or Distressing?

Do you enjoy walking your dog? Does your dog enjoy walking? Why do you walk your dog?

“We have to walk the dog!”

Not many people have to be told to walk their dog. They know their dog needs exercise and they also believe that physical activity is key to good behavior at home.

Somehow, it’s become an unwritten rule in our culture that daily walks are what good owners do.

Do you really?

What if I told you that daily walks aren’t actually in every dog’s best interest? For some dogs, a walk might be more distressing than de-stressing.

Just as all dogs need food, but some are allergic to chicken and can’t get their calories that way, all dogs need enrichment and movement, but some are more harmed than helped by a daily walk.

“How do I know if my dog is distressed?”

Ask yourself these questions:

• does my dog refuse high value treats like chicken or scrambled eggs on walks?

• is my dog unable to perform an easy behavior - like Sit - when asked, even though he can do it at home?

• does my dog spend more time scanning the environment than smelling the ground?

• does my dog pull so much you’d think he was auditioning for the Iditarod?

• does my dog vocalize or lunge when he sees other dogs or people?

• does my dog freeze or dart to avoid things in the environment (like traffic, garbage cans, inflatables, people, etc.)?

If you answered yes to any of the following, traditional walks may be more distressing than de-stressing for your dog.

“What do I do?”

Contact a qualified, professional positive-reinforcement dog trainer who can thoroughly assess your dog to pinpoint what’s troubling him and help you work on those things.

(If you’re in the northwest Austin, TX area, feel free to reach out! If you’re not local, search the CCPDT, the PPG, or the IAABC directories for qualified trainers and take a look at my blog post on knowing who to trust.)

In the meantime, it’s actually kinder to not walk your dog.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that he’ll get used to it with more repetition. This is a risky approach and it’s very easy for the problem to become worse instead of better. If the dog is struggling in a certain context, he usually needs a different context, not more of the same.

“But what about his exercise??”

There are lots of alternative, low-stress ways to give your dog enrichment as you work on his walking behavior! Things like training games at home, obstacle courses, Sniffaris in select locations, and different feeding games spice up your dog’s life without making him uncomfortable.

I almost always start with Enrichment Feeding since the human doesn’t have to learn any special skills to do it. Click here for instructions.