Walking your dogs
Every morning, Palette and I go for walk if not raining. She waits on her favorite bed placed on top of the stairs,where she watches outside world until I get ready. When she knows I am ready to go,she groans and she does looong stretch. I then tell her "Go get leash!" and,she looks at me with biggest grins on her face and dashes to the leash on floor near her crate and brings it back for me. That is her first choir of the day, and if she were lucky,she gets small pinky nail sized treats along with nice petting on her body.
We have 4-5 route we take for walk. Some are short distance,some are moderate distance, some are little longer distance. I usually take one route at random and off to walk. With one chosen route you can can decide which direction you will be heading to;right?left? I sometimes go left,sometimes go right. Since Palette does not know which way to go, she pays attention to me better. For some,walking can be not so fun exercise because dogs pull enough to make you feel your arm hurts. When Palette was puppy,I was underestimated her power to pull. She has small body,but let me tell you,she IS strong! So,she needed to learn how to walk nicely.
When I was teaching Palette to heel;walk right next to you,not walking ahead of you or pull you, I brought clicker and treats with me for walk,and every time she pulls or go ahead of me,I turned around and walked to different direction and when she walks at heel position,I kept click treat click treat and headed to correct direction. Walking at that time was for both bonding time with health benefit but,at the same time,it was time for her to learn nice walk as well with nibble on its way to her mouth. First some walks took long time to back since we go back and forth zillions of times with shortest route,but it helped Palette to learn better and,we now walk without me feeling I have leash on my hand.I feel like I carry empty bag or something.
When I was attending to puppy training class,trainer told us to hold treats at dog's nose level and walk.Dogs would follow the treats so no going ahead of you,she said. However,me with short legged stumpy dog,the method did not walk. Even if I tried putting treats on her nose level,it seemed still higher than it should be and she kept jumping up to walk and I was walking very funny. After all, nice walk training was succeeded with method of changing direction when being pulled or dog going ahead of you. I read many method such as becoming a tree: when dog pulls or going ahead of you, you stop and start walking when dog comes back to your heel area but with Palette,when I tried,she just dashed out as soon as I make a step.It did not help.
For me, going for walk is not so much of things I feel obliged to,rather I enjoy it. Going for walk with Palette is one of the things we get to spend quality time together, and I feel it makes our bond stronger. And, usually,we get to meet other dog walkers,and I get to talk to them and Palette gets to greet other dogs and,it helps honing her socializing skill. Also,on our walk,now and then, kids come talk to us and,Palette gets extra attention and, she enjoys it. Kids usually come saying "Puppy,puppy!" Due to her short legged body, kids tend to think Palette is puppy. In fact,Palette turned 4 last month,and no more puppy but that is ok. She can enjoy lots of petting from kids.That is probably one of those advantage being a short legged dog.
Going for walk is probably one thing many dogs would enjoy. Lots of exciting smell,exciting views,spending quality time with you,and they may get to meet new people and get extra attention.. Lots of fun! When we go for walk, I sometimes walk brisks and sometimes slow,sometimes if not too hot, we jog straight street to our house.She puts her tongues out,check up on me and sometimes,she speeds up,sometimes speeds down and she enjoys walks a lot. And after we back home,she gets to have cool down treats (frozen Yogurt cube treats) I make,and she lines up in front of freezer door and grab one cube from my hands and enjoys crunching down and she usually rest on cool bed before meal,and takes naps after meal. You can see recipe of my frozen Yogurt treat here.
While walking is fun for them, it is very good for them health-wise. Dogs need exercise; mental and physical both. Dogs that do not get much exercise can have pent up energy and they tend to have behavior problems such as chewing problems,barking problems, and it can also help keeping their body fits.
For you, going for walk is good not just for bonding experience but also good for your health. Going for walk daily is one easy moderate level of exercise you can do with no cost. You can read more on benefit for going walk for human at organic fact website.To read, please click here.
When Palette and I go for walk, we passes by some houses with fenced yard. I see Rottweiler,Labs, Border collies, Akitas.. Usually they bark at us,some runs to fence throw their body or jump. Palette learned not to respond those barks and,we calmly passes by but I wonder if they get to go for walk like Palette does. Yes,they have fenced yard and they can run there if they wanted to, but I do not think it enough and I do not think run in fenced yard and going for walk and get exercise are different both in physical and mental. If they were not going for walk,they are there,always same place without much needed physical/mental exercise, they would have pent-up energy.
On talk of "walk",did you know that Italy has law regarding dog walks? According to timesonline website, Italy has law regarding dog walking. It is not about dog poop law. In Italy,people need to take their dog for walk 3 times a day at least or they get fine about 338 British pound(about $650 in US dollars) or 500 Euros. To read full story on dog walking in Italy,please click here. To convert currency to foreign currency,you can check at currency calculator here.
Walking with your dogs is not just for bonding time or honing their social skill.It is very good for health for both of you and, I hope many dogs get to go for walk daily if not raining like Palette.I am sure they would enjoy exploring area with you,and spending quality time with you.If you cannot go for walk,you still can have quality time in your yard. You can play ball,you can do Frisbee,and if rain, you can do "Find it game",you can teach them tricks..
Palette loooves ball and Frisbee to play with me in our yard, and she is getting good at catching Frisbee in the Air. Now I need to learn how to throw Frisbee better for her.
How often do you go for walk ??
We have 4-5 route we take for walk. Some are short distance,some are moderate distance, some are little longer distance. I usually take one route at random and off to walk. With one chosen route you can can decide which direction you will be heading to;right?left? I sometimes go left,sometimes go right. Since Palette does not know which way to go, she pays attention to me better. For some,walking can be not so fun exercise because dogs pull enough to make you feel your arm hurts. When Palette was puppy,I was underestimated her power to pull. She has small body,but let me tell you,she IS strong! So,she needed to learn how to walk nicely.
When I was teaching Palette to heel;walk right next to you,not walking ahead of you or pull you, I brought clicker and treats with me for walk,and every time she pulls or go ahead of me,I turned around and walked to different direction and when she walks at heel position,I kept click treat click treat and headed to correct direction. Walking at that time was for both bonding time with health benefit but,at the same time,it was time for her to learn nice walk as well with nibble on its way to her mouth. First some walks took long time to back since we go back and forth zillions of times with shortest route,but it helped Palette to learn better and,we now walk without me feeling I have leash on my hand.I feel like I carry empty bag or something.
When I was attending to puppy training class,trainer told us to hold treats at dog's nose level and walk.Dogs would follow the treats so no going ahead of you,she said. However,me with short legged stumpy dog,the method did not walk. Even if I tried putting treats on her nose level,it seemed still higher than it should be and she kept jumping up to walk and I was walking very funny. After all, nice walk training was succeeded with method of changing direction when being pulled or dog going ahead of you. I read many method such as becoming a tree: when dog pulls or going ahead of you, you stop and start walking when dog comes back to your heel area but with Palette,when I tried,she just dashed out as soon as I make a step.It did not help.
For me, going for walk is not so much of things I feel obliged to,rather I enjoy it. Going for walk with Palette is one of the things we get to spend quality time together, and I feel it makes our bond stronger. And, usually,we get to meet other dog walkers,and I get to talk to them and Palette gets to greet other dogs and,it helps honing her socializing skill. Also,on our walk,now and then, kids come talk to us and,Palette gets extra attention and, she enjoys it. Kids usually come saying "Puppy,puppy!" Due to her short legged body, kids tend to think Palette is puppy. In fact,Palette turned 4 last month,and no more puppy but that is ok. She can enjoy lots of petting from kids.That is probably one of those advantage being a short legged dog.
Going for walk is probably one thing many dogs would enjoy. Lots of exciting smell,exciting views,spending quality time with you,and they may get to meet new people and get extra attention.. Lots of fun! When we go for walk, I sometimes walk brisks and sometimes slow,sometimes if not too hot, we jog straight street to our house.She puts her tongues out,check up on me and sometimes,she speeds up,sometimes speeds down and she enjoys walks a lot. And after we back home,she gets to have cool down treats (frozen Yogurt cube treats) I make,and she lines up in front of freezer door and grab one cube from my hands and enjoys crunching down and she usually rest on cool bed before meal,and takes naps after meal. You can see recipe of my frozen Yogurt treat here.
While walking is fun for them, it is very good for them health-wise. Dogs need exercise; mental and physical both. Dogs that do not get much exercise can have pent up energy and they tend to have behavior problems such as chewing problems,barking problems, and it can also help keeping their body fits.
For you, going for walk is good not just for bonding experience but also good for your health. Going for walk daily is one easy moderate level of exercise you can do with no cost. You can read more on benefit for going walk for human at organic fact website.To read, please click here.
When Palette and I go for walk, we passes by some houses with fenced yard. I see Rottweiler,Labs, Border collies, Akitas.. Usually they bark at us,some runs to fence throw their body or jump. Palette learned not to respond those barks and,we calmly passes by but I wonder if they get to go for walk like Palette does. Yes,they have fenced yard and they can run there if they wanted to, but I do not think it enough and I do not think run in fenced yard and going for walk and get exercise are different both in physical and mental. If they were not going for walk,they are there,always same place without much needed physical/mental exercise, they would have pent-up energy.
On talk of "walk",did you know that Italy has law regarding dog walks? According to timesonline website, Italy has law regarding dog walking. It is not about dog poop law. In Italy,people need to take their dog for walk 3 times a day at least or they get fine about 338 British pound(about $650 in US dollars) or 500 Euros. To read full story on dog walking in Italy,please click here. To convert currency to foreign currency,you can check at currency calculator here.
Walking with your dogs is not just for bonding time or honing their social skill.It is very good for health for both of you and, I hope many dogs get to go for walk daily if not raining like Palette.I am sure they would enjoy exploring area with you,and spending quality time with you.If you cannot go for walk,you still can have quality time in your yard. You can play ball,you can do Frisbee,and if rain, you can do "Find it game",you can teach them tricks..
Palette loooves ball and Frisbee to play with me in our yard, and she is getting good at catching Frisbee in the Air. Now I need to learn how to throw Frisbee better for her.
How often do you go for walk ??
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11/5/2009 1:44 PM
uberVU - social comments wrote:
This post was mentioned on Twitter by yassysgdk: blog: Walking your dogs http://bit.ly/1wkp6Y
Another great post! I got quite a lot of laughs (owning corgis myself) when you started talking about walking and holding a treat at dog nose level! I could just picture trying to walk along doing that... NOT with MY bad back, THANK YOU! LOL
I like your way of doing it... it's almost the way I've always done it. I don't ever allow my dogs to pull either. They either heel, or, if I tell them ok, then they know they can go ALMOST to the end of the leash and explore a bit ahead and off to the sides, but not pull. I ALWAYS have a pocketful of dog treats for rewards for anything that comes up that they do good on, too. Speaking of which, those Dogitos are GREAT for that kind of thing! It is so easy to break them into small pieces! I'm really going to have to order some more. I got the goat ones last time, but might try one of the other two kinds next time, and I think that they really smell good too... I'm sometimes tempted to try a bite, but probably won't... ALL of my dogs (corgis & border collie) love them!
We have about 10 acres of pasture land around us that our dogs get to run in several times a week and three huge fenced yards (front,side & back) as well. I walk with them when they are out in the pastures as I usually take them out when I feed the horses. I have to be careful to keep an eye out for rattlesnakes and can't take them out to close to dusk because of the coyotes. I don't want to take a chance on them getting into a fight, etc.
They can run freely in the pastures, but I still make sure they know how to do the obedience stuff for when we go into town or out on road trips.
That was VERY interesting to hear about Italy's dog walking laws... Glad I don't live there!!! Actually, though, I wonder if that is just in the cities where it would be a good thing so that the dogs can get out and exercise. I'll probably try to go to that website and read about it more. Thanks for the info!
Linda (OC's Mom)
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Thank you very much for your comment. Yes,holding treats to teach dogs to walk nicely is good idea but it is not really something that works for smaller/short legged dogs I think. You need to walk holding treats at dogs' nose level in very funny posture and it is tiring. One way it might work is to use the target stick. Smear peanut butter or something smear around the tip of the stick and hold the tip ends at dog's nose level. But dog can lick it off in matter of second and,I am not sure how long it will be effective to use this method.
Dogs loves to go for walk. Palette perks up and dash towards leash and bring it to me with excitement. I too think that walking nicely whole distance is fine,but allowing them to sniff ground to sniff out doggy news and enjoy sniffing around is important too. It does not mean that dogs pull you to area they want to sniff but rather, you tell them ok to sniff. Sniffing ground is not really a food treat per-se but,it still is like reward for them. I think rewards for good behavior does not have to be food treats.It can be petting,it can be short play, it can be verbal rewards. I use treats to teach Palette funny tricks first but I gradually give the treats at random and she gets treats not every time. Then, I sometime fade away treats completely and just give non food rewards and make sure she does even without food treats at the end.
When I was teaching Palette to heel/walk nicely beside me, when she leaned throughly, I also used walking time as other kind of training time as well such as not reacting to dogs that bark at us from fenced yard or to learn to greet other dogs nicely etc. During the time, I always brought treats with me and clicker on walk. Sometimes, you can't create situation you would need to teach dogs to learn something,and using walking time was good. Now she can greet other dog nicely and can ignore dogs that bark at us. I give her verbal rewards now and she looks up at me with tongue hanging out as if she is proud of herself for it.
Palette does training daily, and she is looking forward to the training time. I don't use same treats every time and she really does not know what she would get each time. So, she is very interested to sniff at treats I break into pieces and try to find out what she is getting today.
I too love Dogitos (dehydrated lung treats).Easy to break into pieces with your hands. And it is made from grass-fed animals and not fortified with vitamins. Palette seems to react to treats that is fortified with vitamins, specifically Vitamin E which many Jerky type dog treats have it as natural preservatives to keep the treats in good shape for long time. Vitamin E (mixed tocopherols) is delivered from soy bean oil. This is another reason why we do not offer treats that is fortified with any vitamins. I prefer giving vitamins or other nutrient from food itself rather than via synthetic form.
Your dogs are lucky to have pasture land they can run a lot. Palette would give your dogs eye of envy
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