Blog - Just Walking The Dogs
I’ve just popped this post up on social media about not walking your dog in the heat of the day.
“When the weather heats up get out of bed earlier and walk your dog. If for whatever reason you can’t walk early, walk late… do both... or do neither.
But don’t be a dick and walk your dog in the heat of the day… if you think it may be too hot to walk your dog it probably is…”
And it got me thinking about who do you actually walk your dog for and why?
Is it to get your steps up, get out and see new places or because you feel that you must… regardless of the weather?
When I lived in NZ years ago, I had a black Labrador called Bart and a Golden Retriever called Angus and I didn’t really walk them that much.
Certainly, nowhere near as much as I walk my current dogs. Instead, I would play with them in the garden, maybe take a pootle around the block 3 or 4 times a week and do a bit of training on the walk, and, in all honesty, it was enough for them.
I spent time instead training for competitive obedience with both of them and gundog field tests with Bart.
They were happy, they were content, and they were fit.
The last couple of years (read six) I’ve fallen into the habit of walking more and then found myself getting frustrated as I ran out of time during the day to do any training.
Although I train as part of my dog walks it’s not to the level that I used to when I was making concerted efforts to get my dogs to a good competition level…
As you can guess my walk this morning was quite an introspective one and one that has made me rethink my daily routine with the boys…
I won’t stop the walk as I enjoy pottering about with them; however, I think going forwards it’s going to go back more towards my old habits of training in the morning, which I enjoyed more and had fitter more focused dogs and then a wee pottering walk in the afternoon after work.
first published 13 June 2023
buy the book - https://thepetgundog.co.uk/Home/Books
join the club - https://lezgrahamonlinetraining.com/the-pet-gundog-club
Blog - Just Walking The Dogs
I’ve just popped this post up on social media about not walking your dog in the heat of the day.
“When the weather heats up get out of bed earlier and walk your dog. If for whatever reason you can’t walk early, walk late… do both... or do neither.
But don’t be a dick and walk your dog in the heat of the day… if you think it may be too hot to walk your dog it probably is…”
And it got me thinking about who do you actually walk your dog for and why?
Is it to get your steps up, get out and see new places or because you feel that you must… regardless of the weather?
When I lived in NZ years ago, I had a black Labrador called Bart and a Golden Retriever called Angus and I didn’t really walk them that much.
Certainly, nowhere near as much as I walk my current dogs. Instead, I would play with them in the garden, maybe take a pootle around the block 3 or 4 times a week and do a bit of training on the walk, and, in all honesty, it was enough for them.
I spent time instead training for competitive obedience with both of them and gundog field tests with Bart.
They were happy, they were content, and they were fit.
The last couple of years (read six) I’ve fallen into the habit of walking more and then found myself getting frustrated as I ran out of time during the day to do any training.
Although I train as part of my dog walks it’s not to the level that I used to when I was making concerted efforts to get my dogs to a good competition level…
As you can guess my walk this morning was quite an introspective one and one that has made me rethink my daily routine with the boys…
I won’t stop the walk as I enjoy pottering about with them; however, I think going forwards it’s going to go back more towards my old habits of training in the morning, which I enjoyed more and had fitter more focused dogs and then a wee pottering walk in the afternoon after work.
first published 13 June 2023
buy the book - https://thepetgundog.co.uk/Home/Books
join the club - https://lezgrahamonlinetraining.com/the-pet-gundog-club