It’s that time of year again when I often see many dogs apparently reluctant participants in their human’s fitness resolutions…

Getting healthy is great and including your dog can be a winner for them as well but we need to consider their physical and behavioural health too…

But we do have funny notions about “walking dogs” and generally approach it from an anthropocentric point of view. As in, we look at how walking our dogs affects humans, rather than having a whole lot of consideration for the experiences of our dogs.

We study dog walking from a human health perspective (e.g., Christian et al, 2018), to promote increased human physical activity (e.g., Westgarth et al, 2014), its effects on the health of senior citizens (e.g., Motooka et al, 2006, Curl et al, 2016) and adolescents (e.g., Engelberg et al, 2016) and the social (e.g., Antonacopoulos & Pychyl, 2014) and mental health benefits (e.g., Cui et al, 2021) to humans walking their dogs.

Sometimes we see works that look at effects of walking on dogs and their humans (e.g., Akiyama & Ohta 2021) but relatively speaking, there is little about the experiences of dogs during these outings.

The good news is that, we are starting to see more interest in dogs’ experiences on their outings including their intraspecies social interactions (e.g., Akos et al, 2014; Rezac et al, 2011; Westgarth et al, 2010), how and when they’re walked (e.g., Kinsman et al, 2022) their relationship with their humans (e.g., Fletcher & Platt 2016) and the behaviours they engage in (e.g., Foltin & Ganslosser 2021) and their experiences in different environments (e.g., Cupp 2023 (Master’s thesis)).

Shift the focus!

Modern pet dogs live a pretty socially & environmentally restricted life (Meyer et al 2021). And the more we ask them to inhibit their behaviour and assimilate into our world, the more we have to compensate.

I certainly don’t want to suggest we further restrict their already limited lives. But if bringing the dog out in a way that causes them further stress, it’s not very enriching and likely quite damaging.

Dogs need activity and entertainment and by shifting the focus beyond walks and alongside walks, we may be better able to provide for their needs.
Outings might form part of that, possibly in different or varied ways, but there must be more regardless of whether walks are a part of that program or not. That’s why 100 Days of Enrichment exists!

Go Adventuring instead!

Go beyond ‘traditional’ walks for dogs, Adventure everywhere and anywhere.

It takes a village

When you do go out and about, spare some thoughts for how we can all help our fellow dog walkers. Just with some of these tips in place, we might be able to lift restrictions for lots of dogs and provide appropriate outings for pets & their people.

And mostly, don’t allow your dog be a nuisance for others. Your dog is not being “friendly”, and you are not “socialising” by allowing your dog run up to others unsolicited.

Think beyond walks for dogs. Shake it up and shift focus to provide for our dogs’ needs appropriately and safely.