How Often Do You Walk Your Grey?

[Guest theKP]

We live downtown in a condo, so we go out on short walks 5-6 times a day, for between 10-30 minutes depending on the time of day. He doesn't have to go to the bathroom that often, but he likes to go out and solicit pets from passersby and watch traffic and just generally nose about. I put down that they're 15 minutes each, but it varies. We're rarely out for less than that because that's how long it takes to walk our usual loop without stopping, but I try to let him have one of our walks be a longer one where we get out of our immediate neighborhood, with a super long 2 hour walk down to the river once a week. We were told that greyhounds generally need two twenty-minute walks a day (I think I've seen that other places too), but most of the time our boy needs more mental stimulation than that. He would probably be fine with fewer walks, but they make him so happy, and I frequently work from home so I can indulge him. We're not really going out for the physical exercise so much as for the entertainment. I guess it works out to 1-2 hours of walking a day interspersed with power naps.

 

I do let him stop along the way--he gets a lot of attention, and people stop me to ask questions a fair amount, so I don't worry about it if he wants to sniff the trees on his way to the grassy area up the block. But there are rules about where he can stop. He doesn't get to sniff trash cans, light poles, parking meters, etc. because I don't want him peeing on them or the sidewalk. He knows now where he's allowed to stop and sniff and where he's not.

[Guest lazyhound4]

My guys get walked at least once every day. They love their walk! It's just the right amount for them but, if they start to get too rambunctous I'll take them out walking again! The other times they go potty they go in the back yard.

[Guest MeandHoss]

I have only had Hoss since this past Monday, so we are still working out a schedule. I live in an apartment, so off lead doesn't work. We go for 20 minutes walks 2-3 times a day, and he gets an hour play date with my parent's dog, Molly so far everyday. They have a fenced in yard, so they run and play and do their duty.

 

I am looking forward to the good weather so I can take him on longer walks around the area. He has been a great help to me as well, I am walking more, outside more, and more aware of my surroundings.

 

 

[silverfish]

There wasn't an 'off leash' option. I walk my dogs at least 4 times a week off leash.

 

 

Yeah, I noticed that, too!

 

Sorry I'm so late getting to this one, I kept seeing it and thinking it was the OLD 'how often do you walk your dogs' thread.

 

We walk our dogs twice a day, Monday to Saturday, unless the weather is really, really bad, or we aren't well. Twice a day is our policy and 99% of the time that's what they get. On Sunday we do a longer, single, walk in the afternoon and we drive to a more populated place for socialisation.

 

The Mon-Sat routine is one walk during the morning which is between 20 and 45 minutes long. The aim is for this to be at least partly an offlead ramble over the fields, but Sid isn't quite there yet, so his offlead bits are less frequent and smaller. The other walk will be a pavement walk around the village on the lead, and about 20 minutes long usually. This is done at dusk or after dark, depending on the time of year, and all our dogs have LOVED this.

 

The Sunday walk will be at least 45 minutes. We drive to the town park, or the country park the other side of town, or a busy walking spot in town, and the dogs meet other dogs, children, buggies, all kinds of stuff, and they love going somewhere different.

 

As to 'migrating' .. I'm not sure what you mean by this, but in my personal opinion, it's just so important that dogs learn to walk along with us, off the lead, just keeping up with the 'pack' because they feel they belong and they want to. In my opinion this is the biggest single 'bonding' exercise we can do with our dogs, and it reinforces all kinds of 'leadership', trust* and self-regulating issues with them.

 

Is that what you meant? If not, I'm very interested to hear what you mean. Sorry if you've explained it earlier in the thread, but by the time I got here it had run to so many pages I don't have time to read them all.

 

*PLEASE let's not rehash the old 'Trust is a deadly disease' thing. I'm in England and I've kept greyhounds since the early nineties and we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one. Thanks.

[Guest FastDogsOwnMe]

Mine generally want to walk ahead of me, fairly excited, and sniff the air and look at everything. They do time to time want to stop. Once they have left a few peemails, I tend to try to keep up the pace, especially since I am walking four hounds. Each of the randomly stopping messes up my flow!

 

When I take one on a solo walk, I let them do whatever they want.

 

Two of mine are NEVER small dog safe, and two of them are when they are alone, but not if the other two are present. So, I am very careful, though I do not muzzle. If a large dog attacks them, I want them to have some defenses.

 

I fully agree about off leash, and I would certainly do it if there was anywhere here that I could. England is awesome for that. Where I live the closest place that would be remotely safe (not to mention legal) is over two hours each way.

[silverfish]

OK, now I've had time to read the first couple of pages so I see what you're talking about with 'migration'.

 

<!--quoteo(post=3852852:date=Feb 11 2009, 07:31 AM:name=JumpingGeorge)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(JumpingGeorge @ Feb 11 2009, 07:31 AM) 3852852[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->What does migrating have to do with walking your dog?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

 

There's a theory that in their "wild state", canines migrate as a pack on a regular basis (daily?), and that further, the organization and leadership required in this activity helps cement the pack structure and relationships. The theory goes on to posit that humans can re-create this activity, and thereby reap the benefits of being the leader of the pack and having stronger relationships between their dogs, by going on vigorous walks with their dogs, with the human firmly in the lead and in control. Cesar Millan promotes something along these lines.

 

Personally, I don't know or care how much of the whole pack/migrating theory is correct. I do know that being "in charge" on our walks (setting the pace, walking out front and not letting him stop and sniff every time he wanted to) when Arty first came home had a huge impact on our overall relationship, and led to a much better home life. It may not be right for every dog, but it worked for us.

 

I don't much care for Cesar Milan as a trainer. I think he is a very capable owner who understands his dogs and to see him out on a walk with his pack, you can see they're a happy, integrated pack and look upon him as the leader of that pack. I'm just not sure how well he transfers that to other people, and I think he has his limitations. Again, just my own personal opinion.

 

But I do agree with the walking theory with one qualifier. In the wild state, the dog pack are not on leashes. They fall behind, they straggle, they take little detours, but ultimately, if they want to stay part of the pack, they have to monitor the movement of the leaders and learn to keep an eye on them, and to keep up. You can't expect to achieve this state with your own offlead dog in a short time, but once you do, the rewards are tremendous. It teaches the dog to self-monitor and makes him dependent on the person in charge. Comes a point in the training of all my dogs where I have to let them 'get lost' in a safe place. I watch them unobtrusively, and they'll suddenly notice they can't see me and they panic - but they panic in a constructive way. They look for me. And then they come find me, usually at a gallop. And then they are just that little bit more a true part of our pack. You don't have to have them on a lead behind you to be in charge, you just have to be the one they want to keep up with.

 

 

 

 

Numerous times, i've made people change their walking styles because their dogs can not handle having a territory. The dogs have severe anxiety.

 

 

We, humans, tend to be guilty of applying human psychology to our canine companions. We assume our dogs enjoy leisurely walks where they get to stop every 3 feet and urinate. We often think "wow, how can one dog pee so much?". That is because your dogs stops and lifts it's leg or squats and lets a little urine out at a time but always seems to have some in reserve. The truth is, they are marking "their territory" and this gives them anxiety!

 

Agreed that they are marking over another dog's urine, but strongly disagree that it gives them anxiety. This hasn't been the case with any of mine. They positively enjoy the process!

 

There will inevitably be some over-anxious dogs or neurotic dogs who don't enjoy the process and in those cases, it would be right to remove that stressor from their routine - if you can't eliminate the neurosis (difficult) or help your dog become less anxious (entirely possible for many).

 

I've had two anxious dogs. Chronically anxious to the extent that it affected large areas of their lives - but both loved reading their pee-mail and contributing an 'answer'. I know this because they would pull me TO the spot and spend a long time 'reading' and resist moving on till they were good and ready, then give that satisfied snort that they do.

 

Think about it, everyday you do this leisurely walk where your dog marks every spot that he or she can. The next day, you go on another leisurely walk and your dog starts sniffing the same spots and realizes that some other dog has come along and marked over the area that they claimed the day before. This happens every day, 7 days a week for a month to a year. Wouldn't you feel anxious over "who's been invading my territory?" That would be like someone entering your house every day and you couldn't stop them from sitting on your couch and watching. You have NO control over the situation. All you can do is repeatedly ask for that person to leave your house but, yet, they never do. Dogs do not see the world as us, they see it in terms of what is theirs and what is not.

 

Ah, but that's exactly what does happen on the borders of a wild pack. They smell the other dog's urine and they know there are other dogs about. They can either sneak in and raid (which wild dogs will do - being opportunists), or if they perceive the other dogs as stronger, they can back off. I agree that on the lead they have no choice, but dogs are extremely adaptable, and they can learn (and most do learn) that in this artificial situation, the smell of the stronger dog is not a threat because their own (hopefully strong) leader is with them.

[silverfish]

 

Hmm. That is a very intersting theory, and I'm not so sure I agree with the part about it causing them anxiety, at least not with greyhounds that I know.

 

 

I believe that Arty recognizes the pee of dogs he has met and had a positive interaction with, and his behavior when he's smelling their pee doesn't seem anxious at all. In fact, it seems interested, engaged, but relaxed. The only time he ever seems anxious is when he is smelling the pee of one particular dog who always barks aggressively at us. In that case, he gives it one quick sniff and then he always wants to cover it up right away with his own scent. I don't know how that would fit into your theory, it's just my experience.

 

Sounds about right to me, as a 'non-expert' but long time worker with dogs and owner of dogs.

 

 

 

This worked for Shelby. In the beginning, I allowed her to stop and scent mark via urine on spots along the bike path. Every day the same spots. Over the course of the following months, i started noticing anxiety creeping up on her as we were headed to the bike path. As soon as my truck turned the corner to the opening of the path, she would start to shake violently (after 2 months of it progressing). I couldn't understand why she was developing anxiety over walking at her favorite place with her favorite smells (or so it seemed). The anxiety got so bad, she started whining in the truck in the 3 minute drive to the path. Nothing else in her life changed, I just made the decision that it had to do with "checking pee-mail". She also was pulling on the leash and trying to drag me to the next spot to sniff when she had never done that before. She was trying to communicate to me why she was acting that way but i did not see the signs (as some people sometimes don't with their own dogs) but when i realized what was causing her problem, i took that territory away from her and within a week of daily walks, her behavior stopped. I've noticed that she doesn't care about pee-mail anymore because it isn't her "job" to patrol that area. Even off leash, she no longer does it.

 

I've bolded that part because I personally believe there is a huge difference in walking to a place from your own territory and gradually arriving at other dogs' territory, and arriving by vehicle and being suddenly dumped in a 'foreign' place.

 

Naturally, that would cause anxiety in a predisposed dog. My own dogs have loooved to do be driven somewhere new, but they do behave differently in places they don't walk to. They are 'off-territory' and usually much more tolerant of new dogs they meet for that reason. And for that reason, I believe it's a great tool for introducing your dogs to new situations and socialising them with other breeds. They are far, far less likely to react aggressively, simply because it isn't their territory and they know it.

 

 

My mother's pom went through the same ordeal. She had anxiety her entire 11 years. She wouldn't eat, never mind anything that crunches (like kibble), she would have a stress induced seizure if a fly was in the house (and i'm not kidding with that one). If the mood was bad in the house and there was stress, she would have a stress induced seizure, too. This went on for most of her life. She also stopped listening to any verbal commands and would completely ignore you if you were walking and you were trying to call her to you. it was like you weren't even there. One day i told my mom to stop walking her off leash and put a leash on her and take away her ability to patrol "her territory". She was absolutely NOT capable of being in charge of anything. If you knew the dog you would say the same thing. She used to be scared of a lamp my mom had. If you walked by the lamp and it vibrated from the foot steps, the shadow on the wall would cause her to seize. She actually did walk her on the leash and when she got home from that ONE walk, the dog ate dry food and hasn't stopped eating crunchy food since. She asks for it and tells you exactly what she wants (dry cereal, kibble, cookies) A once stress seizure dog hasn't had a single seizure since and that was over 6 months ago (her seizure frequency was once a week until this day). She is active, she listens, she eats, she loves her walks, she now plays and never did before....

 

Your mother's Pom sounds neurotic and most definitely over-anxious and it sounds as if this approach worked well for her. I imagine that (like my first greyhound) she didn't want to be in charge, but your mother - for whatever reason - hadn't managed to convince her little dog that she was the one in charge. A dog in that 'Oh crap, I'm in charge here and I don't know how to do this' situation will naturally spend all her energy looking around her in a state of mild panic and won't be able to listen. This will also affect the rest of her life and she'll develop neuroses like 'I can't eat this' or 'I can't cope with flies' or any number of other unreasonable behaviours.

 

Most people don’t know that "the walk" is the most important bonding moment a dog can have with their owner. It tells your dog all about you. They learn how confident you are, what type of leader you can be and if you can handle anything that comes your way. This knowledge is applied to every other aspect of your relationship with your dog.

 

 

Now that I do wholeheartedly agree with. The walk is vital to the way you and your dog/s relate to each other and also affects other areas of your dog/s' lives. Whether you walk, what kind of walk it is, and whether it meets a particular dog's needs will define your relationship. Absolutely.

[Guest FastDogsOwnMe]

I have never had a remotely mentally stable dog be anxious about any form of walking or exploring, personally.

[sobesmom]

I do agree that walking a dog is a great thing - for many reasons. Exercise, socialization, bonding with owners, to name a few.

 

That said - I currently am not walking my dogs every day. Lots of reasons - time - daylight (actually the lack of it) - location (no sidewalks, our walks are through pastures and woods, currently thick with snow), temperature, etc. Walks right now are really not feasible for us. I COULD do it - with a flashlight, parka, coats for the dogs, whistle to scare away coyotes, bears, foxes, etc, and far more determination than I personally possess!

 

So - because my dogs currently aren't getting walks - we do other things. Our yard is 1 acre. A lot more than many people have for a "turnout lawn". Ample opportunities to run around, at full tilt, walk around, sniff around, etc. Once or twice per day - we go out with the dogs for their "out" and engage them in tossing toys, running with them, playing "fetch" (ok - none of them get the concept), basically making sure they MOVE !!!! On the really cold days - it's a loosing battle though. Picture humans running around, tossing toys, and 3 greyhounds standing at the door begging to be let IN!!!

 

SO - I guess my opinion is that I definately believe in walking your dogs - but - I also believe that if you DON'T walk your dogs - you CAN and SHOULD do other things to stimulate their bodies and brains!

[Guest john5396]

We walk Luna about 4 times per day. She has been in our family for about 2 months now, and walking time is a family activity. We don't have a fenced backyard, so time on lead is our usual time out.

 

My wife calls our daily walks "The Luna Diet", and because we are compelled to do what we have always said and get a daily walk, she has lost 5 pounds so far.

 

When time allows(not much during the winter so far, maybe once a week) we visit a local dog park or go to the church and use the softball fields to let luna stretch her legs playing chase the ball.

[Guest lotsogreysmom]

We have a large backyard but when we don't walk our dogs we notice huge differences in them!! We are totally for walking your dogs and love spending that "quality" time with ours!!! When we had LOTS of dogs I have to say we didn't walk them as frequently but it is nice being down in number so that we can walk them like they need to be.

[Guest Mooogies]

SHE walks ME (in the woods) until we get back onto the street and then its back to business. Chai loves loves loves her walkies!

[Guest gecko_foot]

I take Tumnus outside first thing in the morning to do his business, and then we come back in to eat. I have to leave pretty early in the morning, but I take him on a brief walk (about 15 minutes or so) before and after eating. In the afternoon, we go on a long walk - 45 minutes or so - but only after he has pottied. On days where I can be home all day, we go on longer walks in the morning.

[Guest Jubilee251]

We take Molly out 4 or 5 times a day. She gets a run/trot with me in the mornings (about a mile or so), mostly continuous and fast-paced, and another short potty break just before I go to work. If the dog walker is coming, she gets a potty break mid-day and again when dad comes home in the evenings. Then we take her out for a more leisurely walk/potty break before bed, where she gets to sniff and explore, and take her time a bit more.

 

She is much more energetic in the mornings. At night, her statue-ing rate goes up about 75%. Sometimes, we'll take her to the top floor of our building, where the storage rooms, gym, and study rooms are, and if there is no one around, let her sprint up and down the halls to her heart's desire. (Don't tell my neighbors!)

Edited January 24, 2010 by Jubilee251

[Guest Frankendog]

Walking Frankie is usually my favourite part of the day for many reasons, not the least of which he is a DREAM to walk, always by my side, loose leash between us (I didn't teach him this, he just came to me like that...lucky me!)

 

It's usually a 45 minute walk through a local trail in the woods, or along the lake's boardwalk. We may also go to the dog park additionally or instead of. We do have a large fenced in back yard that he goes out in 4-6 times a day. Definitely here in the great white north temperatures and road conditions are a factor.

[Guest dragontearz]

it varies greatly..in the winter, we go for a 5 minute walk each time to go potty, then back in the house..Guinness loves the snow, but I HATE the cold..in the summer, we spend hours outside and walk about a mile a day averaged out..and starting next week, me and my wife are renting a small home together-not much, but it has a fireplace and a fenced in backyard for Guinness..that was our one requirement, a yard for the puppy..

Edited January 27, 2010 by dragontearz

[Guest kahjul]

I walk my girls 3-4 nights a week, power walk-only needed potty breaks- about 45 mins. We also go to the dog park once or twice a week and have a pretty big back yard.

[Guest happygrey]

DH takes our boy out for his first early morning walk as soon as he will get up often he won't get off his bed, which is about 20-30 mins. Then I take him on a "long" walk (anywhere from 45 mins to 2 hrs) at roughly 9-10AM. We usually drive to a park or conservation area for this one. Then DH or I will take him out between 4-5 pm for a short "business" walk. Maybe 15-20 minutes or so. If seems to want to go out at about 7pm, he goes out again, otherwise we wait and take him out for a short stroll right before bed at 11pm.

Edited February 12, 2010 by happygrey

[Guest lvl0cmr]

We don't have a fenced in yard so we do lots of walking. It seems that the dogs enjoy picking their routes and even when I don't want to go it forces me to get a little exercise in. My girl Kenzi was not leash potty trained when we got her. She was taught at the track not to go potty when leashed and her foster home had a fenced in yard. So when we got her she had never gone potty on a leash. It took months of my boyfriend and I doing rotating shifts with her for hours to get her to go potty. She knew not to go in the house, and knew not to go on the leash. She would hold it for more than 24 hours at a time because in her poor little mind she was not being allowed to go potty. Thank god she is smart and finally figured out what we wanted. Anyway, I guess I'm just saying that even if you have a fenced yard, at least take your dog on a walk to make sure they will potty on a leash. You never know when they will be put in a situation where it is necessary.

[Guest tatahills]

I agree that walking is a very important part of behavior modification. If I have a returned dog with issues or a dog that is showing signs of anxiousness, I feel like a power walks helps them understand I'm in charge. I think dogs that are anxious are dogs that are very much needing someone to take charge. It's very instinctual for dogs to walk following a leader. It gives me a tool for communicating to them in a way they understand.

 

I don't agree that dogs that don't get walks aren't happy or people like me (owner of four, foster of two at a time, volunteer, board member, spends hours on the phone helping adopters with behavior issues) shouldn't own a dog. My dogs are very happy and secure without daily walks.

[Guest Sunset123]

MY command is WHEEL instead of heel because...well <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/eek.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="eek.gif" /> kinda makes since, correct?

 

 

That is really cute.

[Guest happygrey]

We don't have a fenced in yard so we do lots of walking. It seems that the dogs enjoy picking their routes and even when I don't want to go it forces me to get a little exercise in. My girl Kenzi was not leash potty trained when we got her. She was taught at the track not to go potty when leashed and her foster home had a fenced in yard. So when we got her she had never gone potty on a leash. It took months of my boyfriend and I doing rotating shifts with her for hours to get her to go potty. She knew not to go in the house, and knew not to go on the leash. She would hold it for more than 24 hours at a time because in her poor little mind she was not being allowed to go potty. Thank god she is smart and finally figured out what we wanted. Anyway, I guess I'm just saying that even if you have a fenced yard, at least take your dog on a walk to make sure they will potty on a leash. You never know when they will be put in a situation where it is necessary.

 

Whoa, what a predicament for your girl! Can't go on a leash, no fenced yard to be let off into. Good for you for sticking it out and getting her to go on a leash. I'm now feeling lucky we didn't have to deal with leash issues (our yard isn't fenced yet either)!

[Guest My3GreytBoyz]

Our three guys get out in the backyard at least 6 times a day, (We are fortunate someone is home a lot), and then when weather permits I take them on at least an hour walk, as well as one to two trips to the dog park each week. Out back they LOVE to run and play usually chasing each other around the yard like maniacs, but are always looking forward to their walks still. This horrid winter weather is really cutting back on their exercise, but spring will come soon. I have been taking them on regular outings to pet stores just to give them some indoor exercise. It is not the same as a walk but it does get them moving off the couch.

[Guest SaddleWags]

We waited a long time to get our first dog. To make sure we had a fenced in yard. We did a ton of research deciding which breed was right for us.

 

The Dog Whisperer was a huge influence on us and our decision to be committed to walking our dogs twice a day. We are so committed, are like the mail - rain or shine, wind, sleet, snow. We've been thru it all.

 

Our pups have never attacked each other or another dog. They listen (well Edie does most of the time), they are calm and balanced. They've earned my trust to roam the house when alone. No chewing what they shouldn't chew, no messes in the house.

 

I know it's because of their walks.

 

I love them so much, I try my best to provide the best environment that I can for them. Walking them for an hour a day, 7 days a week is my way of doing what's best for them.

[Guest carolxi]

Through the week, Anubis gets a backyard potty break and a 20 walk. After work he gets either a 45 min or 20 depending on the weather and my energy level. He gets off leash time during walks through parks, etc. at least every other day if not more. His last walk after dinner is about 30 mins. He got bored out in the backyard, so now he uses the back yard more as a toilet than anything else..