Adding in an extra walk?

[MrsC]

Hello all, 

We've had our 2.5 year old boy for nearly 9 months now and he's WONDERFUL. Such a ridiculous character. He's growing up a bit now and is super calm in the evenings and sleeps all night without a peep. 

He gets a 45 min walk twice a day - 9am (ish) and 4pm (ish). 

He usually couch potatoes after our morning walk until around 1-2pm. He's recently started barking at this point so I've been playing some scent work games (which he LOVES) or scattering some kibble for him to find in the garden. Sometimes this wipes him out until evening walk time, but sometimes he's still a bit fussy/barky/restless.

What do you guys think about adding in a shorter, lunchtime walk? Or a mix of both? Also, his 'I want a walk' bark is very similar to his 'I'm hangry' bark and I'm never quite sure which he wants! 

After our evening walk we wait an hour before dinner (sometimes he gets grumpy as he wants it sooner!) and then he's done for the evening and it's snuggles all the way ❤️

 

[greysmom]

Sure.  If you have the time and the energy, why not??

But

Greyhounds are *very* good people trainers.  If a human does something with them *twice* or three times, then they expect that same thing to happen every day, at the same time, and they pitch a fit until it does, or the human outwaits them and they go back to napping!!!

At 2 1/2 he's still pretty much a puppy, with an excess of puppy energy, so I'm sure an extra walk will do him good.  But the training sessions - tiring his mind - can be just as useful for everyone.  You might also try food puzzle games or a snuffle mat for days when you can't be personally involved in those sessions, and to change up the activities for variety.

[MrsC]

@greysmomThis is really great advice, thanks 🙂 I did wonder if it might be making a rod for our own back.. And he can throw a stinker of a hissy fit! 

He really does love all kinds of training/scent work so I might try this in the first instance. He's very alert and picks things up really quickly. I have to say since he started to properly settle into the rules of the house, we kind of let the training go by the wayside a little bit as he now does all the things automatically that we wanted to 'train' him to do. So thanks for the reminder that it can totally be for fun and stimulation and not just to 'train' behaviours. 

[palmettobug]

Roman, turning 3 at the end of December, gets a M-F half hour walk, just him and the dog walker. My other two prefer a sniff-p&p-walk, so he gets a good workout with the walker. Helps to conk him out until my workday is done.

[Sniffy]

Stanley has a midday walk sandwiched between longer walks at morning and evening. 

 

It usually amounts to nothing more than Stepping Outside for a Quick Look Around, but occasionally he'll do a quick pee, go around the block, and very rarely, take a full blown walk.  He gets a Greenie afterward, so we call it his "Faux Walk" or his "BS walk"--going through the motions in order to get the Greenie afterwards.  But we like giving him the opportunity to take a quick walk if he wants it.    It also is a good opportunity to take a walk if it's rainy in the AM.