Is walking my dog really exercise???

 

Ok let’s start with a question…

 

Look I hate to be the bearer of bad news but walking your dog (at least the way we do it) does not really do much for your pooch from an exercise stand point. Let’s face it in today’s world, most dogs are lucky to get a 20-30 minute walk every other day… Or they are the dogs who get walked 7 days a week for 10 minutes each just to make sure they go to the bathroom… Face it folks walking has evolved and honestly not in a good way! That being said unless you are walking your dog several hours a day he/she is not getting any real exercise, and to expect it to affect his behavior (energy level) is just plain silly. It would be like one of use stretching for 3 minutes a day and calling it our workout…

 

Now don’t get me wrong walks are great for your dog… they just have way more to do with leadership than exercise. Walking your dog (the right wayJ) can be a huge part of training your dog, teaching impulse control and effectively put you in the leader role without having to resort to being a butt-head…

 

Let’s look at dog training in general:

 

Walking your dog is the easiest way for someone (including yourself) to tell just how well trained a dog is… How many times have you felt (with your own dog) or seen someone else with their dog being dragged in public? Well we all think the same thing, either “Lord I need to get this situation under control” or “Gee why doesn’t that person train their dog not to pull”????

 

Impulse Control:

 

Any dog that pulls has zero “Impulse Control”. What every the dog sees out in the real world is what they decide they want and the fastest way to get what they want is to just drag your butt along with them until they get there… Dogs that pull have learned (or in my book been taught) that the world around them is way more important than Mom or Dad… Which leads to ignoring Mom and Dad on a walk…

 

Leadership:

 

This is what every dog owner wants… A dog that considers what the owner wants before they consider what they want, in a way we can consider leadership as a coin where the flip side is impulse control! Cause trust me you can’t have one without the other… Dogs only do what is rewarding, PERIOD!!! If your dog pulls you have taught him it is more rewarding to pull than to walk with you. Now some trainers would say the dog is the pack leader and dominating you but I would simply say you have never taught your dog that to get what he/she wants that you the leader have to get what you want. Some call this resource control others playing hard to get J But in the end Fido has to learn for the walk to continue (what he/she wants) you must get what you want (no pulling)…

 

This article was really not supposed to be about how to walk your dog rather it was about walks not really being exercise… However I do want you to take away all of the good things you could get out of walking your dog correctly and leave you with a simple idea. If Fido knew and really understood that when he/she pulled on the leash the walk would end 100% of the time, do you think Fido would pull? The fact is you have never rewarded Fido for not pulling…. If this sounds intriguing just call me or contact me through the site for more info JHave a great day and remember Keep it Simple Stupid….