Let’s talk about walks. Most of us take our dogs on walks. They are the number one exercise and enrichment activity dog owners typically offer their dogs.
Three Types of Walks
I saw a post on Facebook the other day (wish I could remember where so I could give credit!) that made an important point. You have to decide what the mission of your walk is before you step foot out the door. There’s really three options: enrichment and fun for your dog, a training walk, or a walk for your own exercise. None of this is to say you can’t combine two or three of the options – just to call out that you might have a few different purposes.
The Enrichment Walk
I think most dogs would pick an enrichment walk as their #1 choice, but that doesn’t mean that’s what you have to do every time. If you are taking your dog for an enrichment walk, you are going on their agenda. You let them sniff where they want to sniff, you throw some treats in grass for them to find and eat, and you make it all about the dog having fun. Maybe you take them to an off leash area and just let them be.
The cool thing about an enrichment walk for your dog is it can be a good way for you to practice being mindful. When your dog stops to sniff, I suggest you stop and take a deep breath. Look around you. Enjoy the moment.
The training walk
Your second option is a training walk. This is a walk with a mission to work on training with your dog. Maybe you are working on helping your dog generalize a skill you’ve been working on to a new environment. Perhaps you are focusing on loose leash walking and really working hard to train that. If you go to an off leash area, you are working on perfecting a recall. If you are like me, this might be the walk that makes you a little self-conscious, because you are acting like a fool as you work with your dog.
Whatever your training objectives on a training walk, this is also a walk where you should be sure you are having fun. Every time you work with your dog, you should be enjoying it – and your dog should be enjoying it. Training is not about forcing a behavior, come hell or high water, on your dog. It’s about using positive reinforcement to make it fun for both of you. You’re having a good time and encouraging your dog to make great choices by providing great reinforcement!
The human walk
Us humans need walks too. We need time to get some exercise, process our crazy lives, and just be. Those walks can be such a good way to help us reduce stress and find our center again. I love the human walk. And I love it even more if one of my awesome dogs is by my side.
The human walk is still a walk with your dog. They will enjoy it. They love your company. They get exercise. And you’ll probably let them do a little sniffing… But it’s okay that this walk is not dog-centric. You need your time too. Make yourself the main agenda once in a while. You’ll be all the better for it.
The Beauty of the Front-clip Harness
I love me some front clip harness… for all types of walks. A front-clip harness allows you to better control your dog, which helps you relax a little. They are such great tools, because clipping the leash to the front of the harness gives you better control of your dog and helps minimize pulling. If the dog pulls, the mechanics of the harness mean they are really going to get pulled around towards you. It minimizes the reinforcement they usually get from pulling (it gets them where they want to go!) and that helps slow down the pulling.
If you are on an enrichment walk, this kind of harness will help you keep your dog safe and keep your arm from getting pulled off. If you are on a training walk, the harness with make it easier to reinforce loose leash behaviors early in training. Maybe you can graduate to a flat collar eventually, but the harness will help get the training process started. (Never use a prong or choke collar, please! That’s a whole other post I’ll have to write…) If you are on a walk for you, the harness allows you to just go with your dog without worrying so much about what you should be doing about their pulling.
It’s Okay to Make Things Easier
My point about the harnesses – and about your priority on walks – is that it’s okay to make things easier on yourself. You don’t have to work on training your dog every walk you take. You also don’t need to have your arm pulled out of its socket. Just use a harness and do the training as you are able.
It’s okay to not be all things to your dog and to yourself on every walk. It’s okay to use a front-clip harness so you don’t have to worry about loose leash walking and pulling. Take a break from that. Maybe it’s not a priority for you right now. That’s perfectly okay! But go out there and take a walk – even if it’s just to give yourself a break and take a deep breath!