Walking to Poop and Walking to Exercise – All Walks are NOT the SAME!

Donna Harris teaching the class today!

HI! Let’s talk WALKS!

A source of confusion for Humans is simply walking. Taking me out to go to the bathroom is not a ‘WALK’. When you go to that room with that funny smelling water in that big bowl, do you feel you ‘worked out’? Burned some calories? Well going out to pee is NOT exercise. Get it?

Walking, as a form of exercise, is great and I enjoy it – I need long walks. Walking for us dogs, is a really big deal. We bond and reinforce our PACK. We love to smell, investigate, and experience the world outside the house or backyard. Keeping us FROM that is a bad idea. We’re curious and are really good escape artists. That’s one reason why we get out of the backyard.

Here are some of the excuses I’ve heard from you (Humans) for not taking us out to walk:

1. Lazy – too tired, ate too much, ‘drinks’ that make you weird and throw up and wake up grumpy and sweaty.
2. Making Lazy Excuses – too busy, too tired, ate too much, not enough TIME
3. Passing responsibility – one of the kids, the spouse, the backyard will do {IT DOESN’T}.
4. The ‘quick’ Walk (it’s not a walk) – quick pee, immediately back in. Less than 5 minutes.

All Humans have done 1 – 4. Even my Dad – “short changes” me on the walks from time to time. We walk everyday so it’s not  a big deal. But it adds up over time. He doesn’t miss two days in a row. EVER. And we go to HUMAN parks and have lots of fun. He like to mix it up.

Hey it’s ME
Donna inna TREE

Not going out regularly, results in me being

1. uncomfortable with digestive issues,
2. whining, and
3. bad behavior.

You guys complain. What am I thinking? “Take me OUT. It’s good for you and me.”

POOP WALK

Seriously?… A little privacy please!

My routine, when I head out to poop, consists of going out 30 minutes after eating. That’s my “Bathroom Walk”.

Let me sniff and pee on any and everything for around 15 or 30 minutes. I only wants 5 minutes. I am VERY quick. Grady, likes to take his time. Again, we know what we need to do. Encourage us. My Dad says ‘Good poopie doopie!’ We poop and pee pee on command.

EXERCISE WALKS

Exercise walks, if there is no running, depending on the dog need to be about 1 hour. Yea. That long. We can do things together – like walk to a park – run around for 30 minutes and walk home – 1 hour is great! Changing up the route works wonders for both the bathroom walk and exercise walk.

Yeaa! Look at me I’m Flyin!

Training a dog with the concept of an athlete in mind is a great analogy of the amount of exercise a dog needs. Not all athletes are equal so find the right amount of exercise for your Dog. They’ll love you for it and obedience will go up considerably. Regular,vigorous, walks are a great thing for Humans and Dogs.

Human kids have gym class, get recess, and get to PLAY when they get home. They run around and burn all that extra energy. Dogs need to to do the same thing. Burn energy – then our minds are calm and we can retain the training and maintain the routine that is set up for us. More on how to establish a routine can be found HERE. Walking to poop at the same times each day is great because it lets me know when to go out, and we know what we need to do when we go outside.

TIP

My Dad uses our neighborhood to make our walks WAY more interesting. Here’s me strutting my stuff, showing off in MY Favorite Park!

Summary

To establish a routine: go to the ‘Bathroom’ aka OUT after 30 or 45 minutes after we eat is a great start. We should be ready to go out. Exercise walks, are for an hour at a minimum. Hopefully, we get to jog or sprint a little bit. For larger more athletic dogs, a Bike is usually necessary, as a Human walking or Running won’t dispel my energy. I’m an animal with four legs. A bike, and/or a hearty game of fetch on a soccer field is perfect.

Walking for the ‘Bathroom’ is a short walk multiple times a day (3) is great about every four to six hours.

When do you take your dog out?