Why Do We Walk?
For my learning project this week, I decided to take a step back and reflect on why dogs need walking. I asked myself the question, why do we walk our dogs in the first place? Obviously, it is physical exercise for the pup and its owner, but what are the other benefits of walking?
The Animal Foundation website touches on a few benefits, including:
- Walking provides exercise and mental stimulation to avoid destructive behaviours from being ‘couped up.’
- Walking is good for overall health, mainly to prevent weight gain
- Walking provides socialization, teaching your pup how to interact with other dogs confidently
- Walking is a great training tool if you want to teach discipline in different capacities to your dog at home.
“The Dog People” blog list some other pros to dog walking, including:
- Improved gut health
- Weight regulation
- Improved joint health
All of these factors seemed pretty self-explanatory to me but still valuable for me to keep in mind when I might be feeling lazy myself and deny Jazz the opportunity to go on a walk.
Throughout the week, I decided to take Jazz on some longer walks. I felt our training was going well, and I wanted to see how she would handle a longer duration. I wondered if her behaviours would change. Would Jazz get more distracted? Or more tired? However, this was not the case. Jazz walked the longer walks (~45min) with equal attention as she has been doing with our shorter walks (~20min). We did go over to Wascana Lake and explore there, so she did have a few more distractions and new experiences, including more people, ducks, geese and sprinklers. However, her recall stayed sharp, which kept her on task. After having a few longer walks, I wondered what is the best length of time to walk your dog? I explored this blog from Dog’s Best Life to ponder this question. The blog states: “While you may expect a straightforward answer to how often you should walk your puppy, it varies from dog to dog. The amount of walking and exercise a dog needs depends on the breed, general health, size, and current physical shape.” However, after this statement, it said the recommended amount of exercise is 30 minutes per day. Then, a relatable comparison was made about stamina and endurance, stating: “You can’t take a dog that rarely ever walks on a two-hour walk and expect him to feel good. If your dog is out of shape, start with 20-minute walks. Build up that time gradually by adding an extra 5 minutes every day, or add a second walk in the afternoon.” Without even meaning to, I have been conditioning Jazz by starting with shorter walks and adding time on. Since Jazz is not our only dog, she gets a ton of outside activity running around with Piper and Paisley in the yard; because of this, I am not concerned with adding a second walk for her.
I particularly liked this video because it highlights the benefits of dog walking for the person walking the dog!
For the Humans Too
I did a bit more research on this and found the American Kennel Club’s blog that outlined ten benefits to owning a dog. They are:
- Dogs make us feel less alone
- Dogs are good for your heart (lower blood pressure levels in response to stress)
- Dogs help you from stressing out
- Dogs help cope with crisis
- Dogs encourage you to move
- Dogs make you more attractive (this one is interesting, but a study surveyed dating profiles for this claim)
- Dogs [& walking our dogs] make us more social
- Dogs make us love
- Dogs make us happier
- Dogs help older people with cognitive function and social interaction
Overall, I am glad I took my learning project’s focus briefly off the processes and training points of the walks this week to explore more of the benefits and reasons we walk in the first place!