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I don't have a fully fenced yard, so I walk my dog almost every day. On days I have to go in early for school, she gets about 45+ minutes when I come home. If I have the day off or have evening classes, then I walk her for about an hour to the dog park and let her run and play. She's nice and calm for the rest of the day (unless she spots the Great Danes next door).
She loves her walks so much, I just have to jingle the tags on her leash and collar to get her to come running
My Shepherd has a great big yard to play in, but he still gets walked twice every day, rain or shine.
Actually he looks forward to it.
We walk a wooded trail in the Arroyo Seco here in South Pasadena, every morning, and we usually walk about two miles on that trail.
At night we walk in the neighborhood for about five blocks.
He always lets me know when it's time for the walk.
It's good for both of us.
Bob.
And to answer the OP, absolutely! If Rudy doesn't get at least one walk daily, he drives me bonkers out of boredom - and that's not including the 2-3 potty trips, since we live in a second-story apartment. Usually we go for a quick potty walk in the morning, followed by another quick trip when I get home from work (8-9pm), and then have our REAL walk after midnight. I just like walking late at night, since it's much more calm and safe... this is a pretty active neighborhood in a major city, so I prefer walking without all the traffic around us. I also go to work later than most people, so this is perfect for both of our schedules. Anyway, we typically go for 30-40 minutes each night, which is good exercise for him AND me! I started losing weight the day I got a dog, and six years later I'm now 55lbs lighter.
A lot of people around here run their dogs with vehicles. Not unusual at all. We may have to do that with our Karelian when he's older.
I take both dogs (12yo lab/heeler and 4 1/2mo Karelian Bear Dog) on a 1.5-2 mile walk every day that it's not really nasty out (they don't want to go when there's 6 inches of slush in the streets or gale-force winds either), and usually take the pup out again for another 2-3 miles later in the day. He goes on snowshoe hikes of several miles already, and will be hiking and backpacking all over the place this summer. By next winter he should be able to pull a kicksled, so that'll be a primary form of excercise (and entertainment ).
We walk our dogs twice a day, rain or shine, warm or cold. The length of the walk depends totally on the dog. Gator is almost 15 now with really bad arthritis. His walk is only 3 houses down and back. For him its more about letting him explore a bit rather than actual exercise. Our other Lab, Kohla and our Hound, Sammie, get a 2 mile walk in the early morning and between 2 miles and 3 miles in the evening. Its not only good exercise but it also allows the dogs to develop and keep good social skills. We seem to be all dog people in our neighborhood so there are lots of us out walking at any time of day. Not all the dogs are sociable so that gives me the chance to reinforce to my dogs that barking and lunging by them is not acceptable. Finally...we also of course take along bags in case one or more of the dogs drop something!
OT though, I'm bad about it.........I used to walk Thor every day usually at night, then I stopped. Funny I was thinking about this the other day that I needed to walk him more. I know he would like some change of scenery. Wish I had a farm like my friend does then I could just walk the property without running into stupid people.
I walk my dogs 6 days a week. We walk up to a mile, depending on the route, which I vary so they and I don't get bored. I take one day off because I don't want them to feel like they MUST be walked every day, the way they must be fed. There are occasions, usually in the winter, when weather makes walks unsafe or unenjoyable to them, so year-round I just enforce the idea that sometimes there's a day of downtime and that doesn't mean they should be antsy or pestering me all day.
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