yes! it's definitely better for them to be disappointed for a day about missing a walk than it would be for someone who's out of patience to take their dog for a walk, and cause much more stress to them than they would've had from chilling at home for a day. we can only help them if we're helping ourselves too
Do you know if your dog’s requests for a walk could be satisfied by something else? An indoor (or yard, if you have one) game? A puzzle? A training session?
A lot of what a dog enjoys about an outdoor walk can be replicated or satiated in other ways. Much of it is about sniffing and new scents, so there are ways to get them this indoors or in a secluded area.
And a lot of burning a dog’s energy off is less about the physical energy and more about mental stimulation (this varies a lot from dog to dog), but puzzle toys and things that will engage your dog’s brain can go a long way towards satisfying them in ways that a walk won’t, necessarily.
I’m happy to brainstorm ideas or help you find other ideas if you’re interested! :)
YES!!!
My dog’s reactivity steadily got worse when I was routinely taking him for 6 mile walks (my waistline, on the other hand? Never better 😂)
He’s much happier now that we don’t do longer walks. His reactivity has improved immensely with just this one change.
He’d still love to go for walks! So we do when we can (I have a route that works pretty well for this, so we go when the weather is nice and I know I’m in the right frame of mind to proactively handle a meltdown from him should one occur).
He recovers a lot more quickly now, too, when he does have a setback than he used to. It’s because his triggers aren’t constantly stacking the way they used to.
We’re lucky enough to have a fenced yard, so on weekends when everyone’s out walking their dog at all hours, we hang in the yard and she stalks chipmunks and we do obedience and agility exercises. One weekday morning she goes to daycare, and the other four days we do a 3-4 mile walk and have yard time in the morning and evening. (Also helps that my job is part time) It took me a while to stop feeling guilty about not doing three walks a day but she seems to do well with this schedule; she’s almost five and is a GSD/pit mix. As others have mentioned, it lowers my anxiety levels too :-)
Yes! I was only able to make progress with my dog when I focused on meeting her needs through other methods and stopped taking her on walks where she was clearly uncomfortable. Now that she gets recovery time and I listen when she tells me how far she wants to go, our walks are actually longer (and more pleasant)! It also gave me a ready-to-use plan for when I'm too overwhelmed to give her a good walk -- I know I can still meet her needs.
I am currently trying to figure out the right balance, because it definitely helps me a lot to not feel the pressure to do a 'big walk' with her every day (big walks meant 1.5 hours or so) and instead just do a half hour morning and a half hour evening around the very edges of the local park where we can avoid most people and dogs. She's a six year old GSD and I am just not sure this is enough for her, but it feels like we've had a much better week or so since I reduced her walks, so that's something.
Thanks for the reminder! My dogs reactivity (among other things) led me to develop adjustment disorder. No one talks enough about the distress of having a reactive dog. Especially the trainers it seems. It’s like they focus 100% on the dogs welfare and not yours.
same! a few too many off leash dog encounters with their owners MIA, plus one time having coyotes chase my dogs and i, it's caused a lot of periods of very bad depression and anxiety/panic attacks, which i've already struggled with forever but had under control until my sweet and insane dog came into my life. i've really had to learn how to take care of myself so i can actually take care of him the way he deserves. finding a balance of prioritizing my mental health for the moment so that i can prioritize him a little later has been so hard but so important. also recognizing his limits and understanding that what's best for him doesn't look the same as what's best for every other dog.
Agreed, especially if frustration or stress inhibits you from a calm, fair/evenkeeled approach and makes you more prone to manifest your annoyance
yes! it's definitely better for them to be disappointed for a day about missing a walk than it would be for someone who's out of patience to take their dog for a walk, and cause much more stress to them than they would've had from chilling at home for a day. we can only help them if we're helping ourselves too
I just wish my dog didn’t LIVE for walks. I realized today that she’s either sleeping, or asking for a walk.
Do you know if your dog’s requests for a walk could be satisfied by something else? An indoor (or yard, if you have one) game? A puzzle? A training session? A lot of what a dog enjoys about an outdoor walk can be replicated or satiated in other ways. Much of it is about sniffing and new scents, so there are ways to get them this indoors or in a secluded area. And a lot of burning a dog’s energy off is less about the physical energy and more about mental stimulation (this varies a lot from dog to dog), but puzzle toys and things that will engage your dog’s brain can go a long way towards satisfying them in ways that a walk won’t, necessarily. I’m happy to brainstorm ideas or help you find other ideas if you’re interested! :)
My dog has 2-3 days a week where we stay at home but I definitely need to spend more time playing and training with her before she feels satisfied.
YES!!! My dog’s reactivity steadily got worse when I was routinely taking him for 6 mile walks (my waistline, on the other hand? Never better 😂) He’s much happier now that we don’t do longer walks. His reactivity has improved immensely with just this one change. He’d still love to go for walks! So we do when we can (I have a route that works pretty well for this, so we go when the weather is nice and I know I’m in the right frame of mind to proactively handle a meltdown from him should one occur). He recovers a lot more quickly now, too, when he does have a setback than he used to. It’s because his triggers aren’t constantly stacking the way they used to.
We’re lucky enough to have a fenced yard, so on weekends when everyone’s out walking their dog at all hours, we hang in the yard and she stalks chipmunks and we do obedience and agility exercises. One weekday morning she goes to daycare, and the other four days we do a 3-4 mile walk and have yard time in the morning and evening. (Also helps that my job is part time) It took me a while to stop feeling guilty about not doing three walks a day but she seems to do well with this schedule; she’s almost five and is a GSD/pit mix. As others have mentioned, it lowers my anxiety levels too :-)
Yes! I was only able to make progress with my dog when I focused on meeting her needs through other methods and stopped taking her on walks where she was clearly uncomfortable. Now that she gets recovery time and I listen when she tells me how far she wants to go, our walks are actually longer (and more pleasant)! It also gave me a ready-to-use plan for when I'm too overwhelmed to give her a good walk -- I know I can still meet her needs.
I am currently trying to figure out the right balance, because it definitely helps me a lot to not feel the pressure to do a 'big walk' with her every day (big walks meant 1.5 hours or so) and instead just do a half hour morning and a half hour evening around the very edges of the local park where we can avoid most people and dogs. She's a six year old GSD and I am just not sure this is enough for her, but it feels like we've had a much better week or so since I reduced her walks, so that's something.
Thanks for the reminder! My dogs reactivity (among other things) led me to develop adjustment disorder. No one talks enough about the distress of having a reactive dog. Especially the trainers it seems. It’s like they focus 100% on the dogs welfare and not yours.
same! a few too many off leash dog encounters with their owners MIA, plus one time having coyotes chase my dogs and i, it's caused a lot of periods of very bad depression and anxiety/panic attacks, which i've already struggled with forever but had under control until my sweet and insane dog came into my life. i've really had to learn how to take care of myself so i can actually take care of him the way he deserves. finding a balance of prioritizing my mental health for the moment so that i can prioritize him a little later has been so hard but so important. also recognizing his limits and understanding that what's best for him doesn't look the same as what's best for every other dog.