What are walks like with your dog?

people in Boston don't want some big dog pulling toward them and sniffing them up and down! City dogs need very good leash manners.

I don't live in city and um yeah, ANYWHERE it would be the height of rudeness to let your dogs pull on the leash, go sniff people, or physically interact with other dogs. My dogs are all trained to politely ignore other dogs and people we meet and to just pass them by. By "sniffing around" I mean letting the dogs smell inanimate objects, not people. I don't understand the people I see "frog-marching" dogs on walks where on EVERY walk the dog ever takes the dog just walks slowly in heel position, is NEVER actually exercised, i.e. asked to move fast enough to get an exercise benefit, and is ALSO never allowed to investigate the world the way dogs do, which is via smelling.

Walks with Max?  Sometimes fun, sometimes not so much.  He doesn't pull as much as he used to but I never know whether or not he's going to take a flying leap at another dog, so I usually just get him off the walking path when we see a dog coming ...  unless it's a dog that he knows and I know it's OK for them to interact.  Then he's fine.  Example:  A couple of days ago we were walking and there was a woman jogging toward us.  She was pushing one of those jogging strollers with a toddler and an infant and she had two big dogs, each leashed to a side of the stroller.  No way was I going to take a chance with Max jumping at one of those dogs and maybe upsetting the stroller.

Joyce

 well depending on the day you might have;

Bugsy the bloodhound

Bugsy the sled dog

Bugsy the hunter

Bugsy the CGC

Bottom line is he loves to go fast so we don't really walk - it is at least fast enough for him to trot and then it is pretty easy. You do need to be on the lookout for critters (deer and cats especially) and also other dogs because he wants to meet everyone he sees, so you need to get his focus if you see a dog.  He is lots better than he used to be but I don't think it will ever be a chilled out stroll - he 'works' on his walks and thus you do too.

haha - ohhh Bugsy =]

Walks with Casey are fun. I don't enforce heel - we're walking to get out of the house/yard - not to perfect training. If I ask for a heel - he'll do it, but normally I don't. I let him sniff, we jog some (I can't to too much because of my knee problems). We walk close to a mile each time we walk. He doesn't pull, as long as he's in his easy-walk harness, which is fine, I really don't mind too much.

Walking Ben is so much different. He HAS to heel next to me, the whole way. I'm trying to show him it's ok to be a dog... we're getting there.

We all stop for petting (good socializing for Casey and the others) esp. when we pass Casey's favorite little boy who lives behind us. Casey loves him, which is strange for me dog. ha. We stop to sniff hello to other dogs, if it seems appropriate, we don't go flying up to other animals, it's just rude.

The only thing I don't allow on our walks is marking. Casey's not allowed to do it - the other dogs aren't either. He is allowed to potty, don't get me wrong - but the peeing on every vertical surface is just not cool.

We try to walk or go to the park every day, but I'll be honest- it doesn't always happen. He always gets his exercise though, and no one has ever shown signs of being bored =]

It depends. When i walk both boys they are in a heel, Kaiser on the left, Wyatt on the right at a decently brisk pace. If i walk only Kaiser, i usually jog...him ahead of me on a 6 foot lead. I  let Wyatt have free reign on a 6ft lead because he doesn't pay attention to dogs or people and doesn't pee on everything, but normally heels on his own. 

Walks with my girl Quail are very enjoyable. Usually lasting from an hour to an hour and a half she stays in a heel while walking around the neighborhood, but walks freely on a 6 foot leash when we are at the park. She is very good about ignoring other people, dogs, and smells. We sometimes jog while at the park or play in the water- she loves the water!

 Tootsie, is not a puller and she ignores people and other dogs. She also has 0 prey drive, so walks are always nice.

Both of my dogs are required to walk politely by my side until we reach our destination. Then they are given the "Ok" and are allowed to have the full length of the leash to explore. Shippo sometimes tries to stop and sniff everything on the way, so I gently tug and say "come on" or "let's go" to get him to continue walking. Eevee used to be very leash aggressive, and would lunge to the end of her leash at other dogs. But these days, after lots of training and working with her, she looks at the dog, looks at me, I praise her, she wags her tail and we continue walking. We've come a long way!

Off leash - We live in the county so there are lots of really nice hiking trails nearby. I much prefer taking the dogs out to one of these and letting them run about and play, they have good recall and don't go out of sight from us. If we see another dog/person we usually call them back to us and leash them for a few seconds until the other person/dog passes by.

On leash - Sadie has to sniff everything, Timmy likes to try and mark things. Timmy walks well on a leash for us in a pretty good heel, he does not pull. If someone else tries to walk him and let him get away with pulling or not heeling, he will get away with it.  Sadie is in a harness and again, will pull if you let her, if you don't let her, she's fine.  Timmy is leaning how to run with a bike, he's doing well. He's also learning how to run with us on rollerblades.

Oh lordy... Cherokee doesn't even KNOW 'heel'. I've never seen a point in it. She knows not to pull, she knows not to wrap herself around trees and poles (she knows "this way", which means come next to me while we pass this tree/pole/whatever... I HATE when dogs walk on the other side of something and get stuck), and that's all that's important to me.

Walks are usually late at night through the park around the corner from my house, so I use a 20 foot leash with a knotted loop in the middle, although for about 98% of the walk a 4 or 6 footer would do, she stays right near me. I have to reel the leash in so we're not tripping over it and stuff...thats annoying, but Flexis are evil. I had one snap one time when she lunged at another dog, and even though she doesn't do that anymore, I'll never trust a flexi again.

But out in front, next to me, behind me... I don't care where she is as long as the leash is slack.

Oh yeah, and she sniffs everything, and pees on every vertical surface. That's why walks are fun for her, so its totally fine by me.

We have 3 "types" of walks. On our "regular" walks, Bailey walks right next to me, loose leash or sometimes off leash. Hes not allowed to pee or snif things until i tell him "ok" or "go". I dont mind a little pulling on the collar when hes being allowed to snif around a pee, as long as he listens when i tell him to come back to my side. Sometimes we go to the park and he gets to run around in the field off leash, and sometimes he just gets to snif around on leash.

Then we have our conditioning/workout/pulling walk is when Bailey is in harness, he walks in front and he is SUPPOSE to pull. If hes not pulling, we're not moving. But its not just an out-of -control dog pulling its person down the street. He still isnt allowed to pee/snif around. If there is a car,people, or another dog coming twords us, i have him stop pulling and come back to my side, where he will sit until i tell him to continue pulling or to stay walking at my side.

And of course we have the bike/rollerblades. Thats not really a walk, its more or a run. Hes in harness, and hes allowed to pull a little, but hes next to me, not in front. There are to many cars around here to use a long enough leash for him to be in front. I dont have any special dog biking attachment or anything, i just hold the leash in my hand. That way, when there is no traffic i can let him out further, but when there is a car i can quickly pull him in close until it passes.