Why should I walk my dog?

I feel like you do, Bellarose.... You wouldn't believe the number of fat Labs I see in my area. I'm guessing I see 3 fat Labs for every fit one.

I think it depends on the individual situation. I only sporadically take my dogs on official leash walks around the neighborhood. However, they get either frisbee, fetch, or flyball practice every day - rigorous, and I want to see tongues hanging. Well, in Zippy's case he gets jump the jumps and tug the sock practice, forget the balls. Surprisingly enough though our yard is small it does the trick. I try to get June on sheep at least every week, or every other week. On the weekends I travel a lot with the dogs, usually hitting the dog park, friends farms, or family member's BIG back yards. Or all three. I rarely go anywhere that I don't have at least one or more dogs with me. Fortunately they are welcome at my families' houses, and most of the places we go. They get socialized, exercised, stimulated, and challenged.

Yesterday for kicks I decided to try my 3-dog coupler, and I was pleased that it worked out nicely (I usually do them all on seperate leashes - a fiasco to be sure). The last time I tried it the whole deal resembled a circus act, with me as the clown. I may do that more since the weather is looking better.

All of that being said, with the exception of the Papillon, walking on a leash does nothing for my other 3 as far as exercise goes. But, it reminds them about how to walk nicely, have manners, and gives them a chance to read their pee-mail. They are also able to go to unenclosed places with me and be reliable off leash. Its a nice balance for us, and it works.

Oh, I met a lab last fall, walked by a nice elderly gentleman; I would have guessed the dog's age at 10 or 12, she was stiff and overweight and limping/waddling.
 
I was shocked that the dog was three. The owner started sheepishly talking about walking more, how the vet was insisting the dog loose weight and excersize.
 
Ewin, I am a sucker for Wiems.....and a Wegman fan. I saw one of his exhibits years ago at the ICA in Boston. There is a Weim in my neighborhood that breaks my heart. He is an intact male, only a few years old, tied out on a 15 ft runner in a muddy little section of this person's yard, with a doghouse. From what I understand, he is out there all day. When I have walked by, he won't even react. He just stares at us, doesn't bark. I was thinking he might be sedated, or perhaps has just given up on life. Weims have always struck me as dogs with a lot of spirit, and something seems off about this dog, he seems dpressed. The yard is meticulously landscaped, beautiful deck with a hottub, etc. the people have money, and he is relegated to this crappy little corner, on display like a yard ornament. Lots of us, who walk our dogs, have noticed him, and the owners are roundly criticized as cruel. But he is fed and brought in at night and otherwise healthy, so there is little that can be done.
 
There is this suburban thing people have about sporting dogs, everyone has to have one; it goes right along with the house and the mini van. But a lot of people don't seem to consider the physical/psychological needs of the animal. There seems to be this small dog bias, when, in a lot of cases, a smaller dog would be a much better fit, especially for peopel without fenced yards, or who are really busy and don't have time for hour long power walks twice a day.
 
Oh, and to dogslyfe...reading their pee-mail.....that's just perfect, I laughed out loud at that.

I've got a neighbor with a beagle.  She's about two years old and lives with her owner who is an older gentleman.  He never walks or plays with her, even to throw a ball in his yard.  His yard is fenced and he thinks it is enough to just let her out.  The dog is poorly socialized and has no manners whatsoever.  He mows and does other yard work, so I don't think tossing a ball for 15 minutes is too much to ask.  I hadn't seen the dog throughout the winter, but did a few weeks ago and the dog has gotten soooo fat that it makes me want to cry.  A younger beagle was visiting there a couple of weeks ago and the older dog (not that 2 is old) could barely keep up with him.
 
About the "yard ornaments", geez, maybe the owners don't want their perfect lawn messed up with pee patches!  Argh...[:@] 
 
I once lived in a neighborhood with a GSD nearby and the oor guy  lived in a kennel year-round - never got taken out.  I used to stop and talk to the dog.  I'd have busted him out of there if I could.[sm=cry.gif]

ORIGINAL: bellarose
Oh, and to dogslyfe...reading their pee-mail.....that's just perfect, I laughed out loud at that.

I totally cannot take credit for it. I think I saw someone else here call it that, and I thought it a hoot! But I'm glad to give you a laugh nonetheless!

I have a neighbor that has two dogs... a Rottie and a Pit Bull. They are both tied up behind their house - one to a tree on a chain, and the other to the portable basketball goal - with a nylon leash. They get attention when someone goes out to feed them. Very, very sad.

Most of my family members have very overweight dogs - that get little to no exercise, and while they get a lot more attention than a lot of dogs, nowhere near enough according to my standards. They make my dogs look practically emaciated too. Then again, they ask me if I ever feed my dogs. Sorry, but my dogs are atheletes - why (since I know better) would I want them overweight? Then again, if someone who didn't know them and me felt them, they'd be convinced I don't feed my dogs - because you can feel their ribs. You WANT to be able to feel a dogs ribs - if it is at a healthy weight.

Wow I'm impressed with this thread.  I just wanted to know if there was a specific benefit to walkin my dog on leash as opposed to off leash.  I am glad to see that I am not the only one that does not take thier dog for miles and miles of on leash walking just for exercise.  Its nice to see that some people feel that off leash is indeed better for the exercise factor at least in large breeds.  I've been feeling lazy for not taking them out 12 times a day on leash to get their exercise requirement but instead opting for a couple hours of good off leash romping.  I still go out at least 4 times but I dont have to put in the miles that they do.  I've raised this question before at our park with the other owners but obviously they agree with me since they are there too.

And I did get a good answer too.  I honestly had overlooked the socialization and training benefit to walking on leash.  I suppose it was the mindset of walking means exercise.  Training to walk on a leash has always been for me, so that we can get exercise without me losing an arm.  I have had a change of heart.  I will continue with our leash manners but I won't feel guilty if on a certain day all I can do is go to the park and let them play and maybe throw a few balls in the yard(once its fenced in.)The  off season has really been looming on me.  Without any snow, and none of my dogs old enough to do any pavement running, I was starting to worry.  I feel much more confident that I will still be able to do right by my dogs this summer.

And aside from a little spitting in the middle of the thread(which I was largely a part of) it was nice to have a debate like this.

BellaRose, that makes me so sad about that weim.  They are not outside dogs at all in any climate.  They need people.  The poor thing probably is depressed.  If they ever decide they don't want to deal with it anymore and you find out about it, please let me know. I know many weim rescue people around the country! 
I hope you don't live in the northeast though(you mentioned Boston) because it is WAY too cold for a weim to be left out year round! I should know my poor weim spends 3 second doing his business before rushing to the backdoor!  Though the yard ornament mentality makes me think you do!  I hope not!

The only benefit you might have to walking your huskies on leash is that they get to pull. If you do it for the pulling exercise, you'd want to use a harness. I use a regular harness you can buy at Petco or Petsmart. The main reason for the advice of not letting huskies off-leash is that they have strong wandering instinct and can very fast for quite sometime, getting beyond your range of control very quickly. OTOH, I've known huskies to perform agility, which is partly off-leash. If your dogs are used to being off leash and playing by running, which they also enjoy, that's as much good exercise as pulling something.
 
I like walking my dog and we're not in a place where I can safely let him free run. So, our next best thing is harness and leash and to let him pull. Then, we come back home and he'll do some 30 mph blitzkrieg rounds in the yard.
 
I think you're doing just fine.
 

In fact, here's Shadow pulling a load, namely, me.
 
 

Ron oddly enough I dont have any pics of Crusher in harness but he does pull.  I use an xback harness.  He's fast and strong.  He can pull BF like nothing is there.  He wont pull me though , not because I'm heavier but because he seems to think he should ride in the sled with me.  Next year we will start off with a real dogsled.   The girls will be old enough to start next winter so that will be better. 

I wouldnt even try walking him in harness unless he had a load to pull.  There would be nothing holding him back!  And I dont want him to think that he has to slack on the line.

Thanks though for showing up.  I was waiting for you and your sled dog experience.

Well, I've never raced sleds but I've studied it quite a bit. I made Shadow an x-back from a pattern I bought. But, imo, it is only suitable for working on a gang-line. For regular walking I use the regular harness. It all allows him to pull and allows me more control.
 
I've got a crude drawing for a dog cart, since we don't get much snow in Texas. I just had an excellent idea. One of my co-workers also has a talent for welding. I should design and get the parts for a cart and let him go at it. Since we're in and out of drainage ditches, I was thinking of 3 or 4 wheels with independent suspension.
 

You might consider a cart for Shadow. I want one, but I have to get a big dog first I think it'd be a lot of fun to train the dog to do it, and a GREAT workout for any dog, but especially for dogs that are bred to really pull a load.

Rolenta posted a link over in the "activity ideas" thread in anything and everything. They have carts and scooters for dogs to pull.

Ok the idea of rabbit hunting is...You have dogs, beagles mostly, that are trained to hunt and chase rabbits.  You take them to a big field, here we have lots of tree nurseries and thats really prime.  They do what dogs do to help you find the rabbits, sniff them out, chase them, things like that.  We, hopefully, are able to bag a few rabbits a trip.  This is why we own the beagles.  For some people this is a sport or hobby, we are under the opinion that if you hunt it you eat it.  To get the best hunting ability you can't let the beagles out every day to hunt.  I am not saying they are never out, they do get to have yard time, but not hunting time.  If we let them hunt every day, they are as willing to run the rabbits, they get burnt out kinda.  Thats what rabbit hunting is for us.  Did I explain it better?  Or is it clear as mud still?  []
 
Mollie

If we let them hunt every day, they are as willing to run the rabbits, they get burnt out kinda.

They're not very drivey, are they? I guess that's why JRT aren't used for rabbit hunting... Dachshunds are, though. At least, that's what I hear. All Teenie wants to do is go in the holes. I'm sure she'd do whatever they do, but the soil isn't soil, it's sand. It's not safe to GTG here.

And that, my friends, was me being random.

Hey Ron.

If you and your friend want to go ahead and make that cart, Crusher and I will be happy to test it out for you!  And we wont even charge you a dime![]