Dog Walking Do's and Don'ts

By: Meradeth Houston on 4:00 AM

I have something a little different today as the cool people over at Rover asked me to publish a post about dog walking :) Because Kate-the-Great is my constant companion, and she and I have spent a whole lot of time working on her leash skills, I thought I'd post a few of my personal thoughts on the matter!

Kate and the flowerbeds. Her desire to excavate them is a whole other story :)

Kate came to me as a shelter pup with no previous training. I've had her for almost a year now and she's made leaps of progress in most every area: potty training, not being scared of stairs, being more confident with strangers, not barking at everything, and is in general just the best little love-bug on the planet. (I could gush about her for ages!) But there are times when we come across situations, or other dogs, that can make our walks a bit of a struggle. There's definitely an etiquette to walking your dog.

A few good things to do while walking:

• Stick to paths where dogs are allowed. They're usually marked, and for good reason :)
• Keep your dog on-leash if they're going to stray from your side. I don't know how many times

  

  Kate, guarding the front yard.

  I've been hiking, either alone or with Kate, and come across dogs off-leash. Now, I totally get why an owner might want to do that, but I get a little scared. Are the dogs friendly? Are they going to harm Kate? Me? I have no idea. And if there's not an owner close, I have no way of knowing.
• Let the dogs sniff butts. So long as they're being friendly, why not let the dogs have a moment or two to "meet"? I always feel a little sad when an owner pulls their dog away before Kate can meet-&-greet. She needs that interaction.
• Keep the leash short. Just because it can extend for twelve feet doesn't mean it needs to. Sometimes that leads to more problems, not the least of which is getting tied in a knot by a little rat terrier (*ahem* Kate).
• Always, always, always bring supplies to pick up after your pet. No one likes stepping in dog-do. Nor the smell of it. So do everyone a favor and pick it up.

A few other things that you may want to avoid:

• Not picking up after your pet. Redundant? Yep. And for a good reason. It's smelly, gross, and

  

  Kate, the day I adopted her from
  the Sacramento SPCA.

  often leads to people being upset with dogs in general. Plus, it's just good manners.
• Forgetting that you're the one in charge, not the dog :) Sometimes I see big dogs hauling their petite owners down the sidewalk, which may be hard to help, but for the most part it's in a dog's nature to obey it's pack leader. Overall, this leads to a happier dog owner and pet.
• Unhappy dogs? Go around. Sometimes Kate acts like a totally unsociable pain around other dogs. She'll growl and act like she's going to get aggressive, often for no reason I can see. I am always so embarrassed! But when this happens, I keep that short leash close and give the other dogs space, and really hope that next time they meet they'll find more common ground.

These are a few of the things I think about while out with Kate. There are definitely more. I'd love for you to chime in with any ideas on what you do while walking your dog, or when you encounter dogs while walking?

And do check out Rover: their dog walking and boarding services are great! Definitely a good resources for helping out dog owners.