Yes, It IS Good Enough!

You know how I'm always talking about letting your dogs sniff on their walks?  Well, I had someone reach out to tell me that they try and try and try to do this, but they find it so aggravating that it can't be all that rewarding for their dog as they so clearly hate it themselves!  I appreciated this person's candor; it IS hard to change the way we do anything, whether that's the way we walk our dogs or the way we approach exercise for ourselves.  Both require us to change our mindset, cut ourselves some slack knowing mistakes/setbacks happen, and enjoy the process as much as we can.  Here's what I mean.

I'm a runner.  I'm not particularly fast, but I am consistent, what other runners refer to as a pacer.  If you want to teach yourself to keep a consistent speed, run with me.  I run the same pace whether I'm running in a 5K or I'm running for fun on a random Tuesday.  I do, however, run splits to challenge myself, especially if I have a race coming up.  A split is the time it takes a runner to run a certain distance, say a mile, when the race itself is longer than that.  You look at your split times to see how you can work up to different pacing strategies to get you through a race. A negative split means running the second half of your run faster than the first half.  Runners who do endurance runs, or who want to improve their overall time, work on this a lot.  A positive split means running the second half of your run at a slower pace than the first half.  People who run mostly for fun do this.  And then there are those who do even splits which is running each mile at the exact same pace, which is your split time, like a 10-minute mile. So, why am I telling you all this?  I'd like you to try approaching your walks with your dog like a runner doing splits.  

Divide your walk into segments.  Maybe allow your dog to sniff and relieve themselves for the first ten minutes of your walk.  Pause, tell them it's go time, and spend the next ten minutes speed walking, no stopping to sniff, focusing on your breathing, length of stride, and encouraging your dog to keep their head up and match your pace.  Then pause, and either return to the slower, sniffing pace (a positive split), or pick up the pace yet again, maybe trotting or jogging with your dog if they are healthy enough to do that (a negative split).  Finish your walk with a cool down, meaning a slower pace full of deep breathing for you, looking around and enjoying the view, and a sniff and final bathroom break for your dog.  By dividing your walk into splits, you allow yourself the opportunity to get some exercise, but you also give your dog what they need, ample time to sniff and explore.  By doing the pause in between splits, you give your dog the opportunity to note that a change is happening.  It allows them to prepare and know what you expect of them.  Here's an example.

When I walk with Ozzie and Henley together, we maintain a consistently slower pace for the entire walk, lots of sniffing and exploring.  Ozzie is 11 years old and his pace has slowed greatly; he now only runs if he sees a squirrel worth chasing!  That slow pace is somewhat frustrating for Henley, however, as he likes to walk quite a bit faster between sniffs.  How do I make the walk work for both of them?  I still do splits, they are just slower paced overall.  On the "no sniff" split, I pick up the pace just slightly and encourage Ozzie to move by saying things like,"what's that over there?!" which causes his head to come up and him to trot forward to look.  That way, Henley can move along at the pace he enjoys more.  Now, when I walk Henley alone, we do that exact pattern I described in the previous paragraph; the first ten minutes of our walk is for sniffing and toileting, and the remaining 35 minutes is broken into three, ten minute splits where we speed walk, then jog, then run, before our five minute cool down, positive split, at the end.  

Doing something like splits on your walks will give you the opportunity to get a bit of exercise which is what most people tell me is the problem with these sniff and stroll walks, not enough cardio for the human!  The cool thing about doing splits with your dog, however, is that they will get into better physical shape as well.  And your walks will ultimately be less frustrating because you are getting your cardio and your dog is getting their sniff time, and you are both feeling satisfied with the outing overall, which was the goal, right?  To enjoy your walks together.

As always, if you have questions about your pet's behavior, you know where to find me.

So my daughter and I both walk Zelly.  I often walk her with Henley which means she does splits as I outlined above.  My daughter does sniff and strolls with her mostly, but they also hike once to twice a week, working on their stamina with hills.  My daughter is also a runner and she will begin training with Zelly during the summer to do canicross, which are races you can do with your dog. Zelly has learned to pace with me, so I have no doubt she and my daughter will be placing in canicross races in the not so distant future.