The Dog Blog

How much should you walk your dog?  More than you are doing right now, I guarantee you.

Here’s the scenario:

I get to a client’s house to take a look at their 8 month old Weimaraner.  The dog is just NUTS, jumping around like crazy, jumping on the owners, jumping on me, jumping on the furniture, running circles around the room, bouncing up to eye level with everyone in the room….  you getting the idea.

I watch this going on for about 30 seconds and start sizing up the situation.

Then we start the conversation:

Me:  Well, now that’s an energetic pup.

Client:  Sure is.  She’s like this all the time.  Never stops moving, we just can’t let her in the house like this and can’t get her to calm down.

Me:  You know, these dogs were bred to run for miles and miles every day.

Client:  Really??  I didn’t know that

Me:  Just for grins, how much do you walk this dog every day?

Client:  Well, we take her about once or twice a week for a walk around the block.

HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!

This is where we get into trouble.  You show me a client that takes their dog out once or twice a week for a walk around the block and I’ll show you a dog with "issues".  You just can’t do that.  

Dogs need exercise in order to function normally.  You can’t just toss ‘em into the back yard and think that they are going to get their daily requirement of exercise, they won’t.  What they’ll do is probably find a cool place and lay down to sleep or get bored and eat your teak picnic table.  These guys need structured exercise on a daily basis and I don’t mean just for nutty Weimaraner, your little Bichon needs to get out and use it’s mind and body just like any other dog.

When you start training a dog exercise becomes even MORE important.  Dogs that are so wound up that they are bouncing off the walls are really difficult to train so much so that it’s often nearly impossible.  But, if the dogs are exercised on a regular basis things change dramatically.  With daily  walks (of reasonable times) we can calm these guys down enough to get their attention and get down to some serious dog training that would be impossible with a "backyard" dog.

Now, I hate to say it but not enough dog owners get their pups out enough.  Most dogs would do well with a good solid hour a day of structured exercise each and every day.  This hour can be made up lots of different ways, 30 minutes in the morning and another in the evening, or even shorter stints of training during the day but at least an hour EVERY day.  That’s for the average dog, if you have something like that Weimaraner  or a Border Collie you’re going to need to take up marathon running.  I’m not kidding.

Now to cut this rant short let’s look at this again.  You need to train your dog.  In order to get your dog to focus  and get trained, you have to give it exercise.  When you exercise your dog it’s easier for them to focus and lean and it makes for a nicer house pet (less bouncing, jumping, howling…whatever) and makes both you and your dog happier because it’s getting trained faster.    Make sense?

Now, get up and go walk your dog.

Steve Haynes
Austin Dog Trainer
Fidelio Dog Works
www.fideliodogs.com
512.231.8095

Last weekend The New York Times Magazine had a fascinating article about how we treat our dogs today.  I recommend everyone take a look at this and just think about it for a while.  Like most things, there is some good stuff there along with a few things that I disagree with. 

I take issue with the authors idea that dogs should be "relegated to the basement and the back porch" but I do support her when she says that dogs should be expected to "earn their keep as retrievers and ratters".  I’ve always been an advocate of having a JOB for the dogs to do and I think that with that comes a better human-dog understanding.

Take for instance my dog Gwennie.  She is a beautiful thing, a lovely Welsh Springer that is four years old.  Gwennie is not the brightest dog in the world and she was a real bear to train when she was a puppy but she has two jobs that she does around the house and she does them very well.  First, and this is not very taxing, she is the pretty dog of the group.  She’s calm, pleasant, and pretty and is just the kind of dog you want to follow you everywhere.  I trained her to do that, follow me EVERYWHERE.  Second, Gwennie’s real job is to close the front door whenever we come inside.  She does this every time we come in and she loves doing it.  She’ll whip around after we go inside, check to see that all the other dogs are in, and then push the door closed with a nice satisfying shove.  It took her a while to learn this job but now that she knows it she can’t really settle in in the evening until she closed the door after us.

 Long digression there, but if you read the article you’ll see that the author doesn’t like how we make our pets "Prima-Donnas".  What I have to say there is that even Prima-Donnas have jobs they can do that make them better members of dog society.  Heck, if Gwennie can find a job, any dog can.

Steve Haynes

Austin dog trainer

Fidelio Dog Works

Austin, Tx.

512.231.8095 

Austin has always been a dog friendly town and, compared to most is still one of the doggiest cities in the country but I’ve recently noticed a trend that is disturbing…more and more places don’t want your dog there with you.

 As a trainer I’ve always recommended that my clients take their dogs to different public places so that they could practice thier commands and manners.  Usually these involve dog friendly restaurants or coffie housesAustin has always been a dog friendly town and, compared to most is still one of the doggiest cities in the country but I’ve recently noticed a trend that is disturbing…more and more places don’t want your dog there with you.

 As a trainer I’ve always recommended that my clients take their dogs to different public places so that they could practice their commands and manners.  Most times these places are dog friendly restaurants or coffee houses.  This hasn’t been a problem until lately.  One of my all time favorite places to recommend to clients "Austin Java" has recently shut their doors to four legged friends because a patron was complaining that having dogs there was "unsanitary".  Well, what a loss… for them that is.  I wonder if that person has ever been to Paris where dogs are welcome and most eating establishments. 

As of this moment forward I’m recommending that all of our good dog owners around Austin begin patronizing Mozarts on Lake Austin Blvd.  They are still pet friendly and allow dogs on their entire patio area.  They deserve the business of the dog community for standing up to silly pressure against "unsanitary" dogs.

Find these restaurants and establishments that allow you to take your dog and give them your business.  If we keep supporting them we’ll keep Austin a great town for pet owners and a very "doggy" city indeed.

Steve Haynes

Austin Dog Trainer

Fidelio Dog Works

512.231.8095