Do You Walk Your Dog Every Day? Is It Cruel Not To Walk Your Dog Every Day?
An article in the Guardian caught my eye this week: in Germany, they are to bring in a law stating that dogs must be walked twice a day, for at least an hour each time. Acknowledging that some dogs don’t receive the mental or physical stimulation that they need is fantastic. However, I fear that blanket rules such as this are too generalised.
It emerged later on that the article had not stated all the facts: the law would apply to dogs being tethered or chained up with no freedom, and also, to rescue centres and kennelled dogs in breeder establishments, as opposed to family pets.
Many dogs are kept in kennels for long periods of the day in rescue centres. We should remember though that without these same rescues, the dogs might be in even worse conditions. Whats more, rescues often work with minimal funds, relying on volunteer efforts to maintain them. I’m sure the rescue centres themselves would applaud the move to further protect dogs and their rights. Will they receive help from the government to do so, though, I wonder?
Puppy farms
On the other hand, I think this law would be welcomed by many of the poor pooches who spend their lives in puppy farms, destined to endlessly reproduce until they are no longer ‘useful’, and the poor dogs who have never known anything but the length of chain they spend their lives connected to.
It would be wonderful for all dogs to get 2 hours out each day if they need it. But what of the elderly dogs that can barely walk for 10 minutes, never mind 2 hours? Or dogs that have particular health difficulties that restrict their movement? And those that suffer from nervous reactions to certain stimuli, such as cars, people or other dogs? Or very young puppies who shouldn’t be walked that long? 2 hours walking each day for these dogs would be sheer torture.
Whatever our personal opinions may be concerning whether a dog should be walked daily or not, surely it really only comes down to one thing: what each individual dog needs. Each dog is different, and indeed, one dog’s needs might not be the same from one day to the next either.
The law in Australia to protect dogs
In fact, a similar law was passed last year in Australia. Although that law was indeed principally aimed at dog owners, the difference is that it focussed on cases of animal cruelty. Dogs that were free to run around the house and garden in their family home are not targeted by the law. Rather, it is intended to protect dogs that are confined and unable to exercise for a period of 24 hours or more.
The legislation did also require pet businesses – such as boarding kennels – to be licensed though, and this has to be welcomed as better protecting dogs.
However, the Australian legislation is careful not to be a blanket law. For instance, dogs that have to be confined for their own safety – such as, following surgery or other treatment – are not targeted.
Both of these laws have, at their core, an intention to protect dogs and ensure their basic needs are met, something we should all be grateful for. This is the crux of the matter though: a ‘walk’ isn’t the only way to accomplish this.
Does a dog need a walk?
A few months ago I wrote about this very issue in ‘Rethink dog walking‘. In that, I questioned the need for, and the nature of, walking from the dog’s point of view, rather than what we humans think it should be.
I had been pondering the issue for a while after coming across another newspaper article that stated that, according to a UK survey, “just 42 per cent of the nation’s dogs are walked on a daily basis”, implying that this was because owners couldn’t be bothered to walk them.
For sure, there are dogs who spend almost their entire lives in the confines of the family home and garden, and yes, some of these dogs would probably dearly love a walk but their pet parents are too lazy to take them out. However, there are also good reasons for not taking a dog out for a walk, or at least, not taking him out for 2 hours a day.
Why does a dog need a walk?
Dogs need a walk for a handful of reasons, principally toileting, physical exercise, socialisation, mental stimulation and training.
But many of these needs can in fact be satisfied in so many other ways, not only by a 1 hour walk twice a day. If you observe street dogs, they don’t get 2 hours of exercise a day either, and they’re free to walk as much as they like.
What can I do instead of walking the dog?
There are so many activities that we can provide for our dogs rather than go out for a walk. I’m not proposing that we stop walking dogs. For many dogs and their humans, this is the most suitable way to get what they need.
But there are alternative options for those of us who need them. So here are my admissions. When it rains, we often don’t go out for a walk at all. Instead we play games indoors and my dogs will almost certainly get their dinner as part of a Free Work enrichment setup which will provide them with some tiring, mental stimulation.
Sniffing is so important for a dog, so most at-home activities will involve some nose work toys or games.
How long to walk a dog?
Next admission: I only ‘walk’ my girl for 20 minutes, several days a week. Every other day, I go for a run and that run replaces her ‘walk’. We usually run along a country path where there are no cars and she is free to stop and sniff, then catch up with me when she’s ready.
I would argue that she gets more exercise in that 20 minute run than many dogs get on two x one hour walks a day.
The opposite extreme is also true: it is possible to exercise a dog too much. Ball chuckers have a lot to answer for, creating inappropriate, over-intensive, high-impact and exhausting exercise that our dogs’ damaged joints will not thank us for.
A third admission: My elderly boy has weekly hydrotherapy and I don’t walk him on swimming days. It would be too tiring for him. The same is true of days when he has acupuncture. We do have a garden and he is free to wander in and out as he wishes.
Equally, in mid summer it’s far too hot to ask a dog to walk for an hour. Any dog would return home with his paws badly burned from boiling tarmac pavements and severely dehydrated, if not already suffering from potentially fatal heatstroke.
Is it OK not to walk your dog every day?
Many pet parents still believe that it’s necessary to walk a dog every day, without realising that there are other, possibly better, options.
For instance, a nervous dog who reacts badly every time she is taken out would benefit much more from game playing and confidence building at home than being forced to go on a walk.
We need to be able to assess our dog’s needs on an individual basis, and this will be different according to age, size, health and emotional state. Forcing a dog to go for a walk if that’s NOT what your dog needs, could be very damaging, both physically and mentally.
So long as we put our dog’s needs at the forefront of why we do things, our dogs are likely to be OK. Missing the daily walk is not the end of the world.
It will be interesting to see how they intend to enforce this new legislation in Germany, and what the consequences will be for the dogs that are affected by it.
Conclusion
I’m not just questioning the wisdom of the German ruling to justify my own laziness: whilst I do take my dogs out most days, there are days when they don’t go for a walk. However, on these days they get their needs met in other ways via alternative activities which provide physical and mental stimulation. There are also days when long walks would be detrimental to their health.
It’s created an interesting discussion though, which gives us the opportunity to challenge the notion of ‘the dog walk’. Rather than see it as a human construction, carried out to meet our own needs or those we think represent our dogs, we should think carefully about what our dogs might actually benefit from most.