October 1st thru the 7th is National Walk Your Dog week.  In honor of this our friends at My GBGV Life and Cascadian Nomads are hosting a blog hop.

Here at Heart Like a Dog not only are walks an important part of Sampson’s recovery from ACL surgery, we also LOVE walking.

Sampson and Delilah are considered ‘senior’ dogs because they are both over 7 years old.  We started walking about four years ago to help Sampson and Delilah lose weight. Before Sampson tore his ACL we walked once a day, typically in the evenings and our walks were usually between 25 and 35 minutes.  On the weekends when time was less restrictive we would often times walk up to an hour.

When I sat with the physical therapist to discuss Sampson’s recovery I told the PT that I typically walked the dogs and if I noticed they were getting tired I turned around.  She explained to me it’s better not to let them or their muscles get tired.  While it’s perfectly okay for them to walk an hour a day, it should be broken up into smaller walks.

Since Sampson’s surgery we’ve been doing two walks per day.  This actually works out to between 45 to 50 minutes during the week and an hour or better on the weekends.  The dogs are super happy about this.

While I typically let the dogs choose our walking route, once we are on our way I map out the route in my head.  When time allows we just walk, but during the week when we are walking before I have to leave for work, I set the timer on my phone for 10 minutes.  When the timer goes off (usually when I’m in the middle of picking up a poop) we turn around and head home.  In the evenings I have a bit more time so I don’t use the timer.

You’ve heard the saying, “A tired dog is a good dog.”  Well I’m a firm believer that tiring out the mind as well as the body is beneficial.

So here are our tips to help make for an interesting walk.

• Bring different treats and work your dog on obedience.  We practice “with me” (similar to heel), “leave it”, “look” and “up”.  I use up when a car is coming. This means lets get up on the grass and out of the road.  Delilah is pretty good at this and will get on the grass and sit.  I don’t require Sampson to sit because I suspect he’s not always comfortable sitting.
• If you can, vary the times of day that you go out  This is great especially if you are stuck taking the same route every day.  A change of time means a change of scents.   To free up some time in the evenings, I come home whenever possible and walk the dogs on my lunch.  Even if we go the same route we did in the morning, the smells are different at 2:00 pm.
• If at all possible try and get your dog somewhere so they can have a little off-leash time, fenced in baseball fields are perfect for this.  You can let your dog run willy-nilly and work on their recall as well.
• When time permits try and get your dog out onto the trails or into the woods.  There are SO many scents to explore out there and even 20 minutes will tucker them right out.  I try and get Sampson and Delilah up to our woods at least twice a week.  Just for variation.

Remember your dog’s age, physical capabilities and weather are all things to take into consideration.  When we first started walking we might have walked for 20 to 25 minutes but we didn’t cover a lot of distance.  So if your dog (or you) are out of shape, start off slowly.

With diet and exercise Sampson and Delilah lost about 30 pounds EACH.  If we can do it, so can you!