08/07/2025
Yesterday, I took a couple of Day School dogs for a long neighborhood walk. They both needed the practice, and they both did well and were later rewarded with a long off-leash romp where they galloped and played and rolled in the grass to their hearts' content. As I was walking them in the neighborhood, though, I was thinking about how a walk that seems so simple to us can be a surprisingly difficult training task to them. Think about it: dogs are 4-legged creatures, so they naturally move more quickly than us. They are predators who experience the world through their nose (not their eyes) so they are interested in different things than we are. But we ask them to keep our pace and follow us through a very human world of mowed lawns and concrete, and we pass by all sorts of crazy sights and sounds without even noticing. In one hour yesterday, we passed:
-various people walking and running
-barking dogs
-construction trucks
-lawn mowers
-a couple kids who tried to run us over on motorized bikes and scooters
-various spinning, moving, and flashing 4th of July decorations and flags
-kids yelling and playing in a pool
-small noisy birds
-probably plenty of other things that the dogs noticed but I didn't
For a fearful, reactive, flighty, or heavily prey-driven dog, that is a lot of triggers! And it was a quiet, calm day in an average DeKalb neighborhood!
Add all that to the fact that we humans generally put earbuds in or stare at our phones or talk to a friend or otherwise ignore our dogs while we walk, so they don't even have us to depend on for support if they need it.
Here's what I'm NOT saying: Stop taking your dogs on walks. Don't hear me say that. There are far too many internet trends of people making huge sweeping statements about what you should or should not do with your dog that simply don't apply across the spectrum. Please never take one-size-fits-all advice for your dogs! Here's what I am saying, though:
1) Know your dog. If he absolutely loves neighborhood walks, great! You're doing something right! Enjoy them together.
2) Understand that your simple, quiet neighborhood might not be so simple and quiet to your dog. If you are struggling with pulling on the leash, barking, lunging, hiding, or any other problem behaviors on walks, have patience. And get help.
3) Think of neighborhood walks as a training setup, not a mindless exercise routine. Be present with your dog and help him through troublesome spots.
4) Find ways (or create ways!) to take your dog safely off leash in green space so he can experience true freedom and move at his own pace and follow his nose and get into whatever doggy shenanigans he wants. Ideally, more days than not. But do what you can.
I guess the short version is this: Be kind to your dogs and try to understand how they experience this world, but don't cater to their every whim. Train, practice, and support your dogs through difficult scenarios, and make sure you give them space to be truly free and happy, whether that is in your neighborhood or somewhere else.
