15/01/2024
Yes!!! I agree!!! Say no to pack leash walkers. Let your dog enjoy the joy of walking at their own pace, sniffing and exploring their environment.
“Pack walks” with one person walking a big number of dogs on slipleashes or other aversive tools such prong collars and choke chains are unfortunately popular, but they are a red flag.
In these “pack walks”, dogs are often given little to no opportunity to sniff, they cannot move freely and comfortably, and they are often not even allowed to p*e. Here are some of the reasons why these walks can be harmful:
- It’s unnatural, uncomfortable, and stressful for dogs to walk in a group so closely. If we look closer at the body language of dogs in “pack walks” they are often showing lots of stress signals.
- The dogs have no way of creating space for themselves as they are trapped by the other dogs as well as the slipleash that would cause them pain if they tried to move away.
- The dogs do not get to express natural behaviours and have an enriching or decompressing walk.
- Many “pack walks” take photos where all the dogs are lined up sitting next to each other in a row which may often be achieved through force, physical manipulation, and other compulsion based methods.
- Some “pack walks” take in reactive dogs and it may appear as if the dog is suddenly fine walking with other dogs. However, this dog is really being flooded and is highly stressed but can’t do anything about it. They can’t react as they may get choked with the slipleash or they may be too scared to react as they are surrounded by so many other dogs.
On top of that, let’s also remember that dogs are NOT “pack animals”. Walking in such close contact with a big group of dogs is not normal.
In this photo, we can see that the dogs are stress panting with their tongues out and spatulate, commissures pulled back, ears pulled back, tails lowered with one possibly tucked, etc. While this is a stock photo, it is not dissimilar to the body language of dogs you’ll find in photos and videos of “pack walks”, both while walking and while being posed.
Coercing and forcing dogs to all walk closely together or sit in a row for the camera is not a flex and dogs should not be treated as props. If you need a dogwalker, look for one who’s R+ based and pay attention to the dog body language in their content.
ID: The background photo shows 4 dogs on tight leashes with one person holding their leashes. The dogs are mostly stress panting and have their ears pulled back. The large text on top says "Large group pack walks are a red flag" and the smaller text on the bottom says "What body language signals do you see here?"
