Tag Archives: walking dogs

Go with your dog

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Lately it seems like every day we see a news article about a small dog being stolen. And every day we see something about dogs going missing. Please, people – go with your dog!

Growing up without a fenced yard, we got in the habit of going out with our dogs every single time they needed to. Even after the fence, with a multiple-dog household, we went outside with them all the time. And it’s proven useful on more than one occasion.

Like the time the workmen left the garage door open and we caught our dog before he ran into the alley. Or the time the skunk took up residence on the porch and, luckily, the treats in our pouch were more interesting. And especially the time our dog found a chunk of rat poison in the yard and was chewing away on it. We knew which dog had the runs because we were there. Not glamorous, but useful.

Scary news

Picture of a Boston Terrier behind a fence to illustrate go with your dog

Just in the last couple of weeks we’ve seen stories about dog being stolen from yards – even though the area was covered by a door camera. We can’t even imagine how the people felt when they saw their own footage of someone opening their gate and just picking up and carrying their dog away.

The thief’s motivation could be any number of things. Some kind of ransom or reward, selling the animal, keeping it, or nightmare scenario, getting bait dogs for a fighting ring. The last was the one we used to hear about all the time. Not as much lately, although we doubt dog fighting has decreased. There are lots of sick people in the world.

Just go

We know it’s not the most convenient thing in the world to go out with your dog every single time. First thing in the morning, last thing at night. It’s much easier to let your dog out. We get it. Especially since it’s January in the Chicago area. 

Even if your dog is wonderfully well-trained to come to you, you can’t predict the squirrel in the yard. Which reminds us of a story from years ago. A relative’s neighbor let her dog out by itself every morning. One day, the dog took off, rather than efficiently doing her business and coming back inside the house. And our cousin’s neighbor was left roaming the neighborhood in her pajamas, yelling for her dog: “Whoopee! Whoopee!” A reminder to also be careful what you name your dog.

Think of the possibilities

How would you feel if something happened to your dog? Because we were there and grabbed the poison out of her mouth, the vet knew what kind it was and what to do about it. Our dog didn’t run out and get hit by a car because we were there. Because we were there, we knew which dog was sick.

We know the odds are minimal of anything bad actually happening. But, like the old saying; “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Go with your dog.

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Scratching & sniffing – let your dog walk you

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Have you ever let your dog walk you? Recently there have been lots of articles about dog enrichment suggesting that letting your dog lead the way is a wonderful way to let your dog relax and be a dog. 

Most of this Spring has been cold, rainy, and/or snowy and generally miserable weather-wise. But we had a sunny, if brisk, day last week and Hope decided to let her 7-year-old French Bulldog Torque lead the way on a walk.

This was a first. It’s not that they never go for walks. It’s just that they’re usually walks for either training or exercise. Just walking for the sake of it is not part of our makeup. We know there are lots of people who enjoy it, we’re just not among them. That’s why there are 32 flavors of ice cream.

Confusing lack of direction

Torque walks nicely on leash, so he was accommodating, if a little confused. He’s used to Hope always deciding direction and pace of the outing. Torque isn’t used to being in charge. 

Once he caught on, he had a wonderful time. There’s a “greenway” at the end of our street, just for people, bicyclists, and dog walking. It’s not all that wide, but it goes for a few miles and the path is paved. It’s landscaped with native plants and trees. Needless to say, it’s fairly heavily used. Especially with locals walking their dogs. The pee-mail was fascinating for Torque.

Sniff as you please

Small dog walking and sniffing

He may have thought he’d gone to heaven. At the first couple of trees, he glanced sideways at Hope to see if she was planning to call him off. When no “come on!” urging came, he dipped his head for a few more whiffs before moving on.

At some point Torque realized that he could do what he wanted. He sniffed, marked, and kicked back after each deposit droplet. And then he stopped marking and just started kicking. Apparently just for the sheer joy of doing it.

Ground scratching

Because we always want to know why, we checked to see what’s going on when our dogs kick back like Torque was doing. The name of the behavior is “ground scratching” and apparently it’s a normal, if uncommon behavior. Only 10 percent of domestic dogs do it, although it’s very common among wolves, coyotes, and other wild canids.

Of course nobody knows exactly why dogs ground scratch. Because it’s most often seen immediately after elimination, researchers speculate that it’s either to spread their scent far and wide, or to mask the scent so unfriendlies can’t find them. Which are directly contradictory reasons, so no conclusions drawn. We do know that dogs have sweat glands in their paws, and may emit scent and pheromones when they scratch. Again, nobody really knows.

Careful of the landscape

We learned a lot from our dog-directed walk. It was fun seeing Torque have such a good time. And we learned he’s only allowed to be in the driver’s seat on native-growing, public property. The neighbors probably wouldn’t appreciate a thorough ground-scratching session, no matter how much Torque enjoyed it.

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