# walking the dogs



## ruckusluvr (Oct 28, 2009)

do you walk your dogs daily?
if not how often? how far/long?

is daily walking really a necessity? i have 3 acres fenced in that my dogs run around on, and we play fetch, disc, and do agility in the yard usually daily.

i have been going on daily walks unless the weather is horrible for 4 years. i just recently starting cutting back and i dont walk the dogs on mondays or fridays. i have not notice any difference in their behavior.
I was told that with a dog like Ruckus he has to be walked every day for 1 hr. (ruckus is aggressive, territorial, reactive... a monster of a dog  )


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

If Ruckus is the sheltie in your avitar, yes, he needs LOTS of exercise. You can't give him too much. Hearding dogs are like that. They are bred to run all day long and if they don't get enough exercise they can be difficult to live with. I would say walking an hour a day is not nearly enough exercise for him. If you can find a way to run him for an hour a day, that would be closer to what he needs.


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## Eurobox (May 17, 2010)

I do not walk mine daily, but I exercise them hard a couple of times a week. I will take them to the park (331 acres) and run them for about 2 hours. The next day they will have off. I find that this works better for my dogs. If I just try to walk them they will come home and rest for maybe an hour or two, and be ready to go again! 

But to answer your post, I don't think that running on your property will satisfy them after a while. Think of it this way, when you were a kid, if your mom told you you could only play on the block you lived on, it would have gotten boring very quickly. Dogs need stimulation, which means change of scenery, different sights and sounds, and most importantly smells! Maybe run them on the property a couple of times a week, and then take them somewhere different the other days. :smile:


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## ruckusluvr (Oct 28, 2009)

RawFedDogs said:


> If Ruckus is the sheltie in your avitar, yes, he needs LOTS of exercise. You can't give him too much. Hearding dogs are like that. They are bred to run all day long and if they don't get enough exercise they can be difficult to live with. I would say walking an hour a day is not nearly enough exercise for him. If you can find a way to run him for an hour a day, that would be closer to what he needs.


actually that is Lynn 

Ruckus gets an hour walk, but no telling how long we are outside running and playing, throwing a Frisbee or playing with the flirt pole!
i bet atleast 1 hr, on weekends or pretty days more like 2 hrs.
I do all of that with Lynn too. Lynn is actually higher energy than Ruckus. I have had border collies in the past, and there are 2 jack russells in my family. 
Lynn can run circles around the border collie, and the jacks!


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

Cool, sounds like you are doing a good job of exercising both yourself and your dogs. :smile:


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

We run our dogs everyday or close to that for about a half hour. Maybe two times a week we will go for a longer hike or walk. Once we move to the mountains I can see us going for a daily hike.


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## Guest (Aug 4, 2010)

I exercise all 3 of my dogs twice daily, (weather permitting) for about 45 minutes in the morning, and then an hour to 90 minutes in the evening. I take a 3 mile walk with the Lab up to 3 times each week.


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## wags (Jan 31, 2009)

I walk my dogs everyday (weather permitting) gee I have walked in the rain LOL! And on days when I feel like it we go twice! Thats not always believe me! We go for 3 mile walks either around my home, I have another nice area I drive to where their are small lakes they can walk into and cool off its a park setting where kids play soccer, baseball and they have nice paths for people to walk and a doggy drinking fountain (too cute):wink: Also a very wooded area we like to drive to and take a nice long walk. I have a pool in the back yard and the labs~ of course~ can't get them out of it LOL so exercise they do getand I have a doggy life jacket for Grodon but he's not to fond of swimming!! With playing with them walking them and swimming they are happy pups!:biggrin:


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## moon (Jul 15, 2010)

Jake and I walk 1/2 hour in the morning and 1/2 hour in the evening almost every day. (Well I walk - he mostly runs) Jake also runs loose on the farm all day. ACD's have only 2 speeds: warp speed and asleep.


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## ruckusluvr (Oct 28, 2009)

my shelties seem to get too hot and stop enjoying the walk after about 30 minutes.
i live on the KY/TN border. its been around 78 degrees at 5:45 am. 98-100+ in the afternoons (we do not walk then) and about 78 after 7:45

we have been going swimming at the creek almost daily for a while now! trying to beat the heat


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## MollyWoppy (Mar 19, 2010)

My cattle dog x does 7-8 miles daily during the winter, (3 mile bike ride pm, 4-5 mile fast walk a.m.). In the summer we are down to a 2-3 mile bike ride at 5-6am, and a 1 mile run/fast walk in the evening with a swim at the beach half way through. Then another 20 laps in the pool with a 1/2 mile walk late at night. 
Plus, the dog park, but its too hot so the dogs just lie round mostly. 
Sounds alot when its in writing, but its not really.
I take her everywhere with me during the day just to keep her brain busy, otherwise she is a right pain in the arxxse. (BTW every second night, the cat walks 1/2 mile with us!). I'm dreading the time she (dog) starts getting old and slows down.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

i walk my dogs every day. they walk 2 miles per day, which is enough for a pug and an old corgi mix.....and an old me.

i think it's a good pack exercise....and i do believe it helps with behaviour.....plus it's a walk with the dogs and the ipod..what could be better at 6 a.m.


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## eternalstudent (Jul 22, 2010)

I think the walking thing is like the 5 fruits and veg a day and the 8 glasses of water. For a lot of people that will be the only time the dog gets out, so yes it's a necessity. For he brighter dogs though using the brain is a better way of tiring them out. 

And as mentioned above it allows the pack idea, which I think works far better for discipling the dog. Whenever my pup decides she is ignoring me a few minutes on the lead walking at my hip and the behaviour changes. (She is at the 16 week mark and is trying boundaries  )


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## Jacksons Mom (Jun 13, 2010)

Jackson gets walked pretty much every day, unless it's super super hot, or nasty rainy. We live on 3 acres unfenced and unfortunately, his recall is not superb enough for me to trust him to run free. So, it kinda sucks. I have a 50 ft line for home and we live on a hill so both of us will walk up hill a few times if we don't get a walk.

I actually drive 3 minutes up the road to a neighborhood w/ sidewalks to walk Jackson. We usually end up doing about 40 minutes. Also, I am a dogwalker (but have not done it in over 3 weeks) and Jackson comes with, so he actually usually gets about an hour total M-F. 

I notice if he doesn't walk for the day. 5pm rolls around and all the sudden... he's totally bored and finds ways to amuse himself, like chewing plastic kids toys, etc. So walks are usually a must with him. We also visit at my dads house 2-3x per week with their swimming pool, fenced in yard and dogs. He gets a ton of exercise swimming.


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