Dogs!

[konkapot]

As part of my obligation to provide an exceptional lifestyle to our two dogs, please answer the following poll.

My goal is 100% satisfaction from our dogs, and since they can't answer internet polls on a shooting forum, you guys will have to help me out.

[Scott Steele]

The correct answer is, all the above!

[ummm]

It's a good question. Depends on the breed, but IMO the most important thing is the monkey on the other end of the leash.

[SiG Lady]

God, how I cringe at multiple choice questions these days . . . but still, I voted.

Edited May 3, 2014 by SiG Lady

[Nugget]

It's the dogs time so I do whatever she wants to do. I act as her entourage.

[birdzman]

It would depend on a few factors, the breed, age, physical condition, terrain your walking.

I have a 15 year old Bull Terrier that I brought back from England in 1999 and wouldn't think of walking her in the woods or for a long distance but our 8 year old part Rottweiler rescue dog would do any terrain and easily outlast me.

You also wouldn't want to walk any type of Bulldog for long distances in hot weather.

[Tiny Warrior]

I agree with others' posts about the fact that it depends on the individual dog.

What kind of dogs do you have?

[konkapot]

One 2 yr old Beagle and one 10 yr old Beagle/Chihuaha mix.

Never sure what their "sweet spot" is...distance, time, etc. The older one is about ready to be walked seperately on a slower/shorter walks.

[EEH]

My two take me where they want to go every morning..

[Zoomy]

Our six year old German Shepherd goes without a leash. We are on 43 acres 80% wooded. Plenty of wildlife and a running stream. He is in his element and stays on the property. He likes it when we accompany him in the morning and afternoon but usually will go off on his own to play.

[DWFAN]

In my opinion.. a walk is a walk, so time usually is relative to distance unless it's rough terrain.

With my wife working nights and sleeping days, and me working days and sleeping nights, my dogs needed more exercise. A walk wasnt enough, even if it was an hour long (somewhere near 2-3 miles). So I borrowed a bike to see how they would do. Now, we go about a mile, in half the time. Stop, get them some water, then go on another lap if they still seem interested.

I did get yanked off the bike once.. so it is tricky to manage a leash and stay on the bike. This is probably suited to dogs who are trained to not pull, sniff, poop and pee a lot on a walk.

[Tiny Warrior]

I did get yanked off the bike once.. so it is tricky to manage a leash and stay on the bike. This is probably suited to dogs who are trained to not pull, sniff, poop and pee a lot on a walk.

They make a bike attachment to make this easier.....don't know how well it works

[DWFAN]

I did get yanked off the bike once.. so it is tricky to manage a leash and stay on the bike. This is probably suited to dogs who are trained to not pull, sniff, poop and pee a lot on a walk.

They make a bike attachment to make this easier.....don't know how well it works

image.jpg

Yeah. I got pulled off once. Haha. Im sure it was hilarious to see.

[n2ipsc]

Think you missed one key criteria - total number of mutual butt-sniffing opportunities encountered

[dajarrel]

I've heard it said that if your dog is fat, you are not getting enough exercise!!

dj

[twodownzero]

[KnurlingTurtle]

Edited May 27, 2014 by KnurlingTurtle

[Sarge]

I know a local guy who named his dog randy and treats it like a human. I have seen him take the dog to a closed off section of local highway and let the dog walk alongside the car while he drives.

So funny

[B!ngo]

Dogs are like little kids that never grow up. They need attention, care, love, interaction, exercise and discipline. Most are smarter and more communicative than you might expect but it takes some time to try to understand what they are 'thinking' and asking for. Again, like very little kids.

But all of this comes after the following:

By way of background my wife and I have adopted three consecutive large rescue dogs. A Chinook (stray in CA), a Lab (that was emotionally destroyed by a prior owner) and our current 80 lb. one-eyed great dane/lab mix. Anyway we hired a trainer who spent most of his time teaching about the dog psyche and it was both perfectly accurate and extremely helpful. It goes like this:

Dogs are social pack animals. None of them want to be pack lead but they will assume the role if they think no other dog (or human) is performing the role. Much of a dogs questionable behavior is because they are not being dominated by the pack lead. They really want this and you have to provide that for them. When they know they are second fiddle, they are attentive, compliant and manageable. Oh and fun. There are lots of methods for assuming that role, but large or small they all need that pack lead above them in the pecking order all of the time. That is you.

B