I just want to stress how important it is to be safety-minded when walking your dog. I practice safety measures, and advise for everyone who has a dog to do the same. In my first few years of walking dogs professionally, I experienced many different situations, which is why I took the Dogbiz (fka Dogtec) Dog Walking Academy class, to keep clients’ dogs in my care safe. I learned Pet First Aid (and CPR) for injuries that can happen on the walk , i.e. the dog steps on a splinter or pulls his nail off, causing copious bleeding.
But there are many other things that can happen, such as an unattended dog coming up behind you and you don’t know if it’s a dangerous dog; a dog on leash who is aggressive or is in heat and his owner is not controlling him; reckless drivers who drive too fast or who don’t yield to pedestrians; children approaching the dog; sharp chicken bones the dog can’t resist; poisonous mushrooms. You have to be alert and scanning ahead to see who is coming toward you, and looking on the ground as well - so it isn’t a good idea to be on the phone talking or texting or with earplugs in your ears, listening to music or whatever- it’s just not worth it. I see many, many people walking dogs while talking on or looking at their phones, I estimate 90%.
Walking your dog is also a good time to bond with your dog - dogs love walks and they like to share their enthusiasm with the one walking them. Did you ever notice how dogs look up to their guardians or dog-walkers when on walks? They love the fresh air and all the various smells they encounter - a dog’s nose possesses up to 300 million olfactory receptors in their noses, compared to about six million in ours. And the part of a dog's brain that is devoted to analyzing smells is, proportionally speaking, 40 times greater than ours (there are varying scientific opinions on these numbers). Dogs also get exercise, stimulation (prevents boredom) and companionship on walks. You can enjoy the walk with your dog or your neighbor’s dog, your mother’s dog, also, and can bond with him/her that way.
Walks are also very good for training/managing dogs - an important command for dogs to learn is “come” (or recall). If you accidentally drop the leash, or something spooks the dog, and the dog starts to run, he should respond when you say “Come, Max”, especially when you have a special juicy treat for him to reward him when he does. Another good training/management thing to do on walks is for the dog to “sit” at red lights, and corners, waiting for traffic to clear so you can cross the street safely. Dogs don’t understand that the big metal car or truck can hurt or kill them if they come into contact with it, so it is your job to keep the dog safe in this way. (Dogs have the mentality of a 2 or 3 year old child). ”Leave it” is important to teach your dog not to pick up chicken bones (bones can be sharp as a needle and can puncture the dog’s intestines or get stuck in their throat!) or other garbage from the street; this command is also good for keeping the dog from chasing squirrels or raccoons or other animals (a snug-fitting harness is recommended).
So there is so much you can and should be doing when walking a dog that this is not the time to be on a cell phone. Another thing to be mindful of is using a leash when walking a dog. I see too many people walking their dogs with no leash - if something scares or distracts the dog or some irresistible smell passes his way, he/she may suddenly run away or cross the street when you aren’t paying attention. Things happen. I witnessed a Shibu Inu running across the Hutchinson Parkway and no person was near him. I saw him get hit by a speeding car and he was on his side in the road; I pulled him off the road and attempted to do CPR. A couple minutes later, his owner came running up, saying “that’s my dog” (he was far behind). He told me, ironically, that the dog is skittish and won’t poop on leash, so he was not on the leash and something spooked the poor dog. A skittish dog needs all the more to be secured on a leash with well-fitting harness, such as Easy Walk or Ruffwear.
Also, please microchip your pet in case he gets lost; you can also keep a contact number on his collar, but sometimes collars come off when a pet is lost. Microchips reunite many pets with their families.
