Anyone walk their dog daily?

coasterqueen wrote: If so what do you do in the colder months? What do you do when it's so dark outside in the morning? Before I was walking the dogs at 5:45/6 am and now it's so dark then I wait until 6:30, but it's still not really safe to be walking then because it's still a bit dark. I can't wait any later than 6:40 or I won't be able to get back in time to get Kylie on the bus. Also it's really starting to get COLD in the mornings here. I'm just wondering when I can tell the boys the walks stop for the season. Our trainer trained our dogs to go on the treadmill so they can get exercise that way and they still will get walks after work. Oh and we have someone come to the house in the mid of day for 1-2 hours to walk and play with them, so they get that too.

Just curious.

moped replied: I walk my kids everyday, does that count? I too am wondering how I tell them the walks will be stopping for the season , L will be so upset.
In my community we have a coyote problem, so walking with a dog in the dark mornings would be SCARY!!!!!!

Anyways, just babbling........bundle up and maybe switch to after work walks? Or let them run out in the yard?

DVFlyer replied: If they can/ do walk/ run on the treadmill, I don't really see a need for walks outside.

mom21kid2dogs replied: We've always walked our dogs daily. With Parker, we generally walk him after dark, especially in the summer as he has a low threshold for heat. We live in town, walk on mostly sidewalks so it's not an issue most of the time. We just dress according to the weather. We don't walk him on bitterly cold days as his feet seize up (we suspect he was frostbitten in his previous "life") and we have to carry him home. We also don't walk him in rain~he hates water. Bailey, our dearly departed lab mixed with something huge and wild, required two one hour walks a day or he'd chew down the house. I walked him at 5:30am and 8pm. UGH! We walked him in all kinds of weather including torrential rain.

We don't have a treadmill but I've seen dogs use both a treadmill and a lap pool for exercise.

coasterqueen replied: Ok, sounds like you all are saying what our trainer said today. "Suck it up Sally and walk the darn dog in all weather". Not exactly in those words, because my name isn't Sally, but you get the point. We walk him in the morning and evening. I do the mornings, DH does the evenings. He does the evenings because of the dark issue, but both will be an issue here really quick. Ryan has offered to start doing the walks, but I hate to have him take on all that responsibility. We'll just take it day by day and see how it goes. Gavin can skip his evening walk and be fine, but he makes you pay dearly if he doesn't get his morning walk.

And Jen - we have coyotes in our area too, which is another issue that freaks me out. That and deer like to jump out at you from the corn fields, but those will be harvested soon so that won't be too much of an issue, except the wooded areas.

ETA: I'd be more motivated to walk in all kinds of weather if I was actually losing weight from all this walking but NOTHING....not even an ounce of loss.

mom21kid2dogs replied:
Now THAT is just wrong! I was walking 6 miles a day with Bailey. I was in pretty darn good shape by the end of that 18 month experience!

luvmykids replied: We've always lived where there were coyotes, IME they don't normally come attack. They're more likely to do that when they're in their pack and see an isolated animal, in all my years we've had many come near the house but never in a pack and they've always been quick to high tail it once they notice us.

I haven't walked the dogs in a long, long, long time. Need to though, they seem depressed without it.

mckayleesmom replied: I honestly don't walk my dogs, but they get alot of excersize anyways...They are usually running around like banchees with the kids in the backyard.

I really can't take Lucy for walks because she acts mean and scares the poop out of people and Gunner panicks if he isn't near his kids or out of a certain range from them.

grapfruit replied: My MIL & FIL have an Airedale Terrier (largest of the terrier group) and if anyone has ever been around one, they know they are FULL of energy. He gets walked at LEAST once a day. Even in the winter. She just bundles up and goes. The only time they don't is when the snow is too deep to walk in, or its just REALLY nasty out. Now, they live a block from a big park, so I don't know if that makes a difference. He's a terror if he doesn't get his walk

Calimama replied:
I agree. We have coyotes out here and they seem more scared of us. Although I still run inside when I hear them.

coasterqueen replied: Well I've seen the coyotes in packs around us, so that's what fears me the most. Some times I see them by themselves and I know I'm fine then.

Gavin didn't get a walk at all yesterday because it was pouring rain all day and he wouldn't go out in it. This morning it was still raining and he was like "um, we are going no matter what!".

Hillbilly Housewife replied: hahaha we have coyotes here too. I heard them just this morning, actually... in the woods next to the golf course across the street from where I live...

I was really lazy in terms of walking my dog, mostly because she was too crazy and would literally knock me on my a&& EVERY time.