Sunday's "Living With Your Pet" Tips: Why Daily Walks With Your Dog Are So Important

     Fabulous photo of me by John Clark of Clark Creative

We're going to court a little controversy here, because we realize that the Dog Whisperer, Cesar Millan, is not everyone's cup of tea. But as you've read here before, we believe that he's brought paradigm change to the dog world. In other words (and this is from Parental Unit's perspective), he's given us an entirely new approach to dealing with our dogs: "exercise, discipline and affection, in that order". And he also emphasizes the need to set "rules, boundaries and limitations" with your dogs, so they have some structure. But it's not always easy to understand what those words mean in practice, unless you've read his books and listened to him explain his philosophies-and then try them out to the best of your abilities with your own dog.

One of the reasons his message has resonated so deeply with Parental Unit is that she realized (pretty much after the fact) that it was her inaction that led her beloved dog, Carson, to such orneriness-and that led to, shall we say, unwanted behaviors, like him scarfing down indigestible objects resulting in four (or five) surgeries. Yes, she took him for daily walks, but they were too short-he simply was confined to the house too much to drain off his energy-and that energy went elsewhere. And at that point in her life, she didn't take the time to give him those "rules boundaries and limitations" that ironically, would have made his life much more expansive.  Although she can't change the past and give Carson a better life, she can, and has, taken the time to give me lots of physical and mental exercise each day...but entrenched behaviors are difficult to change and she's still working on it!

We think this explanation from Cesar about why the daily walks with your dog are so important  (he calls it: "The Need To Keep Moving") will help to motivate you to make nice long walks at least a once or twice a day ritual. Have fun!

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