5 Reasons Why Your Dog Needs to be Walked Daily
How many times a day do you walk your dog? Do you walk him at all? If you don’t, you’re doing him a disservice, as well as minimizing the positive effects of dog ownership. Walking your dog is essential to his health, it improves his overall behavior and develops your dog into a socially adjusted pooch!
Keep reading and you’ll understand 5 Reasons Why Your Dog Needs To Be Walked Daily:
1. Walking is Good for Your Dog’s Overall Health
The first reason your dog needs to be walked daily is that it improves his overall health. Exercise builds strong bones and muscles. Strong bones and muscles are necessary to keep your dog mobile and agile. Exercise helps to protect your dog against fractures due to falls and other accidents.
Also, exercise keeps your dog at a healthy weight (along with a proper diet, of course). As your dog ages, those extra pounds can lead to life threatening illnesses such as cardiovascular disease and liver disease. I’m sure your goal is to keep your dog healthy for as long as possible and exercising him can help that cause!
2. Walking Provides Great Mental Exercise
Another reason your dog needs walked, is it’s great mental exercise. On a walk, your dog has a chance to sniff and explore the neighborhood. Don’t forget, your dog explores the world around them with their nose. While you’re out and about on your walk, make sure to give your dog some extra time to sniff around for some extra enrichment and mental stimulation.
Make sure to mix up the walks and explore different routes once in a while to keep things interesting and exciting for your dog.
3. Dog Walks Can Help Reduce Undesirable Behaviors
You should walk your dog every day because it reduces undesirable behavior. Dogs are hardwired for certain behaviors.
- They are naturally drawn to hunting, exploring and scavenging. A walk twice a day allows your dog to fulfill those natural instincts and thereby meets both physical and mental needs.
- The walks serve to release built up energy and tire your dog mentally and physically.
The result after a walk? A calm, better behaved dog! Dogs that are not provided with this opportunity are more likely to display destructive behavior in the home such as chewing, rough play, not following commands, jumping on visitors and roaming the house at night.
A dog that is not exercised will most certainly demand attention in all the wrong ways and will be very difficult to train. If your dog is exercised your reward will be the company of a furry, faithful companion that you enjoy having around!
4. Walking Helps with Your Dog’s Socialization.
Did you now walking your dog every day will help him to be well adjusted and socialized?
At all stages of life, your dog should be socialized and the easiest way to do that is to allow for daily walks. On walks, he will experience the world around him by sniffing and taking in all that he misses while being isolated inside. He will enjoy the necessary interaction of other people and animals.
Lack of socialization, unfortunately, results in a fearful, intimidated dog. Fear is displayed in different ways. Some fearful dogs will be aggressive or territorial, others will cry and withdraw or display signs of separation anxiety when you leave him alone. When you walk your dog, it builds his confidence to interact with the world around him. The earlier you start the socialization process, the better, but it’s never too late to get started.
5. Walking Helps Boost Your Dog’s Confidence
A daily walking routine helps to provide structure and stability to your dog’s life. Structure and Stability in your dog’s life provides predictability which helps to boost confidence–especially in fearful or shy dogs.
What is your dog walking routine?
Do you need help with your dog walking routine? Do you need help getting your dog exercised every day? We can help! Checkout Our Services and Contact Us today.
