Dogs 'bored' on walks

Cinnamontoast

Cinnamontoast

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Just musings from this morning's walk. My two are always trained on walks. We did some retrieves, blind and seen then finished up with some scent work. A huge labrador came bumbling over, owner on his phone some distance away. I blocked the dog and sent it away, the owner came running over saying 'Oh, he gets bored on walks'. My eyes rolled so hard I nearly fell over (not in front of the guy) Yes, I'm jealous of people who can just wander round woods and fields while their well adjusted dog walks itself, like my others used to, but surely if you think your dog is bored, you'd do something about it?
 
Well yes, dogs get bored when their owners are boring.
I do lots of recalls, play with sticks, heeling, whatever, I engage with him a lot when we are out, sometimes he'll get his entire breakfast allowance from my pockets, sometimes we'll walk to a pitch and do a bit and then walk home. The older one is just happy out as long as he has a ball in his gob.
 
I doubt any dog on a walk is bored, being bored is probably just a human emotion. I also doubt if a dog is being trained when out on a walk is adding much to the dogs entertainment, but each to their own !
 
Our morning walk is 5-6 miles with varying routes by lakes, woodland and tracks. 90% off lead. The dogs love it, I don't do training during those walks because it's nice to just relax and enjoy exploring. We also load up and spend days fell trekking. I might lob a stick into a river for the border terrier, but otherwise, the distance and environment is stimulating enough.
For me, boring would be a 20 minute walk on a lead, along residential streets and the same mini lap around a park, but for a dog, just the fact that the owner taken them out is probably enough.
 
I’ve never felt my dogs are bored on a walk, it’s what they live for!

Current dog is happy sniffing for eternity in the hope of finding something small and fluffy. My previous dog was happy as long as she had her ball in her mouth and trotted along for hours.
 
I really don't think I have ever seen a dog look 'bored' when out on a walk! even those that clearly just get the same walk around the block. there are still always new smells etc.
my dogs would zoom around the farm every day twice a day will the same 'joy' they always do. yes a new place to explore is probably more exciting for both of us, but if someone thinks they are bored, it is probably their excuse as to why their dog isn't listening to them and wonders off...
but also my dogs don't go over to others dogs because they are bored. they go over to socialise. But I am there with them, not on my phone, and recalling them if needed
 
I wish mine would get bored out and about some times! Mine loves being trained on walks. He lives to ‘work’ (for him that’s hunting and retrieving) and as much as he enjoys being self employed I’m sure I like to keep it that I’m the one he works for.
 
dogatemysalad said:
Our morning walk is 5-6 miles with varying routes by lakes, woodland and tracks. 90% off lead. The dogs love it, I don't do training during those walks because it's nice to just relax and enjoy exploring. We also load up and spend days fell trekking. I might lob a stick into a river for the border terrier, but otherwise, the distance and environment is stimulating enough.
For me, boring would be a 20 minute walk on a lead, along residential streets and the same mini lap around a park, but for a dog, just the fact that the owner taken them out is probably enough.
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5-6 miles is impressive. You must be really fit.
 
mule said:
5-6 miles is impressive. You must be really fit.
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Never really thought about it to be honest. It's always been a way of life. I always admire waitresses in really busy cafes. Their feet don't seem to touch the ground for most of their shifts.
 
dogatemysalad said:
Never really thought about it to be honest. It's always been a way of life. I always admire waitresses in really busy cafes. Their feet don't seem to touch the ground for most of their shifts.
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I'd rather waitress than walk 5-6 miles a day!
 
Rather be a waitress than walk a dog?!😱
I walk 6 or 7 miles a day and I am 70! I love walking my dogs and they have a great time. Fun walks and training walks are quite different, although bits and bobs of training do come into a fun walk. My trio like nothing better than lots of sniffing, investigating, romping together, paddling in the sea, finding dead fish, bits of seaweed....the possibilities are endless. Even if they do a certain walk on a regular basis they are still enthusiastic, the smells and encounters are never the same two days running!
 
Don’t wish time away MOC! The only reason I can spend hours with my dogs is because I am OLD!
I don’t do a huge long walk every day, often a longish one in the morning and a shorter one pm or I train in the garden. Variety is the spice of life and it’s no different for dogs.
Now I have stopped riding my dogs do get a huge amount of my time!
 
My current dogs ( and all previous ones) have never appeared "bored" on a walk!
There are always scents to follow, horse poo to find and eat ( New Forest! ) bog areas to play chase in for maximum drenching in stinky blackness, streams to paddle in, fallen trees to scramble over ...... endless fun and every walk brings new excitement.
 
I walk for about 2 hours a day, at a decent pace, so I assume I do 6 miles. On my days at work I probably do twice that!" Would rather walk dogs than stack shelves. :-)
Until I got the spaniel I had never understood dogs being bored on walks, but I imagine it comes down to breed?
 
="bonny, post: 139818] I also doubt if a dog is being trained when out on a walk is adding much to the dogs entertainment, but each to their own !
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I don't do it for 'entertainment'. Much as I'd love to have a nice easy walk round the woods like I could with the others, Zak needs the discipline and focus of training.
 
Chiffy said:
Rather be a waitress than walk a dog?!😱
I walk 6 or 7 miles a day and I am 70! I love walking my dogs and they have a great time. Fun walks and training walks are quite different, although bits and bobs of training do come into a fun walk. My trio like nothing better than lots of sniffing, investigating, romping together, paddling in the sea, finding dead fish, bits of seaweed....the possibilities are endless. Even if they do a certain walk on a regular basis they are still enthusiastic, the smells and encounters are never the same two days running!
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I'm fine with half hour- 1 hour walks with a dog. I couldn't do 7 miles though! I find walking really boring.
 
This is really interesting as I’ve just been out with my Dad and the dogs and we met a lady with a young retriever. Lady was on her phone chatting and the retriever was bounding all over the place and headed for our little dog and proceeded to play quite boisterously and scare our dog. Lady said to whoever she was on the phone to, “Im just out with Fido and he’s found a friend to play with.” She kept on walking, on the phone, while her dog continued to leap on ours and chase her. We kept on walking as our dog was getting quite upset and eventually the dog bounded off.
A bit later on, we saw the same dog playing boisterously with another dog and my Dad told me that he sees that dog regularly but usually with either a male in his 40s or a teenager and it is lively, but never behaves like that and has pretty good recall with them. The few times he’s seen it being walked by the lady, she’s on her phone and the dog is all over the place, leaping on other dogs and obviously finding it’s own fun.
 
CorvusCorax said:
And some dogs will entertain themselves if you don't lol
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Precisely why we need to keep puss cat's focus: the famous notorious dragging myself round the woods for hours overnight taught me never to again let him off with his brother without a ball or dummy in my hand.

mule said:
I'm fine with half hour- 1 hour walks with a dog. I couldn't do 7 miles though! I find walking really boring.
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I'm the same, I don't see the point, although I used to do hours of speedy walking with headphones in. Sometimes I'd save the weekly call to my parents for a dog walk, although we used to be extremely sociable and meet up with other dog walkers. I had to head one off this morning, she was determined to have her spaniel x meet our two! 😱
 
I love a long walk, it’s my chance to put the world to rights in my head. The more people I chat to on a lazy weekend the better :)

As for training the dogs, nahhhhh not at all. Willow is a wally and bounces along like zebedee, Button is a slow sniffer and Rufus is Mr Perfect. Meanwhile I tend to walk like a crab 🦀

Even if we did the same route every day, I don’t believe they would ever be bored. There’s always new stuff to sniff.
 
i take mine out for about one and a half hours in the morning and try and do a different route every day, mostly off lead so lots of smelling and meeting our friends dogs, i also walk for about half and hour in the evening but that is only a choice of 2 different ways if i want them off lead and i think they prefer that to a different way but on the lead. they never seem bored and i dont use my phone as i like to keep a watchful eye on my young terrier so i can recall if i see another dog i dont know... but just enjoy watching them and the landscape...
 
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