Friend and dog walking

[totallytotallytoal]

My friend has a dog. I don't have a dog, never had and never will.

She asks me a lot if I want to go for a dog walk with her, This could be anything from a 30min to a 2 hour walk. She does indicate in advance where we are going, which then tells me how long it will be.

Does anyone else's friends ask them to go for dog walks, if they don't have a dog but the friend does, ? Is this an odd thing to do or perfectly normal ?

Like no cat talk?!?!

“There was far too much focus on dogs, could we please widen the remit and include, say, the salamander?”

Well I love going for a walk so any walk is fine by me so long as the dog behaves.

Mine can keep a secret - but he does judge though, so be prepared for the side eye if you're doing anything he doesn't approve of!

Actually, I’d rather walk a Pangolin but if I had a friend who was suggesting a dog walk, I’d be glad of the fresh air and exercise and catching up with her. The dog would be a side-issue.

However, if it became too regular I’d just say that it “doesn’t work for me” but I would kindly suggest another day.

Can you not do that OP?

It’s strange that you are overthinking this. Seems perfectly normal to me, but obviously I’m sure she won’t hold it against you if you decline….

I think it's pretty normal, unless it's the only thing she ever wants to do with you.

So if you're inviting her out for coffee and every time she's coming back offering a dog walk instead, then yes that's annoying and a bit odd. But if she's just suggesting dog walks here and there then it's normal.

Normal. I often go for a dog walk with my old school friend and her little daxie.
Reason being, money is very tight for her at the moment and it's a cheap way to catch up out of the house with the added benefit of a nice walk.
I do like walks though, which she knows. I'm not sure she'd suggest it as an option to less walk-inclined friends.
Also last time it pissed it down, we lasted 5 minutes before ending up in a pub!

Normal. I much prefer having a catch up over a (free) walk than arranging a meet up and having to drop the obligatory fiver on a coffee

Do people really think like this ? It’s just a walk

I rarely walk my dog alone, it's a great time to ask a friend to join for a catch-up and a lot of them appreciate some time outside. It's also probably the least active thing, my dog stops and sniffs so much it's never going to be a route march.
I've actually met most of my good friends dog walking, they were people I maybe knew from a class but saying I'll be walking the dog and did they want to come is a lovely low-pressure way of getting to know people a bit better.

I don't even like dogs and I still think it's normal! I've joined my friend on dog walks before.

Bloody dog people and their weird ways. Imagine thinking someone without a dog would want to go for a walk.

I love a dog walk with a friend, but would never want a dog of my own. I can play with the nice dog, but friend has to clean up the mess 😀

Just to put the opposite point of view, I love a good walk and will happily walk 6-9km uphill and downhill on a weekend morning. However, one friend is starting to insist that every meetup has to be a dog-walk and seems reluctant to do other kinds of meeting.

It's ok but I am really not a dog person, so I don't particularly want any physical contact with her dog, who is sweet-natured enough but can be a bit jumpy. I will say 'Hello' but can only really touch dogs when they are very calm. Perhaps it is just my friend but I also find that the meandering pace of the walk, waiting for her dog to explore, come back etc is not really fast enough to feel like exercise. The last time we went out we were on a narrower path and the dog was constantly criss-crossing in front of us, around us, behind us, the lead getting around our legs, which distracted from our conversation, meant that I came home with dirty trousers and was all a bit of a nuisance really! There was also a bit of concern when encountering other dogs (especially those off lead) which became a bit tense at times.

If I meet a friend I might also sometimes want to be in more of a social space like a café or restaurant, with chairs, tables, food, drink and toilets readily available. Or a gallery or museum, with art or historical artefacts to see. Or a lively social space like a bar, with music and people-watching.

So it is quite possible to enjoy walking and not particularly enjoy being accompanied by a dog. I completely understand that people love them but it just doesn't add anything to the experience for me.

Completely normal