What do dogs think walks are for?

[Lolypoly14]

I have been pondering this this morning. .

Doggo loves water, any kind will do - sea, rivers, muddy puddles, etc. She can’t help herself and is straight in, so for the last week or so where it’s been freezing, I haven’t taken her anywhere watery.

Took her out for a big walk yesterday. Lovely long loop, where she can be off lead with a little bit of river on the way back to the carpark so she could have a little bit of a swim before getting back into the car with loads of dry towels (and heated seats) to snuggle into.

She loves walks, especially walks that involve getting in the car as that usually means somewhere good, and she get ridiculously excited when she sees me getting poo bags out of the drawer and my car keys (just poo bags means the park or round the block) and she recognises landmarks on the way (for example, driving past the big Tesco means her favourite beach and she starts getting super excited), but I always wonder what’s going through her head.

Does she realise I’m just taking her somewhere nice for fun? Does she think she’s taking me somewhere nice? Does she think we’re going on patrol or something?

I couldn’t sleep last night (insomnia) so I’ve been thinking about this for a while 😂

I think local walks, their usual route, they see as patrolling the area.

Dogs are prairie animals.
You are their pack.
They need to see who’s out and about on the prairie. Just like you go to the pub or out and about for friendship , socialisation and fun, they are the same. Some places are more fun than others but better than being stuck in the house!

Every lamp post, tree or bin tells a story.
It's social media for dogs. 😂
I don't know what goes through their minds, but wish I had some of their enthusiasm!

We're going hunting. That's why I feed them when we get back home. Mission accomplished.

I like the social media for dogs analogy and that help me to stay patient when my middle aged doggo wants to sniff every plant, wall, bicycle tyre and traffic light. He’s checking his feed!

Genuinely though, he just loves being included in a car trip or day out. Doesn’t matter if it’s 12h or 20 mins, he honestly seems to love just coming along and being part of the family ❤️❤️ Thrilled, he is.

I'd love if my dogs were able to talk and tell me whether they wanted to go to the woods, or just to the open space nearby or for a paddle in the stream. They'll accept anything with enthusiasm, even just a car ride but I'd love to know their preferences.

To my dog it's part fun part admin like his incessant weemails!

I’ve wondered that before 😂

and also, given that very nearly every time they leave the house it’s for a walk, do they think we’re going on walks without them when we go out and leave them

My lab is the same. As soon as your outdoor shoes go on, he makes it known if he wants to come. (Sometimes if he's already been out he will stay curled up on the sofa and we know it's a sign he's had a good walk in the morning).

He loves the car and when we are packing to go on holiday or away, he makes sure he's not left behind (the only time he's been left behind as such was when I went into labour and our neighbour was coming round in the morning after we left at 4am). I would love to hear how excited he is in words but I suppose it adds to the perfection of dogs that they tell you how excited they are without using words.

Please read up on GDV, dogs should never, ever be fed straight after exercise.

He loves the car and when we are packing to go on holiday or away, he makes sure he's not left behind

Despite us never having packed the car and then gone away without them, it's still seems to be a big fear. They normally put themselves in the car a good hour before we're actually ready to leave!

We always think car trip is an adventure, a chance to explore and have a lot of fun, whereas a local walk is patrolling their patch and seeing familiar faces, both canine and human.

Yep it's their Internet, quick check what's happening in the world. Once our guy susses a walk is imminent he's like a crufts champion, walking to heel until he gets us out of the house.

Yes, mine is just thrilled to be included wherever we go. She’s like, walk? Sure thing. Sit in the car while you get milk? - why not?

She once found a sandwich in a bush when we were out for our nightly stroll and every time we walk past the bush she has to thoroughly investigate it again in the hope that there might be another sandwich - does she think we’re going sandwich hunting every time we go round the block? Does she think I’m some kind of let down when there isn’t a sandwich in the bush? I mean, it’s been years since she found that sandwich

What about when I leave the house without her? Does she think I’m going out alone to sniff lampposts and investigate magic sandwich bushes?

I think I need to go back to bed 😂

I don't think dogs 'think' about this. They just have an instinct to be out and patrol/ hunt/ explore, like most pack animals. They certainly are not thinking 'oh my owner is taking me somewhere nice, isn't that lovely of them?'

Yes! Same!

If she sees suitcases in the hall, she drags her bed and adds it to the pile.

We don’t usually go away with out her, but my kids are young adults now, and sometimes DH and I go away for a weekend and leave her at home so we have to sneak our bags into the car boot without her seeing them.

If she sees suitcases in the hall, she drags her bed and adds it to the pile.

We once found one of our dachshunds in the partially packed suitcase. He'd obviously been paying attention during Schnitzel von Krumm.

Both he and his successor knew what is getting out walking socks meant - a proper country walk - but neither CBA to patrol the village beyond our immediate neighbourhood.

Yeah I've pondered this as well 😂

I think it loosely goes back to their ancestors need to go out 'hunting' and patrolling their patch.

Which has now evolved to keeping an eye out for squirrels and weeing on everything.

Totally get the sandwich thing. Mine saw a squirrel a couple of months ago at a particular offlead spot in the woods. Every time we now go there he races to the exact spot, presumably thinking the squirrel is still loitering! And yes, we go in the car anywhere, and he’s there like a shot on the back seat, whether a boring trip to the tip, or other mundane trip.

Most of mine see walks as great fun adventures where they get to find out what’s going on in the area. One of mine is highly anxious and doesn’t like walks much, he seems to see danger in every corner, bless him. They all hate us going out without them, but then as we mostly WFH we rarely do.

My dog definitely treated walks as work, especially off lead with his ball, he was single minded and ignored other dogs, people even picnics to fetch that ball. That's working breeds for you

I think mine just thinks it’s an adventure. Though funnily enough if I’m going into town on the train I’ll say ‘going to mummy’s work’ (don’t shoot me down - that’s what she knows me as). And if I say the name of the coffee shop she knows where I mean and gets excited.

I think they understand more than we give them credit for. She understands when I say we’re playing hide and seek and sits in her mark position until I’ve hidden and shout ‘hide and seeeeeek’ and that’s the sign for her to find me,

She definitely knows which walk we’re going on depending on the land marks.

My terrier sits on the suitcase or in it, if its left open.
She is determined that she won’t be left at home when we go away.

She also sits in my bike basket if she suspects that I’m going out for a ride.

Mine turns his back on me if I get my shoes AND my car keys. He’s unimpressed.