Walk schedule

[Jen & Ember]

Ember, who is almost 11 months old, adores her morning walks and we usually go around 9am or so on the days that she doesn't go to doggie daycare. She also gets an afternoon/evening walk (sometimes both). We usually go about a mile each time. 

Well, my work schedule is going to be changing and soon 2 days a week I will need to leave for work much earlier so we'll need to go on our walks in the very early morning hours. As a non-morning person I am not super thrilled about this, but I'm sure Ember will be excited to start each day off with her favorite thing. 

How about you--what is your walk schedule like with your pups? 

[Gail and Bailey]

Bailey (10 months old) and I go on 2 or 3 walks a day.  First one is around 8 AM after she has a bit of breakfast.  Second one is mid afternoon, and the third one is after dinner.  Sometimes we go more often if it is a particularly beautiful day.  I am lucky to be retired and not have to work around a set schedule.  Our walks are split between free time for her, when I allow her to run in the grass and sniff (while still on a long leash), and "work" time, when we practice "healing" and "sit/wait"  and "come."  She is really getting the hang of it and is good at switching back to "work" mode when I want her to. Her favorite thing is to find sticks (which is not hard as we live in the woods) and carry one in her mouth as we walk. 

[Lori, Rooney & Zuzu]

Rooney usually gets two walks a day so long isn't a total downpour (I'll do one soaking wet walk, but rarely two). Our walks are generally about 30-45 min. in length.  If we are going for a longer walk I make sure to allow him sniffing time so it isn't sustained walking for the whole walk.  Sometimes we will also break it up with some quick jogs and stops for training (sit, down etc..).  I have a flexible schedule as well so the timing of our walks can vary.  Rooney is usually pretty lazy and sleepy in the mornings so I tend to wait until closer to mid-day when he gets more lively and needs some activity.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Our guys get one good walk a day...usually a little over an hour.  The rest of the time they are just potty walks.  We try to pick lots of different places for their walks to keep things interesting, so we always travel to wherever we'll be walking that day. 

[Heather Martinez]

Teddy gets  two walks a day, one in the morning before I leave for work. Normally the walk is about 30 min, but on days that I'm rushed it's shorter. Lately, I've been trying to take him on walks of up to 3 miles as part of my exercise plan and I would like to do even longer. Those days we'll walk for about 50 minutes.

Teddy gets another 30 minute walk in the evening, sometimes longer, or sometimes we play in the park during the walk.

I also take him out for just a couple of minutes to potty before bed, around 9:30 pm.

We just walk around the neighborhood, and we can also walk to PetSmart!

[Jen & Ember]

How old is Teddy now? Do you come home at lunch to walk, too? 

I'm pretty much dreading the early morning walk... I'm sure I'll look like a zombie in the neighborhood! Tomorrow is the first day of my new schedule, so we'll be up and walking around 6am instead of 8. Ember will make me a morning person it seems. :)

I love the evening walks. I'm also trying to increase my walk time with Em now that she's older. I need to also work on some training with her, especially around politely greeting friends of the human and canine variety...