[nagdu] how offten?

Pam pamyoung80 at gmail.com
Thu Jun 25 17:22:49 UTC 2015


hi tammy. we were also told we should go out every day or the dogs would forget their training. although most people i know don't go out every day unless they have to. i'd say my longest route is about 40 minutes long altogether. 20 there and 20 back. that's to the local pharmacy. to b honest that's long enough for me. i like walking but wouldn't b 1 for walking for miles either. + where i live some places don't have any footpaths so i am limited how far i can go anyway. but callie seems ok with it. it depends on weather for me too how offten i go out. i don't mind a bit of rain but if it's really windy or icy then i don't go out. it's not worth being hit by a flying branch or something lol. i have wondered how long it would take not going out for the dogs to forget how to work. i have a friend who went abroad for a month and left her dog with family and it didn't seem to effect the dog's work when she came back. but maybe it depends on the dog too. 

Sent from my iPhone

> On 25 Jun 2015, at 17:55, Tami Jarvis via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Pam,
> 
> Since I moved to the small town here, I don't get my dog out often enough at times, though I shoot for at least several times a week. I do better if I have something to go see do than I do at random walking for walking's sake, so I have to push myself sometimes. We have a nice yard for the dogs to get play and exercise, so I don't need to go looking for that... We also don't have a dedicated dog park, just one multiuse park where off leash is legal because it's just outside the city limits and another one where folks do offleash stuff with their dogs while everyone looks the other way. I miss the human socialization as much as the doggy social scene from having a great dog park at just the right distance! We find some of that at the farther park, but there are people who aren't their for dogs and picknickers who don't want to talk to every dog in town and -- worse! -- those who will feed every dog that comes along. Nothing like a bit of raw hamburger to ruin years of offleash training to ignore picknickers. So now if I want to go there, it needs to be in really off times until I do better at getting Mitzi's recall firmed back up. And get a whistle, since her hearing isn't what it was. Loki is doing well at being offleash, but at 14 months he's not reliable. Point being, I don't have a dog park as a motivator to get out and walk a couple of miles.
> 
> I've heard an awful lot about how guide dogs *must* be worked every single day or else they will lose their training and all sorts of evil will befall. I haven't found this to be the case with my dog, though I sometimes gett pretty sloppy and have to concentrate to get back into good working habits. Mitzi can deal with that, though I sense she feels great relief when I get it back together. /lol/ I now suspect that the stern lecturs on getting out every single day is given in the hopes folks who don't have work or school or something to demand they get out will at least take their dogs for a walk a few times a week.
> 
> I also find that weather affects my decision to go or not more than it would if I needed to take my dog out to get somewhere. Braving heat or cold or wind or more dangerous conditions is fine when it's necessary. Guide dogs can obviously survive busy lifestyles in more extreme weather than we have here. But I have to ask myself if it's worth it just for a leisure walk? With my trainee, I'll be doing more dire weather work to train him for it and because he's an energetic young whippersnapper who does need the experience and practice. Mitzi was staarting to slow down anyway not long after we moved here, so she wasn't bouncing off the walls to go.
> 
> I wish I was one of those people who can get out and walk three miles a day just for the joy of walking, but I need to be able to buy a coffee or something along the way to make it worth the walk or something. When we have better cash flow, I plan to do that! A latte a day keeps the doctor away... So what I end up doing for now is reminding myself of all the women my age or older who get out daily no matter what and how they rule and I drool, so that's my big motivation. Sad, but whatever works, I guess. /smile/
> 
> Tami
> 
>> On 06/25/2015 08:45 AM, Pam via nagdu wrote:
>> just curious how offten do u all go out with your dogs? i know some of u r working but for those of u that don't. do u go out every day. i usually go out about 4 or 5 times a week. even if it's just for a walk. i live in a village so there's not many shops etc to choose from. so just curious :) Sent from my iPhone
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