How long are your walks?

[M.F.]

Snowie gets two walks a day. My husband does an on-leash root march every weekday morning. Approx 30-45 mins. I do an off-leash mountain amble (for me, Snowie trots along, runs, walks, stops to sniff a lot) every evening. Approx 45 mins.

Weekends I do both walks. Usually a longer morning walk, about 1-1.5 hours. Off leash. This morning I did an on-leash walk. We walked for 1 hr 10 mins (my step counter recorded 5km). I ran a few times because Snowie was keen to go fast between the sniff points—interval training! I was finished! I had to sleep all afternoon.

I think I’m relatively fit. But then I read about you guys doing 2-3 hours! Is this solid walking? Ambling or brisk? Sitting every now and then for breaks?

 

[Atemas]

F usually does the early morning long off lead walk/run - 1 hour 15 minutes. He then does a 50 minute off lead walk at lunch time but not every single day. I do a 20 minute on lead walk/sniff early evening. It suits Red as she is very mellow the rest of the day and sleeps all evening.

Recently, I have been doing all the walks as F has been really ill with a cold/flu virus (which I gave to him). I haven‘t done the lunchtime one.

Generally Red does 7 miles a day. I have been doing 5 with her. I am exhausted , not from the distance but because of the mud, rain and wind. I do really like the walking with her and feel I need to keep really fit - I shall be 70 next month but still think of myself as 20!! F will resume the walks next week but I intend to share them. The walking is steady, only stopping to look at wildlife or a brief chat with other dog walkers if we see any

 

[Selina27]

Our walks very tremendously, according to what else is going on. I would say though that most days we are out for 1-11/2 hours, averaged over a week. So somedays more, others less and maybe one or maybe two. There's no routine about them, and all off lead.

Sometimes I am curtailed by my arthritic knee, which is a nuisance, but probably once a week we would be out for 2 and half hours.

Cassie needs the physical activity to keep her weight down, but in all honestly can be very satisfied with 20 minutes if it involves some training or particular scent she gets on. Sometimes I just go places where I know she will be able to hunt, so then I'm not walking much myself.
I probably don't walk all that time every day, but spend time looking at nature/wildlife. Really though, I guess our walks are tailored for Cassie's benefit.

 

[Natalie]

Shorter than most. Now OH is at home he has stretched Monty's previous mid morning 50-60 minute walk into an hour and 15 mins ish, not covering much more ground but ambling a bit, almost 100% off lead where Monty sniffs every 20 seconds
However if he's looking stiff, straight back down to 40 mins or less.

Then sometimes, but not always, an evening walk around 7pm, mostly on lead for 20 to 30 mins, often a walk up to the shop and back. But this is often replaced with games around the house, top game at the moment is seeking out tiny pieces of liver. Actually think he prefers this to the walk.

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

For me it varies widely. Sadly, Carbon has not gotten the best of me. I used to regularly jog with Brogan and do 3-4 hours trail walks at least weekly. Or touristy walks for a full day, but that was more walk, stop, look, photograph, walk some more, look some more, etc. Still, loads of walking. I've never been one for regular every day walks, though. Even at my most active, it might have been a 45 minute jog in the morning a few days a week and then a mega-marathon session trail or touristy walk once or twice a week. I'm not very good at routine.

Environment has a lot to do with it, though. I used to walk hours a night in Venice after work because it's safe and everywhere is great to walk. Ditto most places in Spain - people stay out so late that it's easy to take a nice stroll in town and feel totally safe. I spent two months in Perugia and felt that I'd be murdered if I went out after a certain time, so in winter with it dark before finishing work - not good. Not a lot of walking happened there. Equally it's not safe to walk in California.

Lately when we get out, Carbon and I usually walk 1-2 hours. But again, I'm kind of dawdler. My balance isn't so great, so unless it's a smooth path, I need to be careful where I place my feet, which means looking down. Since I also want to enjoy the beautiful scenery, that means stopping to look up! If someone goes with me, I tend to drive them a bit nutty as I walk way to slow for most people.

With the recent storms, we just don't go out. At all. I take Carbon out on lead in the garden for a wee and a poo, then go right back in. Neither one of us are too keen on wet from above.

I miss the long walks with Brogan and of course Carbon is young and able to keep up if I was fitter. @snowbunny 's recent post inspired me to make more of an effort the last few weeks and I've done better. Now we're headed to California for a month which means zero walks. That kind of depresses me because I'll lose what little progress I made. On the other hand, after CA it's Spain, where there are great places to walk nearby plus great weather, so there's hope.

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

top game at the moment is seeking out tiny pieces of liver. Actually think he prefers this to the walk

"Well, duh!" - Carbon

 

[Selina27]

"Well, duh!" - Carbon

Likewise Cassie

Unless of course there's pheasants to be found, that's top drawer for her

 

[Emily]

It varies. Anywhere from a 3km on lead walk to a 5km off lead walk to a 10km Flexi Lead walk or two, shorter 2km walks.

Our lives have very little routine with OH's shift work so we do what we can, when we can. The only constant is that we're pretty quick walkers and Nathan usually rides his bike, so that's quick too. We often end up with periods of jogging, especially when Nathan gets a bit further ahead on his bike.

On Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, I work so so the walks are usually slightly shorter and closer to home. The other three days give us an opportunity for longer walks, a longer drive away. We're always looking for new places where we can walk off lead (very few places) or places quiet enough that we can sneakily walk off lead .

We're slightly restricted by Nathan at the moment as he'll happily ride his bike for 7-8km but it's much harder to get him to walk longer distances. This means we're usually looking for walks with sealed or gravel paths, rather than tracks through the bush.

 

[M.F.]

Also top game in this house: sniff out the treat. Played usually every evening. I love watching Snowie turn up the corner of the rug with his paw to see if a treat is there.

 

[Joy]

Molly has two walks a day of around an hour each. I used to do both but now my OH is retired he does one and I do the other. These are off-lead walks at a moderate pace (so I'm walking steadily but not getting out of breath - or at least only when going uphill!) We mostly walk either on the South Downs (open grassland) or by rivers or in a forest. I usually do some sort of play/training on my walk too - a bit of heel, a few turns, occasionally a couple of 'proper' dummy retrieves, a bit of tug, a game of catch with a squeaky ball etc. In the spring/summer I do a third evening walk a few times a week but this is either just an amble at the beach or a planned Rally training session at the recreation ground.

 

[Ashley]

For us the season is a factor - very hot and humid summer days and extreme cold/dark in the winter mean shorter walks. Our usual routine is 35-40 mins early morning run and play with a group of neighbourhood dogs, 30 min lunch hour stroll with OH, maybe some ball play and on leash evening walk with me - we got for longer if her mid day walk was short but usually 40 mins. In the summer we do more long walks, hour or more with swimming. Weekends are one big long walk/hike. Quinn is just as content with a short walk and a car ride and a few store or market visits with us though!

 

[Jacqui-S]

Lilly is neglected.
A half hour on long lead these dark mornings does her (she IS almost 10) certainly for 3 days a week I work.
In the summer she normally gets another 30 mins off lead in the evening.
Saturday to Tuesday it is normally a longer walk but not much more than an hour off lead regularly but perhaps a bit longer (up to 2 hours) maybe once a month.
It's down to me and Sophie.

Oreo gets a lot of exercise when at work with Sophie and is often glad of the rest at weekends when home with me.

 

[Sophiedoodle]

Oreo gets a lot of exercise when at work with Sophie and is often glad of the rest at weekends when home with me.

Oreo, at work, will be almost constantly engaging and playing with other dogs for my whole 9 hour shift. She will do get 2-3 runs out in the big field (around 20 mins each run) we have plus ball play in the paddock. She is a young, playful dog so really enjoys this, but as mum said, is glad of a rest when she’s at home! She is very easy in the sense that she isn’t bothered if she doesn’t get much of a walk, but she would also be up for walking all day. I could walk all day and even though I’m not really the fittest, I’m young and healthy and it’s easily doable. Lilly and mum wouldn’t quite manage a full day walking so I drag mum up steep hills instead

 

[Rosie]

Pongo has two walks a day, off lead. The first is usually "Pongo's loop" which is a mile in total, down the track and back through the woods - it takes about 30 minutes. The second one is usually shorter - maybe 20 minutes - also through the woods and fields. He sniffs a lot and trots around, so covers more ground than me.
Sometimes we take him longer walks - maybe up to an hour.
He seems quite happy on this level of outings!

 

[Candy]

According to the pedometer app thing on my phone I average 7 miles a day over the course of a week. Not all of this involves Joy, some of it is me going to the shops etc. I usually aim to do at least an hour and a half with her in the morning, mostly off lead and always involving some games, then in the afternoon she's perfectly happy with 15-20 minutes and home for TEA! which is very important to her. In between all this she is a very GoodGirl!

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

I average 7 miles a day over the course of a week.

Wow!

 

[SwampDonkey]

Rory 5 to 8 miles a day. Iver 30 mins 2xs day. Activity varies and they have rest days with shorter walks. At the the moment Rory only gets 1, 1 1/2 to :2 hours walk a day because of the puppy. They play so Im careful not to do to much with him. So we play games, they play games and that in itself is is tiring. When Rory is full fit and we are donig big walks a 5 hour walk is not uncommon perhaps once or twice a week. He is fully fit at 6 years old but I will change his exercise levels as he get older.

 

[MrChew]

It varies so much. On a quiet day it is 2 X 40min walks (we try for one on lead and one off) and games in the house.

Other days it might be two hours out of the house, but some of that might be hanging out at a cafe or similar. Just getting out to new places is so stimulating for him.

 

[kateincornwall]

Under more bearable weather conditions than we are currently experiencing , I usually take them for around 30/45 minutes off lead in the mornings . Afternoon is their longer walk , 3 or 4 miles usually , again off lead so Reubs does a lot more mileage than this . They both seem to be happy with this regime and as I am heading towards 73 , its enough for me too xx

 

[Candy]

Wow!

Yes, it's good because it also means I can eat loads!