We’re all familiar with the concept of dog walks. Your dog is an animal that needs to move. It wants to exercise, see the world, take in the smells, and more. From the moment you take home a puppy, your life has to include regular walks for your pets – sometimes as long as 1 to 1.5 hours or more.
Most of us are dog lovers, and we have no problem with the idea of walking our dogs. But we also work. We have lives. We can walk our dogs when we come home from work, but what about during the day?
How Important is a Mid-Day Walk?
It would be great if all of us could stay home and take care of our dogs all day, every day. But sadly, that is not the reality we live in. Most of us need to go to work. We need to take our kids to soccer. We need to make sure that we’re spending some time out with our spouses, our friends, and our family.
All of those activities take us outside of the home, often to places that are not exactly dog friendly. In warmer months, our dogs also cannot safely wait for us in the car. They have to be home, sometimes for hours at a time. It is not uncommon for dogs to be left alone for 8, 9, even 10 hours.
But while most dogs *can* be home for 10 hours by themselves, they probably shouldn’t be. Dogs are pack animals. They need their pack. Leaving your dog for 10+ hours without a break can cause many different challenges:
- Dogs and Bathroom Breaks – Some dogs are not even capable of holding their urine for more than 6 hours. But what about the dogs that can? Even though many dogs are capable of *holding it* for more than 8 hours, vets do not recommend it. Holding urine can be harmful for a dog’s bladder and their stress levels in ways that can affect them in the long term.
- Dogs Are Pack Animals – Dogs genuinely need you. It’s not just that they love you. It’s that they are social animals that experience fear, stress, and anxiety when they are alone. Most vets even say that more than four hours is enough to cause them mental health issues, which is why being gone for 8 hours can be especially harmful.
- Dogs Need to Use Their Brain – Dogs are smart, and like all smart animals, they need to occupy their brain. We often experience this as adults, where we get antsy and anxious when we sit still for too long. Dogs are the same. They need some play or the sights and smells of a walk to use their brain and reduce boredom. Dogs, when they get bored, also get destructive, making this extra important.
Another challenge that many dog owners face is that the amount of walking a dog needs is not always possible when a person is gone for 8, 9, or 10 hours. That means there’s only about 3 to 4 hours left in the day to complete everything else you need to get done.
But most dogs need a lot of walking – at least one hour, if not more. Waiting until you come home to give your dog that walk means that you’re also risking a scenario where you’re too busy or there isn’t enough time for a full hour. No matter how much you love dog walks, life can sometimes get in the way.
Prioritizing Mid-Day Walks
It can be hard to find time to give your dog a walk during the day. But even if all you do is stop at home for 5 minutes to let your dog pee and give them a very small amount of play and attention, you put your dog in a better position to support their long term health. Dog walkers and pet sitters are also great resources for short, mid-day walks, and if you have any friends that work from home and love dogs, see if one of them can stop by for even just 15 minutes of walking and running.
