The Benefits of Regular Dog Walking in Edmonton
Regularly walking your dog is vital to your pup’s overall well-being. Sadly, few dog owners have the time to walk their dogs as often as needed. You should average walk your dog at least 15 to 30 minutes daily. Some breeds, such as Border Collie, Australian Shepherd, Poodle, Labrador Retriever, etc., may even need routine walks several times daily.
But if you don’t have the time to take your dog out walking as often as necessary, there’s no need to fret, as you can hire a dog walking service. Hiring a dog walking Edmonton service several times a week offers numerous benefits. Continue reading as we explore the benefits of regular dog walking.
1. Bonding Experience
Every pet owner should be able to spare a few minutes from their busy schedule to take their dogs for a walk. Taking your dog out for a walk can help build a unique bond between the dog and you.
Human-pet bond is not new, and taking your pet for a walk is a great way to foster that bond. During this time, your dog gets to experience new environments, explore and see something new, which helps them build trust, hence the bond.
2. Improves Digestive and Urinary Health
Your dog’s digestive system breaks down food, eliminates toxins, and absorbs energy and other key nutrients. Taking your dog out for a walk is a form of exercise that promotes digestion and urinary health.
Going for a walk with your dog helps balance gut bacteria and increases the rate of metabolism, making it less likely for your dog to experience constipation. Also, as you walk with your dog, it expels fluid through its sweat pores, reducing the workload on the kidney and helping improve urinary health.
3. Emotional Connection
The limbic system in dogs is similar to that of humans responsible for emotions. As such, dogs tend to experience all the basic emotions that humans do, including happiness, joy, love, anxiety, fear, depression, anger, and so on. Hence, taking your dog for a walk can help boost its mood, contributing to its overall welfare.
Suppose you’re in a situation where you don’t have the time to engage your dog in the necessary physical activities it needs to thrive. In that case, you can always hire a professional dog walker from Jooble to ensure your dog is well cared for.
4. Aids Cardiovascular Fitness and Obesity Prevention
Walking, particularly at a brisk pace, goes a long way in ensuring healthy cardio. Both you and your pup need to engage in aerobic activities. Walking increases the heart pump rate per minute, lowering your resting heart rate.
Consistently engaging in walks and other aerobic activities lowers the rate, which makes your heartbeat more efficient and reduces the risk of health diseases. At the same time, it helps prevent canine obesity. Canine obesity is associated with several other illnesses, such as liver disease, osteoarthritis, insulin resistance, cardiovascular disease, etc.
5. Mental Stimulation
Taking your dog for a walk can positively impact their mental health. From its mood to its behavior, you will notice an instant change in your dog’s countenance the moment you step outside. Most of the time, the new experiences stimulate these emotions in your dog’s mind, helping it engage its animal instincts, making it feel free and not caged.
6. Fresh Air and Exercise
The feeling of getting your pet outside is refreshing. It offers you the opportunity to get fresh air and physical exercise with health and emotional benefits. Every moment you spend outside with your pup can be a new adventure considering you know how to savor the moment.
You don’t necessarily need to be doing anything out of your way to create memorable moments with your dog. If all you do when you step out is walk around the block, find a calm relaxing spot, hang out for a while, then return home, it will go a long way in boosting your dog’s mood.
7. Training Opportunity
Walking your dog can also allow you to chip in one or more training lessons. However, it is worth noting that if you’re taking your dog out in public, you are responsible for the dog. As such, you need to keep it on a short leash until you’re confident about its social skills. If you notice your dog is out of line during the walks, instill some corrective actions.
8. Builds Stronger Muscles, Bones, and Joints
Physical activities strengthen your dog’s muscles, bones, and joints. Getting your dog out for walks can improve its overall physique. Like humans, dogs tend to suffer from joint pain when they age. But regularly walking for about 15 to 30 minutes a day can improve muscle and bone health. Also, it can help prevent loss of bone density which can lead to joint pain, and help build muscle mass.
9. Boost Social Skills
According to research, taking dogs for walks makes them more friendly and approachable. This is because dogs are intelligent and can learn in more complex ways than many people realize. Taking your dog on walks can help it build social skills. These skills go a long way in preventing the dog from exhibiting bad behavior, particularly in public.
10. Relief of Stress and Anxiety
Dogs can feel stress and anxiety, which can make them behave irritably. However, taking your dog for walks more can help them deal with their anxiety. Loneliness and depression are common emotions in dogs that are associated with causing them stress and anxiety. But going on a walk gets their minds off those emotions, bringing them into a lighter mood.
Conclusion
An aspect of owning a pet many people don’t often talk about is being responsible for it. Particularly, if you’re a dog owner, you need to be aware of simple tips you can use to improve the overall welfare of your pet. For example, taking your dog for a walk is a simple yet effective tool to improve its overall physical, emotional, and mental health. So, if you haven’t been taking your dog for walks, you can start today.
