Adventurous walks

This is a blog about dogs and about people walking with dogs.
Offering our dogs a walk in a pack off leash is magnificent.
It offers them the opportunity to experience being very close to nature. Very close to their natural habitat and their natural behaviour.
Dogs are pack animals.
Just like we are.
Dogs are born in packs, live in packs, hunt in packs, eat in packs, mate in packs until they die and leave for the eternal hunting fields.
Dogs never go for a walk.
No animal on this planet ever goes for a walk.
Except the animals in Walt Disney movies, and they do not exist.
If we walk with our dogs, the humans walk but the dogs hunt.
They sniff, look, listen, hear and feel while looking for a prey.
Except when they are living in the wild, as free dogs, our pets NEVER get so close to their natural behaviour of HUNTING in a pack, as when they walk with us on a Sunday morning.

Suppose you are not walking with me.
Suppose you walk on your own, with your dog(s), then I have a request for you.
My request is: make an effort and bring variation in your walks.
Even our Roman ancestors knew this thousands of years ago. You want proof? Look at their saying "Varietas delectat", what in English means "variation brings joy, pleasure, happiness."

Do NOT walk always the same block if you live in town.
Do NOT always walk in the same park, close to where you live.
Do NOT always walk the same route if you live in the country side.
It is boring for your dog.
I also think it would be very boring for myself, if I would do that.

What I do is different.
You can easily copy what I do.
Your dog(s) will love it.
Many times, when I leave for a walk, I put my dogs in the van and I drive off. Driving I am scanning in my mind the walks I know in the area and then I choose. When we arrive at the spot that I have chosen for that day, I will start the walk and be alert. Being alert means paying attention to the trees, the sun, the clouds, the wind, the flowers and all the other beautiful living beings in nature. Sometimes I see a rabbit, or a wild boar, or free ranging dogs or a fox. But sometimes I see a track that I have never used. Sometimes it is my dogs who discover a track hidden between the high grass and I will follow them.
It is exciting to follow an unknown track. It is exciting and adventurous to discover a new route.

This morning a member of the Sunday Morning Dog Walking Group asked me: "How come you know so many different walks?"
The man was surprised when I told him that it is a question of discovering and exploring. For me it is normal to always look for an unknown track.
My, for my part, I am very surprised that so many people who come to my walks do not know anything about the area where they have been living for years. It is during mu Sunday morning walks that they discover new tracks, new panoramic views, new bars, new restaurants, new villages.
It is my assumption that most of them do always the same boring walks with their dogs.

You can change this, for yourself and for your dog(s).
Start exploring. Bring some adventure in your life and in their lives.
Do not always walk down the same trodden footpaths.
It is good for your dog(s), good for your mind and good for your soul.

And if you have "made" a new walk, show it to us.
I will be delighted to come and walk with you.

Happy walking.

Brunothedoglistener