For the past nine months or so, Nico and I have held steady on a weekday morning routine of walking around our neighborhood. We’ve always walked Nico, but for the past nine months, we’ve been very regimented about it. This morning, we didn’t go. I decided it was too chilly for this thin-furred little dude, and I think he did, too, because he spent about a minute doing his business in the yard before running back to the door. I knew he wasn't happy when I walked out the door to work. And then, when I got to work, I received a text message from Shelly telling me he went rummaging through the trash as soon as I left. So, as soon as I got home from work, I took him for a walk.

Here’s the thing I’ve learned from walking Nico consistently over the past nine months: it’s one of the best things you can do with your dog. Walking is a natural thing for both humans and dogs. Our bodies are both meant to move, and we’re both pack animals. I can’t think of a better way to bond with a dog than going for a walk. And as we’ve walked, day after day, we’ve worked on building engagement. I reward Nico whenever he pays attention to me over the environment. He gets rewarded big time when he chooses, all on his own, to engage with me rather than fixate on another dog or a person. We’ve also built up his confidence considerably (ironically, increased confidence has made it so he isn’t scared of putting his head in a trash bag!). If a plow drives by, reward. A snowblower coming down a driveway at us, reward. The DPW digging up the street with an excavator, reward. Nico used to be suspicious or scared of all of these things. Today, we had a tractor drive within a few feet of us on a narrow road, and he could have cared less. Why? Because we walk together daily, we’ve built a relationship, and he now looks at me for cues on how to respond to new things in his environment. I didn’t care about the tractor, and neither did Nico.

Reflecting back, this is likely one of the reasons Khyber and I had such a strong bond. We didn’t walk city streets together daily; we hiked miles through the woods. And we didn’t just hike one day a week; we hiked almost every day for a good portion of the year because of my job at the Adirondack Mountain Club. And when we weren’t hiking for work, we were paddling or going on other adventures. We spent so much time moving together as a team, building a natural bond. As a result, Khyber walked everywhere with me in a perfect heel 100% of the time. I didn’t intentionally teach him this; he picked it up naturally. Even if I wanted to give him a break from staying in a heel, he wouldn’t have wanted to do anything other than walk by my side. Not all dogs are like this; Khyber was quite special because he was ultra-motivated by tennis balls, food, and me (in that order). Everything else was of little interest to him.

So here’s the lesson: go walk your dog.

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Gear Used For This Shot

Sony A7RIV - Sony 50mm f/1.2 GM - Godox AD300 Pro - Godox X ProS - Godox 1D-S60S

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