Walk Your Dog Daily
Walking your dog daily is extremely important to their happiness
Birds fly, Fish swim , and Dogs walk. It is their nature.
Recently I asked my grandson to walk my dog. This may come as a surprise to you, as it did to me, his definition of walking a dog was completely different than mine! After he and the dog were gone for several minutes I wanted to check on them just to be sure all was okay. He had never walked the dog before, although he and the dog were not strangers, they had never walked alone. I was expecting to find them well down the street, however, they were less than 20 yards away! His definition of 'walking the dog' was to take the dog to the nearest patch of grass so the dog could relieve herself. The definition I will use for walking you dog is take them on walk of at least a half mile. Dogs in the wild wake up and migrate in their search for food. Your mission here is to closely imitate their natural desire and need to walk. While walking it is important for you to not let them 'track' while walking. Tracking is when they drop their nose to the ground and smell while you walk. Stopping this behavior will very quickly have your dog walking with you correctly at your side with a loose leash.
You should only allow your dog to stop and smell when you let them. Your dog does not get to make these decisions. When they start making decisions like this, they are leading you, thus challenging your position as pack leader.
Walking has many benefits for both you and your dog. In addition to the health benefits walking allows pent up energy to be reased which will help in training as it releases the anxiety in the dog.