If you are planning to take your dog places this summer, there are just a few things that we recommend to make life easier. And one of the things we did was speak to some experts for their advice on what pet parents should know. After all, even if you think you know what is important when it comes to going out with your dog, there might be some obvious things you completely forget about.
Obviously there are some things that we should all pay attention to, including whether or not a place is actually dog friendly. But what else is important when it comes to taking your dog places?
Thanks to two experts, we have a better idea of things that might seem obvious, but at times you may forget about (like we mentioned before). Luckily, they break it down for us and make it easy to really consider what we need to know when it comes to getting out and about in public with our dogs.
What should pet parents know when taking their dogs out in public
Woofz's behaviorist and dog trainer, Annie-Mae Levy, answered the question of what pet parents should know when visiting places with their dogs by sharing the following:
"It is important to only visit pet friendly places when your dog has the necessary training to do so. Teaching social neutrality, a strong settle cue and habituating to noises are all really important things to address before heading to busy public spaces together. Some dogs such as those with strongly ingrained reactivity might never do well in a busy pub environment and that’s ok too! Not every dog is built to thrive in these social environments."Annie-Mae Levy
In a lot of ways, this does feel obvious and yet this is great advice when you really think about it. Knowing how your dog does in social situations is the key to success when it comes to getting out and about in public with your pup.
Kate LaSala of Rescued by Training LLC really dived into this topic with some great insight. And we love that she really expained how important it is to not only properly train a dog is, but how different situations will lead to different results.
"As a trainer I often work with clients to help prepare dogs to be comfortable and well-trained for public spaces, but when people do this on their own, they often put the dog into situations that the dog isn’t prepared for. You can’t just take a dog to an outdoor café on a busy NYC street and expect them to settle with all the people and dogs passing, food being eaten and servers and other guests coming near the table. Training can happen to teach the dog what to do but it needs to be done in an incremental way that sets the dog up for success.Kata LaSala
People often mistake exposure for socialization when merely exposing a dog to a situation doesn’t necessarily mean they will have a positive experience or learn anything from it. If you have a dog who is afraid of people, taking them to a crowded street fair isn’t going to help and likely will make the dog worse, and the human will just be frustrated in the process.
If the dog has the necessary social skills to eat at a café, go to a farmers market or other outdoor event, we need to ensure we’re being good dog owners and clean up after them, not let them approach people or dogs without asking and not assume that everyone likes dogs."
Everything LaSala shared makes perfect sense. And not only that, but it feels like the type of insight every pet parent should be mindful of. Even simple exposure to a group of people that your dog is unfamiliar with can be traumatic, so we need to be careful that we are not stressing out our dogs unnecessarily.
Taking our dogs out with us can be a great way to bond with them. It can also help with their overall social skills. But at the same time, there are other things to consider as well, and as pet parents we need to be aware of these things.