As dog owners, we really enjoy doing things with our pups. Not only do we like doing things with our dogs, but we enjoy going out in public with them and adding to their socialization. And when you’re planning things to do throughout the summer, you might specifically choose things that you can do with your dog.
Whether we are talking about road tripping with your dog, going for a hike or even looking for dog friendly restaurants, planning things to do with your dog can be very rewarding as a pet parent. But did you know that it’s actually important to take your dog out in public when possible?
In an effort to better understand why going out and about with our dogs is important, we asked some experts why exactly we should be taking our pups out in public. And they had some very interesting answers.
Here's what animal experts have to say about why it can be important to take our dogs out to do things in public
We asked some experts to explain how there has been a shift in allowing dogs in places like stores and restaurants (specifically the dog-friendly patios), and this lead to a question about why it can be important to take our dogs out with us. Specifically, I asked the question, What do dogs gets out of these types of experiences?
According to a behaviorist and dog trainer from Woofz, Annie-Mae Levy, "for dogs that enjoy social situations being able to sniff everything, observe people moving around and hanging out with their owner are all really positive experiences. What exactly a dog benefits from popping into shops/ cafes with you will hugely vary from dog to dog depending on their own individual temperament."
Then we have the owner of Rescued By Training LLC, Kata LaSala, who shared that, "including dogs in activities can be beneficial for them by providing mental enrichment, physical exercise and social interactions they would otherwise miss out on and it can be enjoyable for the human to include their dog with them in these activities. But the dog needs to be properly trained ahead of time for it to be enjoyable for everyone."
Honestly, both of these explanations make perfect sense. And of course, we also appreciate how LaSala pointed out that dogs should be trained before they head out to places like stores and restaurants for socialization.