The Value of Pack Walks

Pack walks - when a group* of people get together to walk their dogs - provide many benefits for both the dog and the human companion. Visiting new locations for walks offers an enriching change of scenery and provides extra mental stimulation with the discovery of novel sights, sounds, and smells for your dog to investigate. Dogs largely explore their world through smell and love finding new scents. Attending pack walks adds another opportunity for putting additional exercise into your dog’s regular routine. Regular exercise helps dogs maintain their health and prevents boredom that can lead to undesirable behaviors. Frequent dog walking is shown to have health benefits for humans as well, and pack walks are a fun place to socialize and make new connections with other local pet parents.

* Note: this is NOT the type of “pack walk” where a single handler engages in the unsafe practice of walking many, many dogs at once. The pack walks described here always involve a shared understanding of guidelines and rules that are communicated in advance, will only allow one dog per handler, and will have an experienced handler present with their hands free to supervise the group of dogs, offer coaching on handling methods, and intervene if necessary.

One of the unique and most beneficial parts of pack walking is the opportunity for your dog to socialize with other canines in a safe, structured environment. Many dogs thrive on interaction with their own kind and will enjoy meeting new playmates on the walk. Even those who don’t love to socialize can benefit from the controlled environment of the pack walk to work on reactivity training and improving social skills. Pack walks encourages walking side-by-side, in front of, or behind other dogs to help build trust, rather than having meetings face-to-face, which often makes dogs uncomfortable.

Controlled positive exposure to other dogs can help reduce fearful or anxious behaviors. Regular attendance of pack walks can help provide a sense of security and routine that is predictable and comforting to your dog. Dogs learn well from observing each other, and can benefit from attending walks with other dogs who are social and well trained, as they look to the other dogs in the group for cues on how to behave. Pack walks are a great place to practice, or put to test, training skills of any kind as your dog is introduced to new potential distractions and new environments.

Pack Walks in Baltimore County

Our pack walks in Baltimore County, Maryland have the added benefit of being overseen by experienced dog handlers, to provide helpful tips about leash walking, reactivity, and to prevent problematic exchanges from occurring between the dogs! We meet around once or twice a month to walk on trails and at parks in the area, typically choosing locations that are ADA accessible.

If you live in the area and are interested in joining us for a walk, please join our facebook group for details.