Walking your dog should, of course, be at least a daily occurrence, if not twice or more a day. Since we do this so often and have to bring stuff with us on every walk, it’s a good idea to look at how we can be better prepared with the necessary items for the walk. When you have everything ready then you don’t have to waste time before your walk, and you have everything at hand on the walk. Your bag can have all the stuff you need for your dog walking in one place. It can be hung up with the coats, so you just need to grab it, and clip it on, and off you go all ready for the walk.
A great style of bag to use for dog walking is a “Bum Bag” also called a “Bum Backpack” or “Waistpack”. You can use different styles of these. Though often people prefer ones that have more than one compartment. If you can’t get one with enough space or compartments, then you can buy extra pouches of sorts from outdoor shops. These are usually made from nylon or corduroy and are for threading onto a belt. They are very handy as they have everything you need in one place. Just lift it, and clip it around your waist in a couple of seconds, and you are ready to go.
Let’s have a look at what you will need to have in your dog walking bag:
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#1: Poo Bags
You must clear up after they toilet outside. If you decide to get a dog, you must be prepared to lift your pet’s feces and not leave it lying. “Dog Manure” isn’t healthy for the ground like some people think. And it is both a health and general hazard. I absolutely hate to see dog excrement lying around in public places, it is disgusting. I don’t want to see it, don’t want to walk in it and most certainly don’t want my young daughter to find it when she is out playing.
There are plenty of places to get these bags. In pet shops, local discount shops or you can also get them in supermarkets. You can buy both dog poo bags or even baby nappy bags – they also work just fine. For the environmentally friendly type, you can buy biodegradable poo bags and/or nappy bags.
#2: Dog Leads
Small light dog leads are great if your dogs are trained well to walk on a lead and you can fit a number of them in your dog walking bag
#3: Tie Up Chain
This can be used at times when you go to the shops and have your dogs with you. You can’t take dogs into the shops, so you need to tie them up outside the shop. Though there are nearly no dog tie up points outside any shops I go to, apart from maybe some pet shops, there is usually a nearby point where you can tether your dog if you have the right attachment. I find a chain with a bolt snap, Carabiner or similar clip on the end to be very effective for this.
A chain like this can easily go around a lamppost, fence post, window security shutter post, a section of a bin, part of shop outdoor stand, street tree etc. You thread the handles of the leads through the chain, then place the chain around the fixing point (lamp post etc). You then simply clip the two ends of the chain together with the clip. It is fast, simple and there is very little messing about both chaining up before you go into the shops, and releasing your dogs when you come back out.
Since your dogs have the full length of their leads to move in. It allows a number of dogs to safely and easily be attached to the one point. But, since they do have the full length of their leads to move, they must be trained obedient dogs. Your dogs must be able to sit reasonably still and not bark, harass passing pedestrians, or go onto the road if you have attached them to the road side of the footpath etc.
#4: Treats
Some people may find it strange to say that dog treats are an ‘essential’ on dog walks. But ‘training treats’ are essential for most dogs. If you are involved in market training, clicker training or some form of reward training, then you must have training treats with you when you are out. After all, walk time is a major part of your dog training time – no matter how long you have had your dog for, some form of training always goes on.
Even if you are not involved in any type of training like that, then treats can be very useful as bribes when you are having difficulty getting your dog to do something you need her to. Or you need an immediate response, from a normally poor responding dog. Pull out some treats, and if they are nice enough, it’s amazing how fast your dog will respond to get a treat.
It is useful to have two different types of treats: Small training treats and bigger treats for the end of the walk. You could give your dogs a treat when they get back into the car or get their leads back on. This could be a biscuit or small chew.
#5: Small Nail Scissors
These are human curved nail scissors. Some breeds have no concerns about running through bushes, brambles etc. If they do this on a walk, they can often get bits of branches very badly entangled in their coats. If you are walking your dog in a forested area, then you can stop at times to detangle brambles, twigs etc. from their coat. Sometimes they are so tangled in, you have to just cut them out. By using a small pair of curved nail scissors, you will be able to get close to their skin if I need to, but with the scissors curving away from the skin, reducing the chances of inadvertently cutting their skin if you need to go really close. The small scissors, also make it easier to cut as little of their coat out as possible, yet still freeing them from the entanglement.
#6: Tissue & Cleansing Wipe
There is no nice way of saying this but, sometimes when you are lifting dog poo with just your hand and a bag. You can very occasionally get dirty. Sometimes a bag splits, or you hold it wrong and your fingers get dirty. Thus, carrying a tissue and cleansing wipe with you is a good idea. It is also useful for general hand cleaning from mud etc and if your dog rolls in something smelly that you would rather she didn’t!
#7: Grooming Brushes
Sometimes it is nicer to brush the dogs when outside, it reduces the number of dog hairs spread over the house. So you could take small dog brushes with me and pop them in your jacket pocket.
#8: Torch
If the Mornings and nights are dark, bring a torch with you, these can help you find the dogs if they wander off, or for them to find you!
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