July 22, 2025 • 24 mins
Could skipping your dog's daily walk be the kindest thing for them? In this paradigm-shifting episode, Lauren and Karen explore the controversial concept of "ditching the walk" and its potential to transform your relationship with your dog.
Explore our diverse range of courses, including the recently released Bake Off course, for inspiration and enrichment ideas.
https://absolutedogs.me/bakeoff
When your dog's stress bucket is already overflowing, dragging them into potentially overwhelming environments can create negative experiences for everyone involved. Karen shares how her reactive dog Rupert benefits more from alternative activities than from traditional walks when he's not in the right headspace. "If he's not enjoying it either, what is the point?" she questions, challenging long-held beliefs about canine exercise requirements.
The discussion reframes what exercise truly means for dogs. "Fitness is movement, and movement is fitness," Lauren emphasises, introducing numerous alternatives that provide both physical and mental stimulation. From confidence circuits and trick training to scent work and puzzle feeders, these activities often deliver more focused attention and meaningful engagement than a distracted walk around the neighbourhood.
Karen reveals how enrichment activities serve as valuable "temperature checks" for her dog's mental state. When Rupert willingly performs tricks like "orbit," she knows he's feeling comfortable. When he can't focus on food or familiar behaviours, it signals he's over-threshold—crucial information for responsive care.
This isn't about laziness or neglect—it's about truly tuning into what your dog needs and providing alternatives that better serve their wellbeing. You might discover that your dog prefers these targeted activities over walks, responding with enthusiasm rather than the foot-planting reluctance that signals a walk isn't working for them.
Whether you have a reactive dog, an ageing senior, or simply want to enhance your relationship, this episode offers practical ways to redefine exercise and enrichment. Try replacing even a portion of your walks with alternative activities, and you might be surprised by the positive changes you see in both your dog's behaviour and your connection with them.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Lauren Langman (00:09):
Welcome to the Absolute Dog Sex in a Squirrel
podcast.
I'm Lauren Langman.
I'm one of the world's leadingdog trainers and it's my mission
to help owners become theirdog's top priority.
In each episode, you'lldiscover how to gain trust and
communicate with your dog likenever before, creating
unbreakable bonds that make youthe most exciting part of their
world.
Ditch the walk, karen.
(00:30):
You ditch the walk with yourlovely dog rupert, and in so
many ways it's really, reallynecessary.
And yet I know for owners it'sa really hard concept.
Why do you ditch the walk?
What is ditch the walk?
What's ditch the walk about foryou and your naughty but nice
dog, rupert?
Karen Scott (00:46):
um, so really for Rupert.
Lauren Langman (00:50):
It is about not taking him out when his
headspace is not in a placewhere that is going to be a good
experience and what mighthappen if he goes out when his
headspace is not in the rightplace, and it might not be a
good experience.
Tell us more about it so hemight be.
Karen Scott (01:06):
He might have had um a lot of stuff filling his
stress bucket.
I his his ability to handlethings might be slightly
compromised.
And then I take him out on awalk and a dog looks at him
funny and he has a meltdown now.
Lauren Langman (01:20):
How does that feel for rupert good or bad, bad
?
How does it feel for karen goodor bad?
How does it feel for the otherdog good or bad?
How does it feel for Rupertgood or bad, Bad?
How does it feel for Karen goodor bad, Bad?
How does it feel for the otherdog good or bad, Bad?
How does it feel for the otherdog owner good or bad, Bad?
How does it feel for anybodylooking and on looking on that
situation Bad and what theheck's going on over there.
And so actually is there anybenefit to walking a dog in that
headspace?
Karen Scott (01:38):
No, no, and I think you could kind of get pulled
into that mindset of he needsexercise, he needs to be going
out, he can't live in the houseall the time.
He's got to have differentexperiences and different
environments and he needs to beexercised.
But there are so many otherways of doing it.
(01:59):
And if it's not going to be anenjoyable experience for him,
regardless of me because thereare things I would potentially
do with him if they were in hisinterests that I wouldn't
necessarily enjoy I can't thinkof one right now, but I mean
potentially but if he's notenjoying it either, what is the
point?
Lauren Langman (02:17):
Absolutely, absolutely.
I think that's massive, I thinkthat's really huge.
Now I'm thinking about mylovely granddad.
He's in his 80s, late, late 80s, and he would say but you have
to walk a dog at 6 am and 6 pmand they have to be walked for
an hour a day, twice a day.
So you're going to walk in themorning, you're going to walk in
the evening, and that, lauren,is the reason I can't have a dog
, because it just, it justdoesn't budge.
Karen Scott (02:46):
I can't have those rules, but I do have a similar
kind of parallel situation.
So I know how Rupert would beif I did have those rules.
He has medication that he takesand he knows when it's time for
his medication.
If he had regular walks, hewould absolutely know when it
was time for his regular walksand he would be telling me in no
uncertain terms that it is timeto be going out.
And that wouldn't be fun,because I can't always go out at
(03:06):
the same time I work.
Sometimes it's dark, sometimesit's wet, sometimes there's
something else happening.
Sometimes he's done somethingstupid, like held himself up a
path and screamed for fiveminutes and then, even though
there's nothing actually wrongwith him, I don't think a walk's
that good for him that day.
Lauren Langman (03:20):
So an inflexible dog who feels like a walk has
to happen at a particular timeevery day would be quite tricky
and when I've been speaking tomy granddad he's like but it's a
dog's right to have a walk,it's a dog's right to be
exercised.
And my granddad's also deaf,which makes it particularly
tricky to discuss anything withhim and I love him to bits.
(03:40):
But he's very, very inflexiblehimself, very, very regimented
policeman, policeman,ex-policeman, and he will tell
you what he has on a Monday fordinner, on a Tuesday for dinner
on a Wednesday as cottage pie,and a Thursday does this, and a
Friday has sandwiches and apickled onion.
And on Saturday and Sunday hegoes to the local cafe and you
know what you mess up with thatplan and he's going to tell you
about it.
You won't gonna know about itand I find that interesting.
(04:02):
What's in the dog is in theperson and there's similarities
going across there becauseobviously he's the one that
drives that relationship.
Now, when I think about that, Ido think there is a space for
exercise and I do think there'sa space for enrichment, and even
my goat has enrichment.
At our house.
Our goat has enrichment.
Our super chickens haveenrichment.
You've seen them like peckingout there.
They have a great, great daywhere we hang things up and they
go investigating and findingand foraging and I'm a massive
(04:25):
believer in that.
Our horses have enrichment.
A jolly ball just arrived forour ponies where they grab it
and they throw it at each otherand have a great time and we've
got hay balls and all the fun.
What do you do for Rupert thatreplaces that walk?
Because obviously what we'retalking to you about, listeners,
is ditching the walk and whatthings we can do today Currently
ditching the walk and whatthings we can do today currently
.
If you haven't already jumpedinto games club, you know what
(04:46):
games club we go through, somany things you can do.
What's the link for games clubkaren?
Absolute dogs, dot me forward,slash, join the club.
And once more, just so everyonecan hear it absolute dogs dot
me forward, slash, join the club.
So what do you do to replacegames?
Karen Scott (04:59):
so all not replace games, replace walks, all sorts
of stuff.
And that is the beauty of gamesand games club and games-based
training, isn't it?
You don't have to do the samestuff every day.
So I think, first off, a walk.
What is a walk?
Even?
It's not necessarily that Idon't take him out, but what I
(05:25):
don't do is take him out thefront door, walk down the road,
go around in a circuit and endup back at the house.
So actually it's like redefinedwhat a walk actually is for a
dog, even so sometimes I mightdrive him somewhere, get him out
of the car, play some games ina car park obviously away from
cars and then come home againand then he's learning skills
(05:47):
that he's learned at home andtaking them somewhere else and
that's building all sorts ofskills that serve him well in
other areas of his life.
Or sometimes we might do somekind of confidence circuit type
games in the house.
I even moved my dining tableout of the way so that I've got
a big space so that we can setout cones and he can do kind of
running around cones and goingbetween bowls and over platforms
(06:10):
and that's brilliant for hisfitness and his body awareness
and all sorts of things.
Lauren Langman (06:14):
I think one thing to remember everybody
who's listening is fitness ismovement, and movement is
fitness, and so many peopleforget that.
So actually, if your dog'smoving, it is fitness.
For me that's, that's a massivepart of it.
Karen Scott (06:25):
Carry on, um, we do stuff in the garden.
So even if I take him for maybea five, ten minute walk around
the corner so he can go to thetoilet somewhere different, then
we'll come back and we'll playsome games in the garden, um,
and he'll do some kind of foodbowling games, and he'll do
middle and we'll do middlebowling and we'll run around and
he uses energy, but he uses itin a productive way and that's
(06:49):
such a nice way to look at it.
Lauren Langman (06:50):
Now, how about play Karen?
Karen Scott (06:52):
Play.
We play all sorts of things.
We play games with his food, weplay games with toys.
He's less toy motivatedtypically, but there are lots of
games that we do play with toysand we play tricks and all of
those things are brilliant waysto exercise his mind as well as
his body.
Lauren Langman (07:11):
Now I know rupert is a trick.
Like maestro, he loves histricks.
Karen Scott (07:15):
Give me some of his favorite tricks um, he enjoys
putting things in things heenjoys.
We're trying desperately to gethim to enjoy putting rings on a
.
What are those things?
Lauren Langman (07:27):
called little like child game, isn't it those
little like where?
they collect them on and he doeslove to put things away and
grab things and move them.
How has that helped you in hiseveryday life?
Because I always think ifyou're teaching tricks, you may
as well teach something that'sgoing to help you in your
everyday life.
Like get good bang for yourbuck.
So my dad used to say to me,but you're just teaching them
party tricks.
And I'd be like no, actuallyI'm.
I'm teaching them how to tofind an object that I've lost
(07:50):
out on a walk, or I'm teachingthem how to do a stay when
there's a bicycle going by, orI'm teaching them how to do an
instant behavior because there'strouble ahead, or I'm teaching
them how to do a sit, pretty asa back strengthening exercise.
So everything I did always hada future purpose or a purpose in
mind, even if I didn't know thepurpose at that time.
(08:10):
How about you?
Karen Scott (08:11):
yeah, definitely so .
First off, it's teaching allthe skills and concepts that he
needs to grow in every area ofhis life.
So any, any trick where he'spicking stuff up and putting
stuff down is teaching himdisengagement and why does he
need disengagement?
Lauren Langman (08:27):
so what sort of struggles does he have that
makes you think, oh, this dogneeds disengagement?
Karen Scott (08:29):
So what sort of struggles does he have that
makes you think, oh, this dogneeds disengagement Because he
barks at things out of windowsand if he's given the
opportunity, he will fence, runand bark at people walking past
and he doesn't like noises andhe can't come away from things
that worry him.
Lauren Langman (08:43):
So all of the above are vital, really
important, key and essential forhim.
So how about some of his umfavorite tricks?
We've obviously talked aboutputting things in.
How about things like middletoes?
How is that a good exercise for?
For ditching the walk?
What does that help you with?
It helps with, well,flexibility for a start, because
there's there's middle andthere's middle toes and I should
(09:06):
probably explain middle dogcoming into proximity, coming
into spaces, middle toes, yourdog coming into middle and then
putting their feet on your toesand you said they're two very
distinct, yeah uh, yeah, becausehe needs to learn which one
he's been asked to do and not dothe other one, just because he
fancies it more.
Um, actually, one of hisabsolute favorite tricks is
(09:29):
orbit or reversing around me tothe, to the point that he
literally must have done itabout 20 times off cue today
like is it orbit's?
Turn and you're like no, no, no, orbit's not happening.
Yet how about orbit karen?
Karen Scott (09:40):
is orbit happening and you could see him like now
he loves it, he really loves it,and the good thing about that
is, if he's offering that, thenI do know he's in a fairly
relaxed headspace.
It's a good kind of temperaturecheck of his how relaxed and
comfortable he is.
Lauren Langman (09:55):
It's a nice indicator, isn't it?
It's an indicator of this iswhere your head is right now.
Karen Scott (09:58):
Yeah, but it was definitely off cue.
Lauren Langman (10:02):
And that's good to know.
This is off cue, dead cue andstill off cue.
So it's like being a little bitmindful of this is off cue.
And when you think aboutsomething like middle toes or
when you think about somethinglike orbit, why are they nice
things that you could maybetransfer to?
You're out and about, we, wewalk, or you're out and about,
we're going to need to do thiswalk, because actually, for me,
those things really really helpme, because when I do then get
(10:24):
outside I can hear that we'vejust started dog training here
at the center.
So if you hear any dogs barking,we're authentic.
We are a dog training centre.
It's one of the biggest centresin the UK, possibly the world,
and I absolutely know there maybe some dog noise happening
they're doing agility, but it'snot fly balls, it's not quite as
loud now.
Now, why do they help you?
For me, they really help mewhen I'm out on a walk with
Katie, for example, I know thatwe had it recently.
(10:46):
A dog ran into her space andshe coped with it really, really
well, but quite quickly after,when that dog had gone, I did a
few of her favorite tricks so Icould almost bring her level
back up again, even though youcould see she'd almost had her
feathers ruffled a bit.
She was a bit like oh, I wasn'texpecting that.
Karen Scott (11:01):
He enjoys them.
So they put him in a goodheadspace for a start, middle
and middle toes, as you weresaying.
It's a great way to kind ofprotect him from the world a
little bit, bring him into asafe space where I've got a bit
of control over what comes intohis space no-transcript and and
(11:25):
then, as I said before as well,they're also a good kind of just
check, temperature check ofwhere his brain's at.
If he can do tricks then I knowhe's feeling fairly comfortable
in an environment, particularlyones like orbit, where he has
to take his, his vision.
He can be quite visually aware.
So if he's willing to kind ofreverse around me and not be
fixated on something, then Iknow he's relaxed enough to not
(11:49):
need to be vigilant about what'sgoing on potentially, and
that's massive, and I completelyagree that these are nice
temperature checks, pulse checks.
Lauren Langman (11:57):
Now a couple of things to think about.
When I'm competing at bigevents like crafts, or when I'm
training and traveling at likebig pressure events, I sometimes
get off my food completely.
Now, as you know, I'm a I'm afoodie.
I really like my food, and if Idon't have food at a certain
point, I'm like done now, like Iwill get hungry to the point I
won't function.
And yet if I'm a bigcompetition like crafts or one
(12:18):
of the biggies, I cannot eat.
And I don't eat until way afterthe event, like later, later,
later, like my appetite for food, food is gone.
And I also take things likeorbit and middle toes and all of
those things as indicatorsactually to whether the dog can
even work for food or is thedoggy able to take food.
And I'm not worried too much ifthe dog can't.
(12:38):
It's information and I need tochange something.
So don't feel bad or like aterrible owner.
Actually just realize that youmaybe need to change something
now.
With that in mind, do you feellike a terrible owner when you
can't always walk your dog andhas there been any mental
battles there to get to thisplace?
Or actually are you verycontent with the space you're in
and can you explain why?
Karen Scott (12:58):
I think, if I step back and think about it
rationally, I am content withthe space I'm in because I'm
doing what's best for him.
If I was not walking himbecause I couldn't really be
bothered and I've got a dog buthe wants to walk a dog, it's
raining, nah, let's not botherthen yes, there would be room
for me to be feeling bad aboutthat.
But I'm doing it because it'sin his best interests and I'm
replacing a walk with way moreexciting, fun things that he
(13:22):
enjoys way more and it'senrichment.
Lauren Langman (13:24):
Right, and I love your answer.
Your answer is gorgeous.
I actually think we need toredefine the walk.
So I actually think this isn'ta ditch the walk podcast.
This is redefine the walk.
And when we think aboutredefining the walk, what is the
walk?
Let's go back to where westarted.
The walk is movement.
The walk is potentiallyenrichment.
The walk is potentiallyexercise.
The walk is potentiallysimulation.
The walk is potentially changeof habitat.
(13:45):
The walk is potentially changeof habitat.
The walk is potentially changeof state, change of mind.
But the walk doesn't have to be, like you said, going out of
the front door, walking, doing acircuit and coming back.
In fact, I can't think ofanything more dull.
It is dull, guys, let's not dothat to our dogs.
Things like chuck it ballthrows we throw over and over
and over and over and over againno, that's not what our dogs
need.
And things like taking them tothe same spot each day that's
(14:08):
not enriching, actually, that's.
That is quite dull.
So let's redefine the walk.
What do you?
Karen Scott (14:12):
think yeah, definitely.
And also on that, and thinkingof rufus and how inflexible he
is and knowing that that willprobably get worse as he gets,
older because cognitive declineit does, it absolutely does,
even on dogs as brilliant asblink.
Lauren Langman (14:27):
Cognitive decline is there.
If you haven't seen calm seniorfrom aok9, head to wwwa-ok9.com
.
Go and get your aok9.
Honestly, it's made such a bigdifference to blink in her
senior years.
Any dog over seven years oldshould be on calm canine senior
mega, mega, mega, mega mega forcognitive decline.
(14:48):
Her sister's dealing withmassive cognitive decline and
blink looks like a completelydifferent dog and I'm sure
that's a canines and creditreally so.
Karen Scott (14:57):
So yeah, absolutely , as you head into that, you're
looking at less flexibility ormore inflexible right yeah, so
he needs to be doing stuff whichkeep him flexible mentally as
well as physically, and a hugevariety of different things.
Lauren Langman (15:08):
now, when it comes to feeding and I know
we're talking like redefine thewalk here because we're not
calling it ditch the walk, it'sgoing to be redefine the walk
when we're thinking about, um,his feeding, do you keep his
feeding flexible as well, anddoes that enhance your ditch the
walk?
And other things you can dowhen, for example, you're
feeling like this is a reallybusy day, I might not even have
time to like race around thegarden 100 times and play all
the different games, otherthings you can do with his
(15:29):
feeding as well that help withyour enrichment, or even, maybe,
when you go away.
Karen Scott (15:32):
Yes, and that is actually one area.
He's very flexible.
He'll happily eat anything,whether it's something he should
eat or not.
But he's very happy to have hisfood in snuffle mats and puzzle
feeders.
He's very happy to play gamesfor his food.
I can take it on a walk to pairit with experiences and make
sure that he's kind of havinghis optimism protected if
something a bit unexpectedhappens.
(15:53):
We use it in all of thosedifferent ways.
We use it if we're playingfitness games.
He will work for cucumber.
He will work for high valuefood.
Lauren Langman (16:00):
That's cool, isn't it?
That is cool.
Now one last question, Karen,and I think this is an important
question if someone else islooking after reaper, how do you
explain redefining the walk orditch the walk?
And I'm going to give theexample of your parents.
So your parents have lookedafter him for you.
How do you explain that to them?
Karen Scott (16:18):
um, I would usually say something like he doesn't
need to go for long walks.
It, he can go outside, gooutside for toilets, um, but he
will be happy to do stuff in thehouse.
Um, don't feel the need to walkhim for hours.
It's not what he needs.
He's very happy.
He's very flexible.
Um, you will probably find he'sharder to look after if you
(16:40):
take him for a big, long walk,because he is going to end up
being overwhelmed by all theexperiences and let's think
about it.
Lauren Langman (16:45):
the longer the dog walks, the more likely it is
that they're going to comeacross something that either
scares them or it happens.
It's the same as I always thinkabout this.
I'm on the road a lot, so Ialways think, god, I'm on the
road a lot, the more likelythere is to be a chance of an
accident or something goingwrong, because you're there in
that situation a lot, so you'reputting yourself in the
situation I was thinking this ona flight.
The other guys go on the plane.
There's a chance that they'reup and down on those planes all
day long, right?
(17:10):
So it's like there's morechances of something going wrong
.
And I'm not going to go anyfurther because this is getting
morbid, but I really do believethat the more times you take
your dog in certain situations,one of the reasons that I think
my late dog Tokyo was sobrilliant is actually he hadn't
been overexposed, so the lesshe's been exposed to anything
(17:33):
bad and the older he is when hehas his first bad experience,
and actually he's got such awhole like bank of good
experience that there's not abig problem so.
Karen Scott (17:36):
So how do they receive that information?
Um, my parents do like to takehim for a walk, um, but I think
rupert has actually told themthat he doesn't need them.
He's, he's decided he's notgoing for walks, um, and my last
time my parents had him, my dadsaid so I took rupert to the
end of the street, he plantedhis feet and then he wanted to
come home.
Is that normal?
It's, it's not massively normal.
Lauren Langman (17:56):
It depends what I do with him and and what the
route for that walk looks likerupert was basically saying this
is a bad deal and I'm not upfor it not happening.
I'd much prefer to just chillin the sofa.
Thanks, and that's great really, that the dog actually
understands a level of the spaceand the stress and the place
that is there.
So for anyone out therethinking maybe I should ditch
(18:17):
some of my walks or the walks,what would you say?
I?
Karen Scott (18:20):
would say if your dog is telling you by their
behaviour or by how you comeback from a walk feeling because
of the way it's gone, option oraren't always a good option,
then definitely there's, there'sdefinitely no guilt in ditching
a walk if your dog is nothaving a good experience.
(18:40):
You can do so many other thingsinstead.
Lauren Langman (18:43):
So whether you ditch one walk, whether you
ditch lots of walks, whether youditch all the walks, it's a
little bit like feeding for me.
I say to people all the timewell, how about if you went 10
fresh, 20 fresh, 30 fresh, whenthey're feeling, feeling maybe a
commercial kibble, and I'm like, what about 30%, what about 10%
, what about 5%, what about 1%?
What about just like a littlebit of edge in the week?
(19:03):
There's so many things you cando that are edging that way.
So it might be well, okay, I'mgoing to ditch 50% of my walks
and use those for trainingsessions.
Is your relationship with yourdog going to be better if you
use 50% of their exercise spacefor training sessions?
Yes or no?
Karen Scott (19:17):
Yeah, absolutely, and it's not that you're not
doing something, it's just thatyou're doing something different
.
Lauren Langman (19:22):
Now, if you think about where your dog gets
more of your time or more ofyour intention or more of your
energy, are they going to getmore of your intention, energy
and time when you ditch the walkand you do intentional training
sessions?
Or when you just go on a walkand get on your mobile phone or
get out and just like walk alongand don't really think about
the dog, or the dog runs offhalf the time and goes to meet
another dog, which one gets more?
Karen Scott (19:42):
attention by miles, because you're actually
building your relationship andyou're having fun and you're
teaching your dog things thatit's valuable to teach them, um,
and you're building all of theother things.
You're giving them exercise,you're giving them mental
stimulation, you're doing all ofthe other things, you're giving
them exercise, you're givingthem mental stimulation.
You're doing all of thosethings as well, but you're doing
it kind of as a team, whereas awalk I mean a walk can be a
(20:04):
team team event.
It can also be a thing whereyour dog just pulls you along
and you kind of drag alongbehind, depending on what your
walks look like and do you getpleasure from ditching the walk?
Lauren Langman (20:14):
Yes, absolutely.
Karen Scott (20:16):
I love ditching the walk.
I love doing alternative thingswith Rupert.
He loves it too.
You can tell he loves it.
He doesn't get to the end ofthe day and think, oi, what
happened to my walk.
He thinks, oh, I had a greatgame of going around those cones
with cucumber and maybe wecould do that again tomorrow
please, I love that.
Lauren Langman (20:33):
I really, really love that.
I really really love that.
And when I think about it, whenI think about all the different
things that we could do, just afast tips tennis.
That's bounced a few ideas thatyou can do.
I'm going to say you could doscent work and I've watched the
dogs here at the training centerDevon Dogs doing scent work.
Oh my goodness, they'reexhausted.
They are literally on sniffarisall day long.
They love it.
They might do 10 minutes or anhour, it depends on the session,
(20:54):
but ultimately an hour.
It depends on the session, butultimately they're exhausted and
their mental energy is zapped.
Go on over to you one thingpeople would do with a ditch the
walk.
Confidence circuits nice,confidence circuits is on the
absolute dogs page.
Go and have a look.
It's one of our lessonslearning badges.
It's a really, really, reallybrilliant thing to do, great for
flexibility, great for physicalfitness, great for mental and
(21:14):
sort of games, and you get agood bang for your buck.
So you get a lot for a veryshort session.
I'm going to back that up bysaying cavaletti.
Cavaletti is huge and cavalettiis one of those things that
we've got in the games club inthe games club.
Go and have a look there.
Games club link is absolutedogs dot me forward slash.
Join the club and I'd love youto head over there and check
(21:35):
that out.
It's a mega, mega thing fordogs who are ditching the walk
over to you.
Another thing you could do withyour ditch walk tricks, love
tricks.
You can go and get ahead andgrab the tricks book.
Tricks book, mega book, ringbound over a kilo in weight, can
fly all over the world.
So go grab your tricks copy.
I'm gonna say you can scatterfeed and you can do enrichment
(21:55):
forms of feeding.
My dogs have got some stuffedapples in the fridge ready to go
for tomorrow and they'restuffed apples full of mincemeat
.
Not quite sure on the combo,but it's going to be great.
I've heard venison and apple.
It's a good flavour and I lovethe enrichment and all the
different enrichment we can do,including scatter feeding Over
to you.
Karen Scott (22:12):
One more that we could do I would say games, and
then take them somewhere andplay them different places.
So car parks are brilliant,especially when the shop is
closed and there's no people andthere's no cars in the car park
.
Especially if you've got areactive dog, because Rupert
really doesn't like dogs.
There's such a great space totrain because there aren't other
dogs there.
There might be some people,there might be some trolleys,
(22:34):
but you're not really going tofind a lot of dogs going to
Tesco.
Can you imagine?
Lauren Langman (22:38):
Literally just off to Tesco, mum.
I'll see you later, Karen.
So, guys, that was this episodeof the Sex and the Squirrel
podcast.
We have ditched the walks andwe've redefined them.
It's important you share thispodcast, if you haven't already.
Share it with your father, yourmother, your sister, your, your
brother, your long-lost lover.
Share it with a friend.
Share it with someone thatneeds to know this.
Maybe it's a neighbor, maybeit's a whatsapp, maybe it's a
(22:59):
quick message to someone thatreally, really, really needs to
know a little bit more.
Please share it.
Get the world knowing aboutthis, because it really does
help the ripple effect that isgames based dog training.
Thank you, karen, for joiningme.
I so appreciate you being hereand and I know that Reaper is in
the very best space to have anowner like you I only wish that
(23:20):
more owners knew about this.
Join us next week for more Sexand the Squirrel.
Well, you know what?
I can't tell you too much, butyou're gonna love it.
Stay sexy.
Welcome to the Absolute Dog Sex in a Squirrel
podcast.
I'm Lauren Langman.
I'm one of the world's leadingdog trainers and it's my mission
to help owners become theirdog's top priority.
In each episode, you'lldiscover how to gain trust and
communicate with your dog likenever before, creating
unbreakable bonds that make youthe most exciting part of their
world.
Ditch the walk, karen.
(00:30):
You ditch the walk with yourlovely dog rupert, and in so
many ways it's really, reallynecessary.
And yet I know for owners it'sa really hard concept.
Why do you ditch the walk?
What is ditch the walk?
What's ditch the walk about foryou and your naughty but nice
dog, rupert?
Karen Scott (00:46):
um, so really for Rupert.
Lauren Langman (00:50):
It is about not taking him out when his
headspace is not in a placewhere that is going to be a good
experience and what mighthappen if he goes out when his
headspace is not in the rightplace, and it might not be a
good experience.
Tell us more about it so hemight be.
Karen Scott (01:06):
He might have had um a lot of stuff filling his
stress bucket.
I his his ability to handlethings might be slightly
compromised.
And then I take him out on awalk and a dog looks at him
funny and he has a meltdown now.
Lauren Langman (01:20):
How does that feel for rupert good or bad, bad
?
How does it feel for karen goodor bad?
How does it feel for the otherdog good or bad?
How does it feel for Rupertgood or bad, Bad?
How does it feel for Karen goodor bad, Bad?
How does it feel for the otherdog good or bad, Bad?
How does it feel for the otherdog owner good or bad, Bad?
How does it feel for anybodylooking and on looking on that
situation Bad and what theheck's going on over there.
And so actually is there anybenefit to walking a dog in that
headspace?
Karen Scott (01:38):
No, no, and I think you could kind of get pulled
into that mindset of he needsexercise, he needs to be going
out, he can't live in the houseall the time.
He's got to have differentexperiences and different
environments and he needs to beexercised.
But there are so many otherways of doing it.
(01:59):
And if it's not going to be anenjoyable experience for him,
regardless of me because thereare things I would potentially
do with him if they were in hisinterests that I wouldn't
necessarily enjoy I can't thinkof one right now, but I mean
potentially but if he's notenjoying it either, what is the
point?
Lauren Langman (02:17):
Absolutely, absolutely.
I think that's massive, I thinkthat's really huge.
Now I'm thinking about mylovely granddad.
He's in his 80s, late, late 80s, and he would say but you have
to walk a dog at 6 am and 6 pmand they have to be walked for
an hour a day, twice a day.
So you're going to walk in themorning, you're going to walk in
the evening, and that, lauren,is the reason I can't have a dog
, because it just, it justdoesn't budge.
Karen Scott (02:46):
I can't have those rules, but I do have a similar
kind of parallel situation.
So I know how Rupert would beif I did have those rules.
He has medication that he takesand he knows when it's time for
his medication.
If he had regular walks, hewould absolutely know when it
was time for his regular walksand he would be telling me in no
uncertain terms that it is timeto be going out.
And that wouldn't be fun,because I can't always go out at
(03:06):
the same time I work.
Sometimes it's dark, sometimesit's wet, sometimes there's
something else happening.
Sometimes he's done somethingstupid, like held himself up a
path and screamed for fiveminutes and then, even though
there's nothing actually wrongwith him, I don't think a walk's
that good for him that day.
Lauren Langman (03:20):
So an inflexible dog who feels like a walk has
to happen at a particular timeevery day would be quite tricky
and when I've been speaking tomy granddad he's like but it's a
dog's right to have a walk,it's a dog's right to be
exercised.
And my granddad's also deaf,which makes it particularly
tricky to discuss anything withhim and I love him to bits.
(03:40):
But he's very, very inflexiblehimself, very, very regimented
policeman, policeman,ex-policeman, and he will tell
you what he has on a Monday fordinner, on a Tuesday for dinner
on a Wednesday as cottage pie,and a Thursday does this, and a
Friday has sandwiches and apickled onion.
And on Saturday and Sunday hegoes to the local cafe and you
know what you mess up with thatplan and he's going to tell you
about it.
You won't gonna know about itand I find that interesting.
(04:02):
What's in the dog is in theperson and there's similarities
going across there becauseobviously he's the one that
drives that relationship.
Now, when I think about that, Ido think there is a space for
exercise and I do think there'sa space for enrichment, and even
my goat has enrichment.
At our house.
Our goat has enrichment.
Our super chickens haveenrichment.
You've seen them like peckingout there.
They have a great, great daywhere we hang things up and they
go investigating and findingand foraging and I'm a massive
(04:25):
believer in that.
Our horses have enrichment.
A jolly ball just arrived forour ponies where they grab it
and they throw it at each otherand have a great time and we've
got hay balls and all the fun.
What do you do for Rupert thatreplaces that walk?
Because obviously what we'retalking to you about, listeners,
is ditching the walk and whatthings we can do today Currently
ditching the walk and whatthings we can do today currently
.
If you haven't already jumpedinto games club, you know what
(04:46):
games club we go through, somany things you can do.
What's the link for games clubkaren?
Absolute dogs, dot me forward,slash, join the club.
And once more, just so everyonecan hear it absolute dogs dot
me forward, slash, join the club.
So what do you do to replacegames?
Karen Scott (04:59):
so all not replace games, replace walks, all sorts
of stuff.
And that is the beauty of gamesand games club and games-based
training, isn't it?
You don't have to do the samestuff every day.
So I think, first off, a walk.
What is a walk?
Even?
It's not necessarily that Idon't take him out, but what I
(05:25):
don't do is take him out thefront door, walk down the road,
go around in a circuit and endup back at the house.
So actually it's like redefinedwhat a walk actually is for a
dog, even so sometimes I mightdrive him somewhere, get him out
of the car, play some games ina car park obviously away from
cars and then come home againand then he's learning skills
(05:47):
that he's learned at home andtaking them somewhere else and
that's building all sorts ofskills that serve him well in
other areas of his life.
Or sometimes we might do somekind of confidence circuit type
games in the house.
I even moved my dining tableout of the way so that I've got
a big space so that we can setout cones and he can do kind of
running around cones and goingbetween bowls and over platforms
(06:10):
and that's brilliant for hisfitness and his body awareness
and all sorts of things.
Lauren Langman (06:14):
I think one thing to remember everybody
who's listening is fitness ismovement, and movement is
fitness, and so many peopleforget that.
So actually, if your dog'smoving, it is fitness.
For me that's, that's a massivepart of it.
Karen Scott (06:25):
Carry on, um, we do stuff in the garden.
So even if I take him for maybea five, ten minute walk around
the corner so he can go to thetoilet somewhere different, then
we'll come back and we'll playsome games in the garden, um,
and he'll do some kind of foodbowling games, and he'll do
middle and we'll do middlebowling and we'll run around and
he uses energy, but he uses itin a productive way and that's
(06:49):
such a nice way to look at it.
Lauren Langman (06:50):
Now, how about play Karen?
Karen Scott (06:52):
Play.
We play all sorts of things.
We play games with his food, weplay games with toys.
He's less toy motivatedtypically, but there are lots of
games that we do play with toysand we play tricks and all of
those things are brilliant waysto exercise his mind as well as
his body.
Lauren Langman (07:11):
Now I know rupert is a trick.
Like maestro, he loves histricks.
Karen Scott (07:15):
Give me some of his favorite tricks um, he enjoys
putting things in things heenjoys.
We're trying desperately to gethim to enjoy putting rings on a
.
What are those things?
Lauren Langman (07:27):
called little like child game, isn't it those
little like where?
they collect them on and he doeslove to put things away and
grab things and move them.
How has that helped you in hiseveryday life?
Because I always think ifyou're teaching tricks, you may
as well teach something that'sgoing to help you in your
everyday life.
Like get good bang for yourbuck.
So my dad used to say to me,but you're just teaching them
party tricks.
And I'd be like no, actuallyI'm.
I'm teaching them how to tofind an object that I've lost
(07:50):
out on a walk, or I'm teachingthem how to do a stay when
there's a bicycle going by, orI'm teaching them how to do an
instant behavior because there'strouble ahead, or I'm teaching
them how to do a sit, pretty asa back strengthening exercise.
So everything I did always hada future purpose or a purpose in
mind, even if I didn't know thepurpose at that time.
(08:10):
How about you?
Karen Scott (08:11):
yeah, definitely so .
First off, it's teaching allthe skills and concepts that he
needs to grow in every area ofhis life.
So any, any trick where he'spicking stuff up and putting
stuff down is teaching himdisengagement and why does he
need disengagement?
Lauren Langman (08:27):
so what sort of struggles does he have that
makes you think, oh, this dogneeds disengagement?
Karen Scott (08:29):
So what sort of struggles does he have that
makes you think, oh, this dogneeds disengagement Because he
barks at things out of windowsand if he's given the
opportunity, he will fence, runand bark at people walking past
and he doesn't like noises andhe can't come away from things
that worry him.
Lauren Langman (08:43):
So all of the above are vital, really
important, key and essential forhim.
So how about some of his umfavorite tricks?
We've obviously talked aboutputting things in.
How about things like middletoes?
How is that a good exercise for?
For ditching the walk?
What does that help you with?
It helps with, well,flexibility for a start, because
there's there's middle andthere's middle toes and I should
(09:06):
probably explain middle dogcoming into proximity, coming
into spaces, middle toes, yourdog coming into middle and then
putting their feet on your toesand you said they're two very
distinct, yeah uh, yeah, becausehe needs to learn which one
he's been asked to do and not dothe other one, just because he
fancies it more.
Um, actually, one of hisabsolute favorite tricks is
(09:29):
orbit or reversing around me tothe, to the point that he
literally must have done itabout 20 times off cue today
like is it orbit's?
Turn and you're like no, no, no, orbit's not happening.
Yet how about orbit karen?
Karen Scott (09:40):
is orbit happening and you could see him like now
he loves it, he really loves it,and the good thing about that
is, if he's offering that, thenI do know he's in a fairly
relaxed headspace.
It's a good kind of temperaturecheck of his how relaxed and
comfortable he is.
Lauren Langman (09:55):
It's a nice indicator, isn't it?
It's an indicator of this iswhere your head is right now.
Karen Scott (09:58):
Yeah, but it was definitely off cue.
Lauren Langman (10:02):
And that's good to know.
This is off cue, dead cue andstill off cue.
So it's like being a little bitmindful of this is off cue.
And when you think aboutsomething like middle toes or
when you think about somethinglike orbit, why are they nice
things that you could maybetransfer to?
You're out and about, we, wewalk, or you're out and about,
we're going to need to do thiswalk, because actually, for me,
those things really really helpme, because when I do then get
(10:24):
outside I can hear that we'vejust started dog training here
at the center.
So if you hear any dogs barking,we're authentic.
We are a dog training centre.
It's one of the biggest centresin the UK, possibly the world,
and I absolutely know there maybe some dog noise happening
they're doing agility, but it'snot fly balls, it's not quite as
loud now.
Now, why do they help you?
For me, they really help mewhen I'm out on a walk with
Katie, for example, I know thatwe had it recently.
(10:46):
A dog ran into her space andshe coped with it really, really
well, but quite quickly after,when that dog had gone, I did a
few of her favorite tricks so Icould almost bring her level
back up again, even though youcould see she'd almost had her
feathers ruffled a bit.
She was a bit like oh, I wasn'texpecting that.
Karen Scott (11:01):
He enjoys them.
So they put him in a goodheadspace for a start, middle
and middle toes, as you weresaying.
It's a great way to kind ofprotect him from the world a
little bit, bring him into asafe space where I've got a bit
of control over what comes intohis space no-transcript and and
(11:25):
then, as I said before as well,they're also a good kind of just
check, temperature check ofwhere his brain's at.
If he can do tricks then I knowhe's feeling fairly comfortable
in an environment, particularlyones like orbit, where he has
to take his, his vision.
He can be quite visually aware.
So if he's willing to kind ofreverse around me and not be
fixated on something, then Iknow he's relaxed enough to not
(11:49):
need to be vigilant about what'sgoing on potentially, and
that's massive, and I completelyagree that these are nice
temperature checks, pulse checks.
Lauren Langman (11:57):
Now a couple of things to think about.
When I'm competing at bigevents like crafts, or when I'm
training and traveling at likebig pressure events, I sometimes
get off my food completely.
Now, as you know, I'm a I'm afoodie.
I really like my food, and if Idon't have food at a certain
point, I'm like done now, like Iwill get hungry to the point I
won't function.
And yet if I'm a bigcompetition like crafts or one
(12:18):
of the biggies, I cannot eat.
And I don't eat until way afterthe event, like later, later,
later, like my appetite for food, food is gone.
And I also take things likeorbit and middle toes and all of
those things as indicatorsactually to whether the dog can
even work for food or is thedoggy able to take food.
And I'm not worried too much ifthe dog can't.
(12:38):
It's information and I need tochange something.
So don't feel bad or like aterrible owner.
Actually just realize that youmaybe need to change something
now.
With that in mind, do you feellike a terrible owner when you
can't always walk your dog andhas there been any mental
battles there to get to thisplace?
Or actually are you verycontent with the space you're in
and can you explain why?
Karen Scott (12:58):
I think, if I step back and think about it
rationally, I am content withthe space I'm in because I'm
doing what's best for him.
If I was not walking himbecause I couldn't really be
bothered and I've got a dog buthe wants to walk a dog, it's
raining, nah, let's not botherthen yes, there would be room
for me to be feeling bad aboutthat.
But I'm doing it because it'sin his best interests and I'm
replacing a walk with way moreexciting, fun things that he
(13:22):
enjoys way more and it'senrichment.
Lauren Langman (13:24):
Right, and I love your answer.
Your answer is gorgeous.
I actually think we need toredefine the walk.
So I actually think this isn'ta ditch the walk podcast.
This is redefine the walk.
And when we think aboutredefining the walk, what is the
walk?
Let's go back to where westarted.
The walk is movement.
The walk is potentiallyenrichment.
The walk is potentiallyexercise.
The walk is potentiallysimulation.
The walk is potentially changeof habitat.
(13:45):
The walk is potentially changeof habitat.
The walk is potentially changeof state, change of mind.
But the walk doesn't have to be, like you said, going out of
the front door, walking, doing acircuit and coming back.
In fact, I can't think ofanything more dull.
It is dull, guys, let's not dothat to our dogs.
Things like chuck it ballthrows we throw over and over
and over and over and over againno, that's not what our dogs
need.
And things like taking them tothe same spot each day that's
(14:08):
not enriching, actually, that's.
That is quite dull.
So let's redefine the walk.
What do you?
Karen Scott (14:12):
think yeah, definitely.
And also on that, and thinkingof rufus and how inflexible he
is and knowing that that willprobably get worse as he gets,
older because cognitive declineit does, it absolutely does,
even on dogs as brilliant asblink.
Lauren Langman (14:27):
Cognitive decline is there.
If you haven't seen calm seniorfrom aok9, head to wwwa-ok9.com
.
Go and get your aok9.
Honestly, it's made such a bigdifference to blink in her
senior years.
Any dog over seven years oldshould be on calm canine senior
mega, mega, mega, mega mega forcognitive decline.
(14:48):
Her sister's dealing withmassive cognitive decline and
blink looks like a completelydifferent dog and I'm sure
that's a canines and creditreally so.
Karen Scott (14:57):
So yeah, absolutely , as you head into that, you're
looking at less flexibility ormore inflexible right yeah, so
he needs to be doing stuff whichkeep him flexible mentally as
well as physically, and a hugevariety of different things.
Lauren Langman (15:08):
now, when it comes to feeding and I know
we're talking like redefine thewalk here because we're not
calling it ditch the walk, it'sgoing to be redefine the walk
when we're thinking about, um,his feeding, do you keep his
feeding flexible as well, anddoes that enhance your ditch the
walk?
And other things you can dowhen, for example, you're
feeling like this is a reallybusy day, I might not even have
time to like race around thegarden 100 times and play all
the different games, otherthings you can do with his
(15:29):
feeding as well that help withyour enrichment, or even, maybe,
when you go away.
Karen Scott (15:32):
Yes, and that is actually one area.
He's very flexible.
He'll happily eat anything,whether it's something he should
eat or not.
But he's very happy to have hisfood in snuffle mats and puzzle
feeders.
He's very happy to play gamesfor his food.
I can take it on a walk to pairit with experiences and make
sure that he's kind of havinghis optimism protected if
something a bit unexpectedhappens.
(15:53):
We use it in all of thosedifferent ways.
We use it if we're playingfitness games.
He will work for cucumber.
He will work for high valuefood.
Lauren Langman (16:00):
That's cool, isn't it?
That is cool.
Now one last question, Karen,and I think this is an important
question if someone else islooking after reaper, how do you
explain redefining the walk orditch the walk?
And I'm going to give theexample of your parents.
So your parents have lookedafter him for you.
How do you explain that to them?
Karen Scott (16:18):
um, I would usually say something like he doesn't
need to go for long walks.
It, he can go outside, gooutside for toilets, um, but he
will be happy to do stuff in thehouse.
Um, don't feel the need to walkhim for hours.
It's not what he needs.
He's very happy.
He's very flexible.
Um, you will probably find he'sharder to look after if you
(16:40):
take him for a big, long walk,because he is going to end up
being overwhelmed by all theexperiences and let's think
about it.
Lauren Langman (16:45):
the longer the dog walks, the more likely it is
that they're going to comeacross something that either
scares them or it happens.
It's the same as I always thinkabout this.
I'm on the road a lot, so Ialways think, god, I'm on the
road a lot, the more likelythere is to be a chance of an
accident or something goingwrong, because you're there in
that situation a lot, so you'reputting yourself in the
situation I was thinking this ona flight.
The other guys go on the plane.
There's a chance that they'reup and down on those planes all
day long, right?
(17:10):
So it's like there's morechances of something going wrong
.
And I'm not going to go anyfurther because this is getting
morbid, but I really do believethat the more times you take
your dog in certain situations,one of the reasons that I think
my late dog Tokyo was sobrilliant is actually he hadn't
been overexposed, so the lesshe's been exposed to anything
(17:33):
bad and the older he is when hehas his first bad experience,
and actually he's got such awhole like bank of good
experience that there's not abig problem so.
Karen Scott (17:36):
So how do they receive that information?
Um, my parents do like to takehim for a walk, um, but I think
rupert has actually told themthat he doesn't need them.
He's, he's decided he's notgoing for walks, um, and my last
time my parents had him, my dadsaid so I took rupert to the
end of the street, he plantedhis feet and then he wanted to
come home.
Is that normal?
It's, it's not massively normal.
Lauren Langman (17:56):
It depends what I do with him and and what the
route for that walk looks likerupert was basically saying this
is a bad deal and I'm not upfor it not happening.
I'd much prefer to just chillin the sofa.
Thanks, and that's great really, that the dog actually
understands a level of the spaceand the stress and the place
that is there.
So for anyone out therethinking maybe I should ditch
(18:17):
some of my walks or the walks,what would you say?
I?
Karen Scott (18:20):
would say if your dog is telling you by their
behaviour or by how you comeback from a walk feeling because
of the way it's gone, option oraren't always a good option,
then definitely there's, there'sdefinitely no guilt in ditching
a walk if your dog is nothaving a good experience.
(18:40):
You can do so many other thingsinstead.
Lauren Langman (18:43):
So whether you ditch one walk, whether you
ditch lots of walks, whether youditch all the walks, it's a
little bit like feeding for me.
I say to people all the timewell, how about if you went 10
fresh, 20 fresh, 30 fresh, whenthey're feeling, feeling maybe a
commercial kibble, and I'm like, what about 30%, what about 10%
, what about 5%, what about 1%?
What about just like a littlebit of edge in the week?
(19:03):
There's so many things you cando that are edging that way.
So it might be well, okay, I'mgoing to ditch 50% of my walks
and use those for trainingsessions.
Is your relationship with yourdog going to be better if you
use 50% of their exercise spacefor training sessions?
Yes or no?
Karen Scott (19:17):
Yeah, absolutely, and it's not that you're not
doing something, it's just thatyou're doing something different
.
Lauren Langman (19:22):
Now, if you think about where your dog gets
more of your time or more ofyour intention or more of your
energy, are they going to getmore of your intention, energy
and time when you ditch the walkand you do intentional training
sessions?
Or when you just go on a walkand get on your mobile phone or
get out and just like walk alongand don't really think about
the dog, or the dog runs offhalf the time and goes to meet
another dog, which one gets more?
Karen Scott (19:42):
attention by miles, because you're actually
building your relationship andyou're having fun and you're
teaching your dog things thatit's valuable to teach them, um,
and you're building all of theother things.
You're giving them exercise,you're giving them mental
stimulation, you're doing all ofthe other things, you're giving
them exercise, you're givingthem mental stimulation.
You're doing all of thosethings as well, but you're doing
it kind of as a team, whereas awalk I mean a walk can be a
(20:04):
team team event.
It can also be a thing whereyour dog just pulls you along
and you kind of drag alongbehind, depending on what your
walks look like and do you getpleasure from ditching the walk?
Lauren Langman (20:14):
Yes, absolutely.
Karen Scott (20:16):
I love ditching the walk.
I love doing alternative thingswith Rupert.
He loves it too.
You can tell he loves it.
He doesn't get to the end ofthe day and think, oi, what
happened to my walk.
He thinks, oh, I had a greatgame of going around those cones
with cucumber and maybe wecould do that again tomorrow
please, I love that.
Lauren Langman (20:33):
I really, really love that.
I really really love that.
And when I think about it, whenI think about all the different
things that we could do, just afast tips tennis.
That's bounced a few ideas thatyou can do.
I'm going to say you could doscent work and I've watched the
dogs here at the training centerDevon Dogs doing scent work.
Oh my goodness, they'reexhausted.
They are literally on sniffarisall day long.
They love it.
They might do 10 minutes or anhour, it depends on the session,
(20:54):
but ultimately an hour.
It depends on the session, butultimately they're exhausted and
their mental energy is zapped.
Go on over to you one thingpeople would do with a ditch the
walk.
Confidence circuits nice,confidence circuits is on the
absolute dogs page.
Go and have a look.
It's one of our lessonslearning badges.
It's a really, really, reallybrilliant thing to do, great for
flexibility, great for physicalfitness, great for mental and
(21:14):
sort of games, and you get agood bang for your buck.
So you get a lot for a veryshort session.
I'm going to back that up bysaying cavaletti.
Cavaletti is huge and cavalettiis one of those things that
we've got in the games club inthe games club.
Go and have a look there.
Games club link is absolutedogs dot me forward slash.
Join the club and I'd love youto head over there and check
(21:35):
that out.
It's a mega, mega thing fordogs who are ditching the walk
over to you.
Another thing you could do withyour ditch walk tricks, love
tricks.
You can go and get ahead andgrab the tricks book.
Tricks book, mega book, ringbound over a kilo in weight, can
fly all over the world.
So go grab your tricks copy.
I'm gonna say you can scatterfeed and you can do enrichment
(21:55):
forms of feeding.
My dogs have got some stuffedapples in the fridge ready to go
for tomorrow and they'restuffed apples full of mincemeat
.
Not quite sure on the combo,but it's going to be great.
I've heard venison and apple.
It's a good flavour and I lovethe enrichment and all the
different enrichment we can do,including scatter feeding Over
to you.
Karen Scott (22:12):
One more that we could do I would say games, and
then take them somewhere andplay them different places.
So car parks are brilliant,especially when the shop is
closed and there's no people andthere's no cars in the car park
.
Especially if you've got areactive dog, because Rupert
really doesn't like dogs.
There's such a great space totrain because there aren't other
dogs there.
There might be some people,there might be some trolleys,
(22:34):
but you're not really going tofind a lot of dogs going to
Tesco.
Can you imagine?
Lauren Langman (22:38):
Literally just off to Tesco, mum.
I'll see you later, Karen.
So, guys, that was this episodeof the Sex and the Squirrel
podcast.
We have ditched the walks andwe've redefined them.
It's important you share thispodcast, if you haven't already.
Share it with your father, yourmother, your sister, your, your
brother, your long-lost lover.
Share it with a friend.
Share it with someone thatneeds to know this.
Maybe it's a neighbor, maybeit's a whatsapp, maybe it's a
(22:59):
quick message to someone thatreally, really, really needs to
know a little bit more.
Please share it.
Get the world knowing aboutthis, because it really does
help the ripple effect that isgames based dog training.
Thank you, karen, for joiningme.
I so appreciate you being hereand and I know that Reaper is in
the very best space to have anowner like you I only wish that
(23:20):
more owners knew about this.
Join us next week for more Sexand the Squirrel.
Well, you know what?
I can't tell you too much, butyou're gonna love it.
Stay sexy.
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