Morning Or Night Walks

[aussielover]

I do both- 1 hour in the morning and 1 hour in the evening. I vary the actitivty from jogging, leash free exercise at the dog park or beach or on lead walking and I often do a combo of these. I find jogging and leash free exercise the most tiring for my dog.

There are more people out an about in the morning (and more dogs), and it does make them a bit tired for the rest of the day which would be a good thing if you needed to leave them at home. Morning would be beter if your dog likes playing with other dogs maybe?

I try to walk my dog again at around 4pm but sometimes I dont get back until later and she will have to be walked at 5-7pm when it is dark.

If I could only do one walk it would probably be the morning as I think she would cope better with just training/games in the evening.

[dandybrush]

i walk in the arvos, if i walked in the mornings i would have to be getting up at 3.30!! i start work at 6

I also try to mix up my days for them, i organise play dates, or we do the dog park or training

Edited May 31, 2011 by dandybrush

[shelby-001]

we walk in the morning.....

if they are tired from the get go they are better behaved and they go to bed earlier

they have their own crazy play about 5.30 every day in the arve and that's enough to get rid of any energy they've built up from a day of sleep

I also try and fit in 2 10 minute training sessions each dog, each day

[piperspal]

I take the dogs out at 5am, although lately that has been getting harder (at least until we warm up). There are a lot of people that walk thier dogs in the afternoon, as I take 4 at once its easier and less stressful to go in the morning, they get some off lead time and get to toilet and run around like loons in relative safety. However, in saying that, it seems the colder it gets the more people are out and about at that time, we never used to see anyone but now I have to keep an eye open. Plus 3 of mine are oldies (10, 8, 7) so they get thier walk then the jackets back on immediately we get home. They are more inclined to go out before its light, once the sun is up they just want to lay in it.

The only down side is when the lights are out in any of the areas, damm its dark!!!!! At one stage I was having to cut the walk short as the streetlights were out for about 8 poles around a bend. I wasnt worried about humans being around at that hour, but we do regularly run into a dingo that comes into the edge of towm and I didnt want to come across him or someone else with thier dog if I couldnt see them coming. I work with some of the poeple in my area and they asked one day if my dogs had been barking in the mornings, they rekoned that there was someone creeping around at 5.30am to see what houses they could break into. I had to laugh and apologised and let them know that was me and the dogs coming down a different street.

I have also got to the far end of the walk and had the power go out in the area. It was cold, drizzly with rain and bloody dark!!!! I let the big dogs off the lead (so they could get any boogymen that wanted to eat me) and we used my torch on the Iphone to find our way home. I now carry a regular torch......

I used to walk in the afternoons, but to be honest, it was to easy to make excuses at that time. Plus, I need to be out the door and walking before my brain realises what I am doing........

[dee lee]

Morning for us.

Either early (6ish) before everyone else is awake or after school dropoff at 9am.

Unfortunately evenings are not possible because my OH often works nights & I'm stuck home with the kids.

[EVO8Gold]

Both. Wife walks the dog in the am by herself and we both walk in the evening during the week. We both normally walk twice on the weekends.

[Kajtek]

Both! The bully team would go crazy without their ~5.30am and 7 pm walks

[CaseyKay]

Both if I'm not working too late but always mornings. At the moment due to winter and it being dark early we head out at 7am (still pretty dark) and home at 8am for me to make work by 8:30. If I finish at 4:30pm we get another 3/4 hour walk in. If I finish at 6:30pm well I start later so do 1.5 hours in the morning and some tracking or agility training with the young dog. I have 3 border collies and don't see the point of onlead walks so we don't walk in the dark. Young dog goes to training under lights 2 nights a week: agility and rally obedience which I find is great in winter. 9 year old BC is probably the most annoying on nights we don't get any walks She runs around the house throwing toys at me. OH is home until 3pm when he goes to work but he generally doesn't walk them (certainly not all 3 at once ha ha), he might play fetch in the park across the road but generally they just hang out at home.

[mish13]

I am another one that walks four dogs on my own, so we go at 5am for an hour every morning.I don't do afternoons too many dogs around and I have one that is not dog friendly.

My OH plays ball with them in our back yard every afternoon.

[SezzNJunebug]

I'm lucky and work near home so we go for walks on my lunch break and after work. I'm as hooked to it as they are now! Breaks the day up for me too.

If I get home and OH says he has taken them for their walk/run without me I always say "but I haven't been for mine" and we'll usually go some where else. :D

I'm really not a morning person but if I didn't get to spend my lunch break with them we'd go for a morning walk too.

[mackiemad]

i walk both but if i have to skip one it is the afternoon walk i skip - he needs something to tke the edge off or i find he's been galloping aroudn the house while i'm away.

generally i do a 45min power walk in the morning, heeling most of the way with some training at street corners etc. i like it cos it is quiet and i can juts slowly start to activate my brain and there's no threat of carzy dogs and owners at that time. afternoon walk is around 5pm and i take him for an off-lead run, where i wander around tired and he gallops madly about and rolls in things i wish he hadn't! sometimes this off lead run is at our local, somewhat secret dog park, sometimes it is where my horses are, a little later and he does the feed round and watches me ride (he is tied up if i'm riding)

[kiesha09]

Thanks everyone for the input. Was very interesting reading what some of you do. I'd love to do 2 walks a day but I'm just not sure how everyone fits it all in

I did morning walks for the past few days and have been enjoying them. There aren't as many dogs about. Thing is the dogs still go hyper after work too as thats their normal walk time. I guess its good to change things up a bit and make their lives a little more unpredictable.

[huga]

Morning before work for my two. It's at 5am and horribly dark and cold Sid isn't too keen until a few minutes in. They are alone all day, so really need the walk in the morning. I don't have time at night anyway.

[GeckoTree]

I like walking early mornings more than afternoons, makes a nice start to the day, I figure it's the same for my dog.

[Tay.]

I find it hard enough to get up at 6:30am as it is Otherwise I'd walk in the morning, I love the morning Just getting out of bed is the hard part.

So I usually walk them at 4:30-5:00pm, but in Summer I walk at about 8.00pm - once it's cooled down.

[SmoothieGirl]

Usually both. Quick one in the morning for us all to stretch our legs, often some obed training thrown in. Then a bigger walk or a free run in the evening.

Sometimes I'll skip the morning walk, but not often.

[jackie_a1]

If you can both. But if you have work all day and the dogs are left to their own devices it's best to walk them first thing in the morning. So they have proper stimulation and physical activity before being left for hours on their own. It's better I think in the morning if you can only do one, so the dogs are some what physically drained and are less destructive. The energy doesn't pent up as much if they've had their walk and it also helps them chill out through the day. It should calm them down a little so they're not over excited when you get home.

[Hetzer]

Both means double the fun!

[B-Q]

Morning. I always work evening and nights so its the only way to do it.