Welcome to the Absolute Dog Sex and a Squirrel podcast. I'm Lauren Langman. I'm one of the world's leading dog trainers and it's my mission to help owners become their dog's top priority. In each episode, you'll discover how to gain trust and

communicate with your dog like never before, creating unbreakable bonds that make you the most

exciting part of their world. Ditch the walk. Karen, you ditch the walk with your lovely dog

Rupert. And in so many ways, it's really, really necessary. And yet I know for owners, it's a really

hard concept. Why do you ditch the walk? What is ditch the walk? What's ditch the walk about for you

and your naughty but nice dog, Rupert? So really, for Rupert, it is about not taking him out when

his headspace is not in a place where that is going to be

a good experience. And what might happen if he goes out when his headspace is not in the right

place and it might not be a good experience? Tell us more about it. So he might have had a lot of

stuff filling his stress bucket. His ability to handle things might be slightly compromised. And then I take him out on a walk and a dog looks to him funny and he has a meltdown. Now, how does that feel for Rupert, good or bad? Bad. How does it feel for Karen, good or bad? How does it feel for the other dog, good or bad? How does it feel for the other dog owner, good or bad?

How does it feel for anybody looking and on looking on that situation?

Bad and what the heck's going on over there?

And so actually, is there any benefit to walking a dog in that headspace?

No, no, there isn't at all.

And I think you could kind of get pulled into that mindset of he needs exercise, he needs to be going out, he can't live in the house all the time, he's got to have different experiences and different environments, and he needs to be exercised.

But there are so many other ways of doing it. and if it's not going to be an enjoyable experience

for him regardless of me because there are things I would potentially do with him if they

were in his interests that I wouldn't necessarily enjoy I can't think of one right now but I mean

potentially but if he's not enjoying it either what is the point absolutely absolutely and i think that's massive i think that's really huge now i'm thinking about my lovely granddad he's in his 80s late late 80s and he would say but you have to walk a dog at 6 a m and 6 p.m and they have to be walked for an hour a day twice a day so you're going to walk in the morning you're going to walk in the evening and that Lauren is the reason can't have a dog because it just, it just doesn't budge. I can only have a dog if I can do those things. What do you think when it comes to those rules? Well, first off, that makes your dog pretty and flexible. I don't have those rules, but I do have a similar kind of parallel situation. so I know how Rupert would be if I did

have those rules he has medication that he takes and he knows when it's time for his medication

if he had regular walks he would absolutely know when it was time for his regular walks and he

would be telling me in no in certain terms that it's time to be going out and that wouldn't be

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