Going for a walk....and the time it takes to get ready

You don't get much more rural than where I live in the summers. Even my daily winter walks are in the mountains, not through town. Treats are even more important in this sort of environment, not to work as a bribe because, you're absolutely right, the environment would win every time, but for rewarding all the good decisions that your dog makes and for training purposes, as @Jojo83 says. For example, if you want to train a good recall in a natural environment, you can start off by waiting until the pup is running to you, then using your recall cue and giving him a great reward when he gets to you. Every time you do this, it makes a little link in the puppy's brain that cue + running towards you = something good. If you do this enough times (hundreds), that link will get strong enough that you can actually give the cue and the pup will automatically run towards you. Because it has become a trained response. Not a bribe, which will fail when the environment is enticing enough. Training that means that it is an automatic response.

I think it's also really important to reward check-ins (the dog glancing towards you) really regularly. This keeps your puppy - and later your dog - used to staying close to you. So, every time the pup looks at me, they get a click or a "yes!" and a piece of food thrown. I'm not asking them not to interact with the environment, I'm simply rewarding them when they look at me. It just becomes something they do then, to keep an eye on you and stay close by.

 

I love it when Rory checks in. I just tell him he's such a good boy and he looks so happy. That makes me smile just a small moment of pure happiness.

 

For my regular off-lead evening walk on a mountain trail where we see the usual walkers and dogs, I put Snowie’s collar on him, and drape his leash and harness over my shoulder and we’re ready to go. Phone and ear buds in my pocket. Nothing else. Really easy and simple. Poos are flicked off the path with the nearest stick.

For our weekly off-lead forest walk where there are tons of unknown dogs, I always carry treats, and always start the walk eating an apple which I share with Snowie - keeps him close from the onset.

 

And it takes so much longer when you have to hunt the house for a matching pair of shoes because your dogs hidden one somewhere.

When Homer was a pup and I was still getting used the the whole walk thing. I more than a few times left the house keys in the outside lock of the front door!

 

Isn't that just the best

 

Haha!! Done that a few times myself! Or, in the morning frantically looking for house keys, only to find them outside in the lock. Burglars, welcome, please come in!