An epidemic of dog boredom sweeps the country?

Welcome to the forum Matt

 

Oh joy....

 

How could you, Emily? That's just cruel!

You can tell you are a hardened dog walker when you meet dog walking friends in a howling gale with driving rain and nobody comments on the weather.

 

I love walking Fred in the rain. We are the only ones daft enough in the village to go out in it, but we have all the fields to ourselves. I have my waterproof coat and hat on and Fred got his fur coat

 

Just a gentle breeze then

 

Well, despite not being able to follow orders, I was still 'allowed' to walk both dogs in the howling gales this morning.
Casper doesn't really like the rain....

 

Pongo absolutely insists on his morning walk - there is no option on that. Drooly head on laptop until he gets us moving. And that is OK, because it really is just about the right clothes - I got a barbour jacket for christmas, and I've got winter trousers, so its not a bother.
We're lucky, though, because after that one walk he is pretty content to slouch on the sofa for the rest of the day. As long as we play with him a bit a few times he seems fairly content. I used to feel terribly guilty and think he must be hugely bored and depressed, but I really don't think it's so.... he just curls up in whichever room we are working in, gives a big sigh and goes to sleep....

 

I've just read one of the comments on that newspaper report (saying that "global warming is causing an epidemic of dog boredom"). See below. Pongo would definitely agree with this piece of research.

"I've just conducted a study of my own, my dog looked miserable so I gave it some chicken and it cheered up immediately, obviously that's just one data point so I waited until the dog looked miserable again and repeated the experiment, again the dog cheered up as soon as it saw the chicken.

I have concluded that global warming can be cured by chicken."

 

Sigh....

After 2 leads walks (the weather is really too bad to walk over the cliffs), several games of find it, a lot of cuddles, Charlie informs me he is going quite mad from acute boredom and is slobbering on my laptop demanding I get up and entertain him.....

 

Not us for sure, we love winter and even though snow has been scarce this winter we have some and have not got the prolonged rain some parts of the world experience. I could never live in Vancouver, BC, Canada I think.

I sure agree some dog walkers are fair weather sorts though. Many times we've gone to a favourite spot in rain or wind or heavy snow and met far fewer other dogs and walkers than usual.

I particularly enjoy rain since discovering my migraine headaches now occur more often on high pressure days (like yesterday ) than low and now I Can walk in the rain. I have a snazzy bright green rain jacket and the pants are in black.

Wind, I find wind disturbing. It's hard for me to walk where there are not big trees and it can be dangerous. We go anyway though. No boredom here. The thing that slows us down most is heat but Oban and I are equally affected by it so we suffer in company of each other.

 

Tarka is obsessed with her morning walk so there is no escape here. Lochan hates the rain and would cheerfully be taken out into the garden under an umbrella to do her morning ablutions and then curl up on our bed but sadly I feel if I have to go with the mad Tarka, then Lochan can suffer too.
I don't mind winter walks in foul weather, I've got lots of gear and stay dry and warm. It's the torrential rain in the summer I hate, getting home all uncomfortable and sweaty in the heat and rain.

 

Dogs have to be walked come rain of shine - that's the end of it. I am eternally grateful to my dogs, who get me out in the most foul weather, when I may have stayed indoors, skulking. I always enjoy it and come back feeling on top of the world.
A friend of mine has a Yorkshire Terrier, she says her dog will not go out in the rain. It would definitely go if I had it!

 

Our weather is foul , the whole of Cornwall being on an amber alert . Tried to get to the woods this morning and came upon a lane which resembled the river ,totally impassable . Finally got them out at midday , on leads around the village in driving rain and only for ten minutes , but enough to satisfy them that they have been out , its grim

 

"Come on!" I said to OH "don't you know there is an epidemic of doggie boredom sweeping the UK! It's only a bit of wind and rain! Off across the cliffs we must go!".

It was when I realised that rain blowing horizontal from the sea at 70mph, gusting much higher, really, really hurts that I decided maybe Charlie would survive without an off lead run today....Charlie got back to the car first.

 

When its a choice of field walk (aka "Mud fest") or woodland walk (beware falling branches) we both settle for just the one road walk which reduces the mud a bit, if not completely, and lessens the risk of being KO'd by falling branches.

We sometimes walk early 6.30am, sometimes later, but come 11am ish, any move I make the expectation of a walk is high.....
Its been a rare day that there is no walk - usually a combination of illness and inclement weather.

 

Sounds like you've got a dose of the weather we've had in Scotland over the last two weeks. Ripple was terrified one morning in the wind (and I wasn't much better) we couldn't get back in the door quick enough and decided to forego our early morning walk. It was only later when I saw there had been 90mph gusts - looks like it could be even worse in Cornwall.

 

When the water is over my wellies at the front gate (which it currently is (East Devon) we don't go out - fortunately we have a bit of wood behind the house which we can plod round in small circles - bit boring but at least a leg stretch and can do a bit of retrieving

 

What ever the weather, we just go. Dress accordingly, I often prefer it when it's raining as we get places to ourselves and have a blast, do training and clear the cobwebs. Before we had Dexter who is 8 months old today, I could go almost a week and realise I hadn't left the house, I work from home. Now I look forward to our walks and looking like a bedraggled munchkin. As part of my business I offer beauty treatments, I may not always look the part on the outside but to me, beauty comes from within . I have a happy pup and a happy heart, what more can I ask

 

Wow, @JulieT, I don't think I'd be doing off lead runs in those winds, especially on cliffs. You'd probably take off

 

Yeah, Charlie says he's fine on the sofa after all, thanks. We'll walk to the pub later! That'll have to do.

boredom by julieandcharlie julieandcharlie, on Flickr