What should a hike or walk with your dog look like? Hopefully, it is pleasant for both of you with a dog who can explore and enjoy the outdoors AND stay tuned in with you.

This video combines various clips from a recent hike we did at Dawson Butte with Zooka, who was 10.5 months old at the time.

You can see that he is on a long line. In this case, it's a line that is around 15-20 feet long. If there were more traffic on the trails we would use our ten foot line. We never use a six foot lead. We don't feel it gives our dogs enough room to explore when space allows.

You can see that Zooka gets plenty of chance to explore and sniff around on his line. Our expectation is that he be able to have some degree of freedom to enjoy himself. The chance for dogs to use their noses is particularly important since that is how dogs primarily experience their world.

However, we do expect him to keep a loose line. So whether we have given him ten feet or twenty feet or any other length, he is expected to never go beyond the end of that line and pull on the lead. He does have limits to what/where he can explore.

If he does pull on the lead, we stop and expect him to check in with us. Once he reconnects, we will proceed.

You might also notice that he checks in with us at various points. We do expect that our dogs will connect with us on their own, not only when we ask for it. Zooka is normally very good at this. Though it gets more challenging when there are bunnies or squirrels in the vicinity!

Our goal with him, as with our previous dogs, is that they will eventually be off-leash reliable in areas where we are able to do so. But when there are other people around or wildlife that would be too much of a temptation, they will be on lead.

Zooka has earned off leash privileges in some areas but not yet here in a hike where other people are around.

Do you have clear boundaries established for hikes/walks with your dog that allow your dog to enjoy himself and be a dog but still be tuned in with you and under control?