Shooting Times & Country Magazine
Exercising the mind
David Tomlinson is a firm believer that dog walks are beneficial to the health of mind and body — and now he has the research to prove it
IN THE PAST, I’VE debated on these pages whether we need to walk working gundogs. The well-known professional gundog trainer with whom I debated insisted that he had never taken a dog for a walk and didn’t ever plan to do so.
I did wonder at the time if I was being the overanxious amateur in my insistence that dogs do need walks, as surely he knew what he was talking about? If he, a highly experienced pro, didn’t think that dogs needed walks, who was I, a mere journalist, to disagree with him?
I’ve often thought about that debate but, many years on — in which time I must have walked many hundreds of miles with my dogs — I haven’t changed my mind. Every morning, before breakfast, the spaniels and I go for our exercise. It doesn’t matter what the weather is doing because we walk regardless, though one of the advantages of living in one of the driest parts of the country is that wet mornings are remarkably rare.
You may note that I said our exercise, for I regard the walk as equally good for both the dogs and me. Creaky knees may have stopped me from playing tennis, but not from walking, and I believe that the early morning walk is good for both my physical and mental health.
Best foot forward
You would tend to think that for the dogs, the benefit is more physical than mental, but a recent study, undertaken by Sarah Yarborough of the University of Washington, suggested that taking your dog for walks helps to keep its brain alert.
Ms Yarborough’s research revealed that dogs which got little exercise were more likely to develop a dog form of dementia, known as canine cognitive dysfunction (CCD). It’s a very similar condition to the human disease of Alzheimer’s and it includes memory problems and difficulties with spatial awareness.
Most of us have come across sad old dogs that don’t seem to know what they are doing and which barely recognise their owners. They are almost certainly suffering from CCD.
The study involved 15,000 dogs and found that the chances of a dog having CCD rose by 52% with each year of age. However, among dogs of the same breed and age, with similar health, the chances of getting CCD were 6.47 times higher in those that weren’t taken out for walks, compared with those that were exercised. The reasons were complex, but Ms Yarborough thought that exercise may benefit the brains of dogs by reducing molecules called pro-inflammatory cytokines.
You have to a PHD in canine health to work out that a dog that is exercised regularly is going to be fitter and
“If a dog likes to go for walks, wolf its food and wag its tail, it can’t be doing too badly”
brighter than one that isn’t. My test of an old dog is the three Ws: if the dog still likes to go for walks, wolf its food and wag its tail, it can’t be doing too badly. My old spaniel Rowan, now aged 15½, still passes all three tests with flying colours.
Signs of ageing
It might be anthropomorphic to suggest that she enjoys her walks, but she shows every sign of doing so. She still likes to get her nose down and have a good hunt, and does a surprising amount of cantering for
such an old dog. Her eyesight isn’t as good as it was and she is quite deaf, so on occasion, especially on a walk she is unfamiliar with, she will wander off in the wrong direction. I haven’t yet lost her for more than a couple of minutes, but it’s sensible to watch her more carefully than a young dog that can hear the recall whistle.
For younger dogs, walks are the natural time to train them. Sit and stays, walking to heel and retrieves can all be incorporated into every walk. If the walk is short and the dog needs lots of exercise, memory retrieves are the answer, ensuring that the dog gets plenty of galloping without you having to go far.
Walking is good for young dogs’ mental health, too, as the more supervised experiences they get, the better they cope with the distractions and temptations of life, or the shooting field. My three-year-old sprocker, Emma, for example, is so used to encountering muntjac and roe deer that she virtually ignores them.
All about control
The essential for walking a dog off the lead in the countryside is control, of course, coupled with good recall. Most pet dogs have neither. Last month, I visited Felbrigg Hall, a National Trust property in north Norfolk. While my companions visited the house, I walked the spaniels off their leads in the surrounding parkland.
Emma did nose up a cock pheasant, but apart from that we had no other encounters with game, but we did meet lots of other dogs. What was notable was that almost every one was on a lead, presumably because their owners didn’t dare let them off.
However, I have to admit that I wished Emma had been on a lead when she came to the lake, an artificial feature of the park.
She jumped in, but the southern side of the lake is edged with a low wall, so she couldn’t get out again without my assistance. Pulling her out by the scruff of her neck was an embarrassingly wet business.