What do you do while walking your dog?
I don't have many friends who have dogs, so I thought I'd post here.
I like dog walks. It's a great daily activity for me that helps me decompress after work. A bit of "me time", outside, fresh air, mild exercise.
When I walk my dogs, I often listen to music using earbuds. Lately, I've been feeling like this is too distracting and transports me too much to my own imagination. I would then take out the earbuds and listen to the world around me. This is nice in the park where I hear birds, the wind, etc. Sometimes I will call a family member as the dog walk is long and I might not have time after or before. This also distracts me from "the now" so I try not to do it too often.
When I don't distract myself with these things, I do feel more at ease, more present, more mindful, and - most importantly - more connected with my dogs. I watch them closer, I interact with them more. It becomes less of a daily task, and more of an intentional meaningful activity. I'm thinking of just ditching the music altogether. I already do leave my phone at home most of the time (unless I plan to call a relative, as stated above).
Curious what other people do or think on this topic. What's your inner monologue during dog walks? Are they a chore to you, or do you love them?
My dog died a couple of years ago but we took at least two walks per day. It can be both an expression of love and a chore that happens to be more or less convenient depending on the day. I didn't listen to music or usually talk on the phone. I did do incidental bird watching and admired the landscaping etc.
Sorry about your dog. This is me too - I don’t listen to music, I just go for a walk and see what’s going on in my neighborhood. What the neighbours are up to, what the city is up to, what plants are newly in bloom, if there’s any interesting animal activity (we live in an area that gets beavers and bears). It’s often a bit of a chore but I do enjoy the increased situational awareness that comes with it.
Sorry about your dog, @boxer_dogs_dance.
After a long day, or a bad day, it can feel a bit of a chore, but you know what? Even on those days, once I am back from the walk, I am glad I went and feel better than before. Even on cold, dark winter evenings.
When I walk with my dogs I just kinda walk with my dogs. There's a cemetery nearby that is nice. I'm not a goth but the cemetery is the only place with any nature nearby. My dogs poop and piss on the way to the cemetery so they never disrespected anyone's grave. I sometimes look at and read the graves. Some have pictures and messages. It's a nice walk.
I think your dog walk could be a good Edgar Allan Poe poem!
I want to do more of that, and less of the tech distractions. I do not have a cemetery nearby, but I do have the park I usually go to. My issue is in winter, when it is already dark when I get home from work, and the park is not an option (no light, paths are icy). I have to stick to the same neighbourhood loop in winter. It gets boring. That's when I end up listening to more music or a podcast or something.
Yeah a podcast can be nice. Maybe one that is mentally stimulating enough to break the boredom. Like Radiolab.
Depends on how I'm feeling.
Most of the time, I raw dog dog walks. I like to look at my neighbors houses, yards, cars, etc, look at the world around me.
Sometimes I want to listen to some music or a podcast and just kind of zone out and be in a bubble.
Just depends on the day and how I'm feeling.
That's fair. I guess that's kind of what I do too. Houses and yards, I've seen them so many times I honestly don't pay too much attention to unless I spot some changes, a cool car, etc. yards, yes, the nice ones I always do appreciate (the ones with more nature, flowers, cool landscaping or design). I'm in the bubble for most of the winter months as it's already dark when I get home from work. Not much to take in unless there is fresh snow and it looks serene.
I'm also like this. If I discover a new podcast I might have my headphones in for two weeks straight on walks. But 75% of the time I just focus on my dog. We probably walk 1-2 hours daily and a weekend hike could be 6-8 hours so I churn through podcasts quickly when I do find one I want to binge.
I look at peoples' yards and trees. I usually take my dog to a park nearby that has huge Doug firs. I also just look at my dog because she's adorable.
Nice, that's basically what I do if I leave all the technology aside. My park does not have too many trees. It's kind of flat, but it does have a pretty big river passing through it. I enjoy taking that in and seeing it over the seasons of the year. Lush greenery around it in the summer, many ducks, geese, even deer.
I listen to podcasts 90% of my daily walks. The other 10% I'm usually in my own head thinking through a tough problem at work or a story idea I'm working on and will most likely never actually finish writing.
I'm in my head a lot -- too much!
Regarding ideas, I do sometimes get some random good idea for a story, and I'll use the voice recorder on my smartwatch to capture that. None actually materialized into stories, but let me tell you, listening through the recordings 1-2 years later is hilarious.
I keep one AirPod in and have a “walk” playlist of intentionally repetitive and calming music that is “centering” to me. It actually allows me to be in the moment more than silence would be, and with only one earpiece in, I still feel connected to the here and now a little bit.
Hmm that's not a bad idea. I can see how that would work well. I feel something like that with some music and less so other music. A dedicated "Walk" playlist is something I think I'll try out for myself. Thanks for the idea!
Walking the dogs is time for me to survey the land pretty much. I check out what plants are newly sprouting, what is blooming, what areas are weedy, what is wilting. I watch out for what new bugs I am seeing, the different animal behavior. Are there birds newly nesting in an area? Did the babies fledge yet? Are the hawks looking for squirrels and rabbits? When the dogs are more interested in something I am paying attention as well. We find different scat and then I can consider what animals have been through while they sniff. It feels much more like a joint activity all 3 of us (me and the 2 dogs) are part of.
That's amazing and much more grounding than any of my walks. Very cool!
So much this. Walking the dogs is tech-off for me. I love being outside, come rain or shine, and it's time to smell the green. Best part of the day, even if the spaniel is eating every shite he can find. Disgusting beast
I love him but my dog is objectively a jerk. He is stubborn bordering on untrainable, very protective of us, and fairly large. So on our nightly 30 min walks, my focus is pretty much 100% on keeping an eye on his behavior and trying to reward him when he walks without pulling and looking out for people he might want to bark at or for cats that he might get the urge to chase if I don't spot them first, potentially hurting my shoulder. He is sloooooowly improving though.
My younger dog is a handful. Part of the reason the walks have been changing a bit. Was easier with one calmer dog.
My dog either goes with me on my morning run/jog for all/part of it depending on how far I feel like going that day, or she goes with us in an evening walk.
On my runs I tried playing music not too loud from my phone speaker which got annoying, so I ordered a cheapish pair of earbuds and proceeded to ruin them in the span of ~3-4 days due to how much I sweat here when running (I live in the tropics). Now I just use the running time to think and get both my dog and I the exercise we need
During the evening walks, it's a family activity, so I'm usually chatting with family members or trying to wrangle kids.
Sounds nice. I’m leaning more towards no music these days too, especially in the summer.
Back when I had a dog, it was just enjoying the woods and the trail, listening to and looking for birds, foraging blackberries if available, looking for bunnies and squirrels and lizards. Before I started training him for hunting, he would do that fox thing where they go still, then do a giant spring in the air and come down front paws and nose first. That was always super entertaining, though I never saw what he was going for.
My dogs do the fox thing a little bit in winter. It’s so fun to watch.
I'm usually listening to an audiobook with my airpods on while I walk my dog. She gets 4 walks a day because we live in an apartment and can't just let her out to potty as she pleases. I'll listen to my book and enojy the surroundings while paying attention to my dog and what she's doing and if there are any potential triggers since she is mildly reactive.
When we're at the dog park (we go there for one of her walks so she can socialize and run around off leash in a safe place), I keep an eye on her since she is an escape artist and can be very chaotic and get into trouble, but I also socialize with the other dog park parents who are there, usually my best friend who also has a dog that our dog protects even though mine is an 8-pounder and he's an 80-pound dog.
It's always the smaller dogs who are the boss! I am not surprised she is protecting the 80 pound dog.
I do audiobooks now and then, but mostly while commuting.
She is absolutely the boss!
I love audiobooks. They've brought back my love of reading.
I’ve embraced them since my job requires a longer commute than previous jobs. I still like reading fiction on paper or ebook, but I like non-fiction on audio.
Weirdly I also have a cemetery nearby that's a good spot for quick neighborhood walks. It's just one of the few areas nearby without traffic, cars or otherwise. We get out to nearby hiking trails or parks when we can.
I really like the Shokz headphones because they leave my ears open. Tend to listen to podcasts or call people and just talk for a bit.
Thanks for sharing those headphones. Didn't know these existed! Very cool concept. How's the audio quality compared to regular headphones or earbuds? I user Airpods Pro which have a transparency mode that lets outside sound through. But it's cool that these Shokz don't even go in the ear at all. The are basically mini-speakers?
Weird tangent for this thread, but I have the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds and they're like some kind of weird voodoo magic. The sound quality is exceptional for a completely open earbud, you can still hear everything around you, and somehow they aren't easily heard by other people around you.
To be clear, the sound quality is nowhere near as good as a decent pair of passive or ANC earbuds because it can't be, but for casual listening, audiobooks, podcasts etc, they amazing.
edit: fixed broken link
Thanks for sharing this. Good option to consider!
Shokz will not match AirPods Pro in terms of audio quality.
They're a great piece of kit though and people swear by them. Because it's not earbud based you can't lose them easily, they're not as susceptible to sweat, and tend to have fewer battery problems the AirPods might have. Shokz are open by default which is important for safety (especially in a car country like the US), and while the AirPods also have their transparency mode, that introduces that tinny sound that the Shokz can avoid.
Still though, I'm far from an Apple user, but I've always said their iPad and AirPods are the two really stand out products they have.
AirPods are generally the best option for running over almost all others, if they fit your ears of course.
Nevertheless, audio quality is a nebulous term when talking about non-headphone audio. It's all relative.
Thanks for the additional detail. I love the idea. Wish there was an easy way to try-before-you-buy with a lot of these. I love trying out new headphones and spent far too much in the past. Since the AirpodsPro, I managed to rein in my curiosity and not spend more on audio stuff. But it’s so tempting haha. The non Pro AirPods fall out of my ears, but the Pro have been good and no issues so far.
They're bone conduction, the instant they're off your head they sound like a speaker left on low in the next room. They just have a flat surface that rests against... whatever the bone just in front of your ear is.
Their sound quality is fine, have converted a few friends to them. They're not as good as over the ear headphones but at least on par with most earbuds. If you turn them all the way up they can get a little buzzy depending on what you're listening to, but other than that no problems. They're basically unusable in a plane for example, but that's because they're meant for you to hear your surroundings easily by not blocking anything. But for walking/hiking they're fantastic.
Interesting tech! Thanks for sharing
I use the plant-identifying app PictureThis as I walk my pup around the block and through the riparian area by my house. I've made it a long-term goal to be able to identify every plant I see along the way, which is a lot of fun for me.
Other than that, bird and peoplewatching, I try not to 'do' anything other than be with my dog. She likes to take her time sniffering about, and every now and then wants me to look over and admire the cool stick she found or the like. It's fun.
It’s cool to build in some learning about your ecosystem, all the plants. Very nice!