Is it good to take your puppy everywhere with you?

Before bringing your dog along, ask yourself if he’s likely to enjoy the setting. A dog-friendly bar might sound like a great time to you, but to your dog it could be overstimulating. Except for trained service dogs, dogs shouldn’t accompany you to grocery stores or food-service establishments. The exceptions are restaurants with patio seating that expressly permit dogs. Even if a place allows dogs, it’s not necessarily a good environment for your pet. It’s better to leave your pet at home than tie him in front of a shop or leave him in the car on a hot day. If going in public seems to trigger your dog’s misbehavior, reconsider taking him everywhere with you. Some dogs are simply more anxious than others and find public settings overstimulating.

It is important to take into account that even though you would enjoy having your dog with you everywhere you go, your dog might not enjoy accompanying you to all of your destinations if they are easily overwhelmed or overstimulated in certain situations. Will there be too many people or loud noise that might make your dog uncomfortable or even act out negatively? Consider the weather too; will it be too hot out or will your pup have access to shade and water? You want to make sure that your outings with your pet are just as enjoyable for them as they are for you. If you plan on taking your pup with you nearly everywhere you go, make sure that your dog is properly trained to be on his best behavior in public. Your dog should be leash trained and understand basic commands like sit, stay, and heel. Some places may have strict rules prohibiting pets both indoors and outdoors. In this case, you may have no choice but to leave your pup behind, and that’s okay. Taking your dog everywhere can prove to be a bit of a challenge, but with a little bit of knowledge and preparation, you can make it work. No matter what your reason is for wanting to take your furry friend with you everywhere, always ensure that both you and your dog feel safe, healthy, and comfortable.

Maybe you do have a super-sociable dog. Maybe he just loves everyone. But you still may reach his limit if you take him on a long excursion to a rowdy place. You may be enjoying looking at those stands of goodies, but does he like being squashed between so many people’s legs. You have to look at your dog who just plain doesn’t like crowds. Do they really want to be hauled around a showground on a short lead, hot, bothered, nowhere to lie down. If a dog is in a stimulating environment and keeps close to you, quiet, this dog is most probably shut down. She can’t escape the situation, so she keeps her head down and hopes it will all go away. Go without the dog. If everyone isn’t enjoying the outing, then - why not leave them at home.

We need to understand when it’s the right time to bring our dogs with us and when they might actually be happier at home playing with their favorite toys or relaxing on the couch. If we truly care about reducing fear, anxiety, and stress for our dogs, we need to consider their individual needs before taking them to big events like baseball games. Many people overlook canine stress signs like lip licking, whale eye, yawning, or averting their gaze – which can then escalate to lunging or snapping. Often I see dogs in situations where people didn’t notice they were showing signs of stress until it gets pretty extreme. With a stab of guilt, I realized she would have been much happier at home. Bark at the Park was a good fit for outgoing Rio, but it was way too stressful for little Peach. So if we can understand their body language a bit more, we can set them up better for success. It’s particularly important to remember that many dogs have become accustomed to spending more time at home during the pandemic, so we need to pay attention to their body language to make sure they are comfortable on outings – and leave if they aren’t. The whole point of Fear Free is taking the fear out of our pet’s experience – whether that’s training, vet visits, or going to fun events together.

That’s because, over time, I’ve learned that your life has to be 100 percent dog friendly if your dog is going to tag along 100 percent of the time. And precious few of our lives are that accommodating. I’ve seen enough examples among my own clientele to know that when they do happen, pets are often the worst hurt. Still, the threat of a car accident doesn’t keep me from taking my pets to fun spots like the park or the beach. But, it does make me think twice about taking them with me on unnecessary trips to the grocery store. In short, there’s no point in taking your dog to a restaurant if he doesn’t have the temperament for it, won’t enjoy it or if it will cause a lot of disruption. While pet friendly in theory, the world is not designed for them and they’re always safer at home. But, does that mean they should always stay at home? Absolutely not! In fact, if more people took their pets more places, the world would invariably be more pet friendly. Nevertheless, whenever my clients ask about taking their pets with them everywhere, I have to be honest: Our world has a long way to go before it’ll be pet friendly enough to make constant human-animal companionship possible.