Dogs are a part of our daily lives. Whether we’re at a park, on our way to the grocery store, or just walking around, we’ll probably see someone walking their dog.
It is a well-known fact that they need to get walked. But why? And what makes Northwestern’s campus so ideal for their walks? Dr. Jesse Navatta, an Associate Veterinarian at Bramer Animal Hospital, says walking is a form of enrichment for dogs.
“It gets their joints moving, it’s exercise for them, which is important for all of us, of course. And brain stimulation, so they get to engage with the outside world and see their environment,” Navatta said. “Just like with us and all the mental health benefits that come from walking as a human, you experience nature outside. Dogs can tend to experience all the same things.
Northwestern University sits along Lake Michigan and has its own lakefront, with a small lagoon in the center. In the morning, the lakefront is filled with runners, bikers and dog walkers. Beyond the beautiful scenery, Northwestern is a particularly advantageous environment for dogs on their daily walk. One of the appeals is that the campus is filled with students.
“Students tend to be more in touch with the pets that are around them, either because they’re missing the pets that they have at home or they want a pet of their own and they just need a little bit of this furry interaction,” Navatta said.
Shannon Dorton, a dog walker with a 3-year-old golden retriever named Lottie, says Lottie knows a dog person when she sees one.
“She’ll sometimes stop and wait for them to come to her. Like she can spot them from 10 feet away,” Dorton said.
Dorton says it was her first time walking Lottie around campus, and that Lottie loves attention — especially from humans.
“We were thinking about getting her a puppy or a sibling, and I’m like, I don’t even know if she cares. She just loves humans, or human attention, so much,” Dorton said.
The campus critters are another draw. A few steps on campus and you’ll find bunnies, squirrels and chipmunks scurrying through sidewalks and into bushes.
“She loves to try to chase squirrels,” Dorton says. “I have to keep her on a really tight leash or she’ll take me down on the ground, probably as she tries to chase them.”
Aside from social interaction, the campus gives dogs more freedom to move. Dogs get enrichment from sniffing and pawing at the ground. Through sniffing, they leave pheromones and get information about the environment. And pawing helps ground dogs mentally and physically.
“The exposure to these things helps with almost naturalizing to the world, to decreasing stress overall and learning what is safe,” Navatta says. “And again, the safety that is provided on a campus is so great because they can explore with less concern and take in these sights, sounds, smells and textures.
Kinga and Robert Scislowksi, dog owners to two long-haired dachshunds, Ollie and Willa, said they came to campus because it was a “beautiful mix of outdoors and then reality when you need to go see people.”
Northwestern’s campus has many ingredients for the perfect dog-walking route. But, I wondered if having the individual agency to choose their route mattered for dogs.
Scislowski calls Ollie and Willa her “adventure dogs” because they love to explore.
“They tend to pull us to want to go inside buildings, so we have to keep them out of that, but they’re very social,” Kinga Scislowski said.
Navatta says it’s subjective.
“I feel like many of us would anthropomorphize and kind of feel like we would really only be satisfied if we were a dog to be able to kind of choose the direction that we go in, and see the sites that we want to see,” Navatta said.
According to Navatta, there is no “best” type of walk. Every dog has their own personality and physical abilities, but he says the type of breed can dictate how much agency a dog may need.
“If the dog’s personality is more assertive and decisive, then letting them choose where to go on the walk is really important,” Navatta said.
Ultimately, a good walk for your dog boils down to understanding their personality and how they want to interact with the world. And for dog owners, that deep connection is what the relationship is all about.
“They’re just unconditional little love pockets to have,” Scislowski said.
