Laying Down The Law Is Barking

Should walking your dog every day be compulsory? At least one German politician thinks so but while he sympathises, David Tomlinson says it would be impractical and impossible to enforce

- David Tomlinson

I ve’ often thought our politicians are barking mad and it would seem they are not alone. Back in August, during the ‘silly season’ when newspapers are short of copy, there was a story about Julia Klöckner, Germany’s agricultural minister, arguing that all dogs should receive two walks a day for a total of at least an hour, and that this should be a legal requirement. Klöckner maintained that dogs require both “activity and contact with environmental stimuli” to thrive, something I certainly wouldn’t disagree with.

But two walks a day? In his book The Specialist Gundog, professional gundog trainer Guy Wallace insists that it’s a ‘great British myth’ that every dog needs a good long walk every day. He claims to never have taken a dog for a walk in his life. Wallace’s advice is, “if you wish to go for a walk then do so, by all means – but leave the dog at home”, adding that working gundogs only need a 20-minute scamper, morning and evening.

SUFFICIENT EXERCISE