Emma, a little white dog who lives in SaddleBrooke
Hello SaddleBrooke Progress friends. I’m Emma, your cheerful little white dog in SaddleBrooke. In this column, I share a dog’s-eye view on life by answering questions with kindness, gentle humor, and tail-wagging wisdom.
Follow my adventures and photos on my blog, Life With Emma in the Desert, at emmathewhitedog.com.
Dear Emma:
I recently saw you on a walk with your dad, and you seemed to be doing a lot of sniffing in a relaxed way. But at other times, you and other dogs seem to be walking fast and determined. Do dogs ever feel rushed and stressed?—CuriousInTheDesert
Dear CuriousInTheDesert: A Tail of Two Walks
That is a paws-itively excellent question! You’ve caught me partaking in what my Dad and I call a “Sniffari.” If you watch the dogs in our neighborhood closely, you’ll notice we have a few different gears when out on daily patrols.
To answer your first question: Yes, those relaxed, sniff-heavy walks are my absolute favorite. A dog’s nose is our primary way of seeing the world. While humans have about six million scent receptors, my little nose has hundreds of millions! When ambling along with my nose to the ground, I’m not just dawdling—I’m reading the morning news. I’m checking if the neighbor’s dog passed by, figuring out which desert critters were out, and leaving a few “comments” of my own. This kind of walking is deeply relaxing and mentally stimulating.
But what about those times we look like we’re late for a meeting? Do we feel rushed? Absolutely. But here is the secret: the rush almost always comes from the human on the other end of the leash.
Dogs don’t wear watches. We don’t have deadlines (well, except for me, but Dad handles those), and we live entirely in the present moment. However, we are in tune with our humans. When Dad is in a hurry, his energy shifts. His stride lengthens, his posture stiffens, and a subtle tension on the leash travels right down to my collar. My doggy instincts tell me, “Dad is on a mission, so I need to be on a mission too!” We hurry because our humans are hurrying.
Sometimes, a fast walk is environmental. Living in the desert, if the morning sun starts heating up the pavement, my paws tell me it’s time to shift into overdrive and head straight for the air conditioning!
So, do dogs feel stressed on walks? We certainly can, especially if our humans treat the walk like a chore to check off a busy to-do list rather than a shared adventure.
My advice to all the dog parents out there? Take a deep breath. Let the leash go slack. Give us the gift of a ten-minute Sniffari. It lowers our stress, and honestly, I think it lowers yours, too.
If you have a question for me, email me at emmathewhitedog@gmail.com, mention you saw me in SaddleBrooke Progress, and I just might answer it in a future column.
With love and wagging optimism, stay paw-sitive!
Emma