Dog walking in lockdown

I had been wondering whether it was OK to walk your dog twice a day under lockdown, but decided that it counted as 'pet welfare' - Jasper would suffer mentally if he only got one walk, to say nothing about me and hubby! But the government have now advised that walking your dog twice a day is permitted:

[Note: This applies in England - Wales and Scotland may have different guidelines.]

You may leave your house to walk your dog:

• by yourself
• with the people you live with
• with your support bubble (if you’re legally permitted to form one)
• or, when on your own in a public outdoor space, with one person from another household

This is covered by the exemptions for animal welfare and exercise.

Although the government generally advises you should exercise once a day, you can go out more often if you need to walk your dog but should limit this where possible.

You should stay 2 metres apart from anyone outside of your household or support bubble.

When walking your dog in areas used by other people, you should consider putting your dog on a lead to ensure you can stay 2 metres away from others.

You should wash your hands before and after handling your dog.

From:
Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and Animal and Plant Health Agency

JudyN, I must admit I have continued walking Folly twice a day throughout. To me its simple, its very easy for me to stay well away from people so couldn't see any thing against it. OK, Folly tends to go close to most people allowing them the opportunity to 'say hello' to her and she does greet some dogs, (ones she knows and other sight hounds). But I feel its a very low risk to me and indeed others.

The one bit of the government advice I have never followed is the idea of washing my hands after handling her.

Yes, same here - and as we're not walking Jasper so far now, we're not out for longer than if he was having one long walk. It's still good to know that you are following guidance, though, particularly if you have as many local vigilantes as there are round here...

I find the hand-washing instruction amusing too, though I suppose they had to say it.

Scotland's rules regarding being with people, distancing etc are similar. Our outdoor exercise is not limited, but we have to start and end our exercise in the same place.

And we are not allowed to go more than 5 miles outside our local authority border, which personally I find to be a really weird rule - the only reason I can think of is if someone lives very close to their boundary, and an essential service or the closest supermarket is 5 miles over the other side. But why not just say people should stay within X miles of home? Confused.

Staying within x miles of home would be much more sensible. When we had the tier system, I could walk on the heath or woods one mile in one direction, but not the heath in the other direction, as we were in different tiers. Worse than that, people living on a road that runs next to that heath couldn't walk on it either... or even, strictly speaking, on the road outside their houses!

In this lockdown, having a dog seems like the best option. First of all, you have a companion to sit at all times at home, and it's always somehow better if you realize that you can come in a hug, hug, or even say something, even though he won't respond. And the second thing is that it motivates you to go for a walk and when you go with your dog, no one will talk to you "Hello, where are you going if you can't" You only walk around culturally with your four-legged friend