Eight good dog walking habits to get into

The Parc régional de la rivière Gentilly, the Parc régional des Grandes-Coulées and the Sentiers de L’escapade are among the few natural spaces in the province that welcome dogs on leashes. According to the officials who run these parks, up to 30% or 40% of visitors come with their dogs. For Marie-Claude Poirier, the Town of Rigaud’s coordinator of tourism and outdoor activities, and who oversees the Sentiers de L’escapade, one thing is clear: these dog owners know how to walk their dogs and they know how their pets behave in familiar environments.

“However, they don’t always realize that they have an animal on their hands and that it loses its bearings in unfamiliar territory, even if it is trained,” she says. Your dog may still react in unexpected ways to distractions it will encounter on a trail (other dogs, large groups, runners, cyclists, wildlife).

The backpack is specially designed for dogs to carry their own necessities. Dogs usually love their backpacks and associate them with the pleasure of hiking with their owners. However, not all dogs are of the same stature or physical ability, and carrying a pack may not be appropriate for them. Your veterinarian can help you assess your pet’s ability and choose the right pack. Once you’ve been given the green light, get your dog used to carrying its empty bag around the house. Eventually, you can train your dog to carry more and more weight, but not more than 25% of the dog’s body weight.

As Sébastien Jubinville explains, there are rules that can limit access to our parks to “give nature a break.” This is the case in the Grande tourbière de Villeroy sector (Parc régional des Grandes-Coulées), where the exceptional ecosystem must be closed to dogs for protection purposes. Elsewhere, an area may be closed to allow the flora to regenerate, or to avoid disturbing a breeding area or the vital habitat of an animal species.

Dogs often snoop in the grass, scratch the ground and dig holes. Keeping your dog on a leash at all times will allow you to better control your dog from disturbing wildlife, destroying habitat or crushing vegetation.

Learn how to behave around wildlife to avoid potential conflicts. If bears are present in the area, make sure you know exactly what to do so that you and your dog are not put at risk.

Don’t feel like bringing your dog’s waste home? Leaving poop bags abandoned in the wild is totally unacceptable. Whether they are left on the side of a trail or hidden in the woods, their contents are just as harmful to the environment. Bury your dog’s poop in a sanitary hole to activate the biodegradation power of the microorganisms that are at work in the organic soil of the forest. This will protect other humans, dogs and wildlife from exposure to viruses and bacteria. You will be protecting water sources from contamination by pathogens that would otherwise be spread by rain, snowmelt or high water.