5 Dog Walking Etiquettes and 5 Tips That Could Save Your Dog’s Life

Stephanie Wan Editorial Date:

Walking our dogs is great for their health and our own; it's a win-win! While we often focus on our dog’s dog walking manners, such as walking on a loose leash and not barking at others, we humans should pay attention to our own manners as well!

Here are 5 simple rules of general dog walking etiquette and 5 tips that could save your dog's life.

Dog Walking Etiquette

1. Pick Up A Random Poo

Yes, you read it correctly. Unfortunately there are dog guardians out there who don’t realise the impact of their carelessness on the community as a whole. It is not a difficult job, pull out an extra poo bag to pick up a random poo along the way and leave a positive paw print.

2. Indoor Call of Nature

As more indoor facilities are becoming dog friendly, keep a keen eye if your dog lifts his leg or does her lady squat, use ample paper towels to soak up the wee and bag properly instead of flushing with water. Better yet, remember to walk your dog before entering indoor facilities so that more businesses, malls, offices and buildings will open their doors to dogs.

dog sit on pee pad

3. Respect Personal Space

Before letting your dog greet another dog or human, always ask if their dog is friendly with other dogs. Please do not assume all dogs want a play. This particularly applies to enthusiastic puppies who might be too playful for an achy senior canine citizen. This is all about protecting your dog from harm and creating the best possible socialisation experiences.

Puppy play bite

4. Respect Wildlife

When by chance your dog encounters a wild animal, the safest thing to do is to leash your dog, redirect your dog's attention, and leave the area quickly. There are cases where dogs are gored by a buffalo or fatally injured by wild boars when provoked.

Leashing a dog

5. Keep Your Dog on Leash

It is a law in Hong Kong that all dogs must be kept on a leash in public places and dogs over 20kg must be on a leash not more than 2m in length (except in Country Parks). But if you’d like to exercise your large dog off leash there is a little known exception examination held by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) every year.

If your dog is still practicing their recall, you can use a check cord (a very long leash) to give them more freedom and maintain some control.

puppy ready on leash

5 Simple Habits That Can Make a Massive Difference to the Life of Your Dog

1. Check Collar and Harness Fit Regularly

Many adjustable harnesses and collars slowly slip out of position after continual use. This could mean life or death as you lead your pup across busy traffic and their collar pops off, or if a frightened dog backs out of their harness.

Good quality harnesses and collars do not move out of position easily and also have lightweight hardware that do not become brittle or snap easily when pulled.

Checking the leash size

2. Dog Tag

Keep a dog tag with phone numbers on your dog at all times. This will be the only identifier which helps get your dog home in case they are lost and saves nerve wracking time of going through the government system of looking up a microchip number.

For those who prefer to use a harness as a means to walk their dog, we would still recommend fastening a dog tag on a simple comfortable collar, as a collar is something that can stay on the dog while the harness comes on and off.

dog tag

3. Natural Flea & Tick Repellent

Fleas and ticks are definitely not pleasant for the dogs and are very difficult to get rid of at home. It is not uncommon for ticks in Hong Kong to carry a potentially fatal and very expensive to treat disease called tick fever. On top of using a vet recommended flea and tick prevention product, remember to spray a light coating of natural flea and tick repellent around the chest area, belly and legs - focus on high contact areas.

natural flea & tick product

4. Time of Walk & Outside Temperature

Concrete jungle also means searing hot concrete pavement during the summer. Remember that the time of day and where we walk can mean burned paws or even heat stroke for our dogs. If you can’t place the back of your hand on the hot concrete floor for more than 5 seconds, it is also too hot for your dog’s paws. Walk earlier in the morning, choose a shaded path, and bring lots of water. When choosing trails, is it often not the difficulty that challenges our 4-legged friends but rather how exposed the trail is. Be prepared and know the trail details before heading out!

Dog having a walk

5. Eyes On Your Dog Might Save Their Life

A walk with your dog is a special time you share together. The obvious reason to keep your eyes on your dog is to observe what they might pick up and eat along the way which is crucial at the moment. But before we even leave the apartment block, put phones in our pockets and use the elevators carefully! We have heard too many close calls where a pawrent is using their phone while the elevator door closes the dog inside or outside of the elevator. We don’t need to say more about what could have happened. Walking your dog is time for yourself and time for your furry friend. Enjoy with your dog and not your phone. Your dog will appreciate it.

touching a puppy

Walking our dogs is great for their health and our own; it's a win-win! While we often focus on our dog’s dog walking manners, such as walking on a loose leash and not barking at others, we humans should pay attention to our own manners as well!

Here are 5 simple rules of general dog walking etiquette and 5 tips that could save your dog's life.

Dog Walking Etiquette

1. Pick Up A Random Poo

Yes, you read it correctly. Unfortunately there are dog guardians out there who don’t realise the impact of their carelessness on the community as a whole. It is not a difficult job, pull out an extra poo bag to pick up a random poo along the way and leave a positive paw print.

2. Indoor Call of Nature

As more indoor facilities are becoming dog friendly, keep a keen eye if your dog lifts his leg or does her lady squat, use ample paper towels to soak up the wee and bag properly instead of flushing with water. Better yet, remember to walk your dog before entering indoor facilities so that more businesses, malls, offices and buildings will open their doors to dogs.

dog sit on pee pad

3. Respect Personal Space

Before letting your dog greet another dog or human, always ask if their dog is friendly with other dogs. Please do not assume all dogs want a play. This particularly applies to enthusiastic puppies who might be too playful for an achy senior canine citizen. This is all about protecting your dog from harm and creating the best possible socialisation experiences.

Puppy play bite

4. Respect Wildlife

When by chance your dog encounters a wild animal, the safest thing to do is to leash your dog, redirect your dog's attention, and leave the area quickly. There are cases where dogs are gored by a buffalo or fatally injured by wild boars when provoked.

Leashing a dog

5. Keep Your Dog on Leash

It is a law in Hong Kong that all dogs must be kept on a leash in public places and dogs over 20kg must be on a leash not more than 2m in length (except in Country Parks). But if you’d like to exercise your large dog off leash there is a little known exception examination held by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) every year.

If your dog is still practicing their recall, you can use a check cord (a very long leash) to give them more freedom and maintain some control.

puppy ready on leash

5 Simple Habits That Can Make a Massive Difference to the Life of Your Dog

1. Check Collar and Harness Fit Regularly

Many adjustable harnesses and collars slowly slip out of position after continual use. This could mean life or death as you lead your pup across busy traffic and their collar pops off, or if a frightened dog backs out of their harness.

Good quality harnesses and collars do not move out of position easily and also have lightweight hardware that do not become brittle or snap easily when pulled.

Checking the leash size

2. Dog Tag

Keep a dog tag with phone numbers on your dog at all times. This will be the only identifier which helps get your dog home in case they are lost and saves nerve wracking time of going through the government system of looking up a microchip number.

For those who prefer to use a harness as a means to walk their dog, we would still recommend fastening a dog tag on a simple comfortable collar, as a collar is something that can stay on the dog while the harness comes on and off.

dog tag

3. Natural Flea & Tick Repellent

Fleas and ticks are definitely not pleasant for the dogs and are very difficult to get rid of at home. It is not uncommon for ticks in Hong Kong to carry a potentially fatal and very expensive to treat disease called tick fever. On top of using a vet recommended flea and tick prevention product, remember to spray a light coating of natural flea and tick repellent around the chest area, belly and legs - focus on high contact areas.

natural flea & tick product

4. Time of Walk & Outside Temperature

Concrete jungle also means searing hot concrete pavement during the summer. Remember that the time of day and where we walk can mean burned paws or even heat stroke for our dogs. If you can’t place the back of your hand on the hot concrete floor for more than 5 seconds, it is also too hot for your dog’s paws. Walk earlier in the morning, choose a shaded path, and bring lots of water. When choosing trails, is it often not the difficulty that challenges our 4-legged friends but rather how exposed the trail is. Be prepared and know the trail details before heading out!

Dog having a walk

5. Eyes On Your Dog Might Save Their Life

A walk with your dog is a special time you share together. The obvious reason to keep your eyes on your dog is to observe what they might pick up and eat along the way which is crucial at the moment. But before we even leave the apartment block, put phones in our pockets and use the elevators carefully! We have heard too many close calls where a pawrent is using their phone while the elevator door closes the dog inside or outside of the elevator. We don’t need to say more about what could have happened. Walking your dog is time for yourself and time for your furry friend. Enjoy with your dog and not your phone. Your dog will appreciate it.

touching a puppy