Salute the Sniff! PETA Marks National Dog Day With Tips on How to Properly Walk Dogs

For Immediate Release:
August 26, 2024

Contact:
Nicole Perreira 202-483-7382

In time for National Dog Day (August 26), PETA is providing tips on how to help dogs enjoy their best lives every day, including by letting them sniff freely during walks, because sniffing is how they get the latest news—it’s their version of social media. PETA points out that it’s simply cruel that many dogs are left to stare at a wall all day while waiting to see their guardians—whom they rely on for everything—only to get a brief and hurried trip outside with a human who’s impatient when they attempt to absorb the smells that give them information, instead of being allowed to stop, sniff, and satisfy their natural urge to find out what’s going on in the neighborhood. PETA is also sharing a quirky video starring White Lotus director Mike White as a dog and The Other Two actor Molly Shannon as his distracted guardian, who finally figures out that putting White in a crate and rushing his walks isn’t how to treat anyone you care about.

PETA’s other top tips for celebrating National Dog Day year-round include the following:

• Spend quality time together. Take your dog out often and never make them “hold it” all day long as if they have a super-dog bladder. If you can’t walk them during the day, hire a professional dog walker, send them to a reputable doggie daycare, or ask a trusted friend to help. Enliven their life by taking them to new places like the beach, a different park, or a restaurant with an animal-friendly outdoor patio. Provide opportunities for them to dig, play, bark, and meet other dogs.
• Choose a comfy harness. Research shows that a collar alone can harm dogs’ sensitive throats, so choose a secure chest harness—and never use pinch or prong collars, which control dogs through pain and fear.
• Enrich their mind. Lick mats are a great way to provide mental stimulation to comfort your dog and help combat anxiety, and slow-feeding bowls feature a maze-like center that provides dogs with enrichment and helps prevent them from eating too fast. You can even teach your dog to count and understand a large vocabulary, like Chaser does.
• Get more tips from PETA President Ingrid Newkirk’s book Let’s Have a Dog Party!Invite human and dog pals to a themed party, complete with delicious interspecies treats. If your dog loves hikes, hit the trails, or if they’re a water lover, throw a pool party.
• Advocate for dogs. Dogs are sensitive and you’re their hero, so never yell at or hit them, which crushes their spirits, and never crate (i.e., cage) them. Encourage people to keep their dogs indoors with the rest of the family and never chained like an old bicycle, tethered, or penned outside.
• Combat the companion animal overpopulation crisis. To prevent more dogs from being born into a world bursting at the seams with homeless ones, always have animal companions spayed or neutered, only adopt them from shelters, and never buy them from breeders or pet stores.

“Imagine waiting all day long to see someone you love and depend on for food, water, and bathroom breaks, only to have them finally take you for a quick walk with their nose buried in their phone and yanking on your neck to get you to hurry up,” says PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. “This National Dog Day and beyond, PETA urges everyone to treat dogs with respect and kindness, including by allowing them to choose the direction and pace of their walks and letting them stop and sniff to their heart’s content.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.