I read online a long time ago about a woman who said as a treat she decided to let her dog choose what route they took for their walk. I was intrigued so decided to try it.

I’ll be totally honest, it was partly to see what he would do and also partly because I was so sick of making decisions that day that one more just seemed too much!

Dearest Son came with us as usual and was very interested to see what Scooby would choose along the way. We don’t let him walk in front of us but I gave him enough loose lead and when we came to a place where a decision had to be made, we just asked him, “which way?” and let him choose.

One thing we found really interesting was when we came to a road not far from here. After crossing it you can go down a hill or straight along past a row of houses – both will take you into town. We watched with interest.

Scooby actually stopped before crossing the road and we could see him look at both directions, in turn, before clearly deciding to go down the hill.

Another interesting point came when we reached some traffic lights. There is a lot of choice here. He clearly chose to cross the road to get to the little patch of bushes and grass on the other side – one of his favourite places to visit.

In the end, he chose a route we have done many times but it was clearly his choice and we hope if he ever ran away, this experiment would give us a pretty clear idea of which route he would take on his own.

Another thing we did notice was just how happy he looked! He bounced a little more and had a very relaxed happy little face. This is something we will use more in the future as a reward for good behaviour. He can be quite stubborn and pushy so hopefully this will help – and yes I know they say dogs are like their owners!!