Karen B. London, PhD, shares preliminary results from a recent field study < link > which explored the pulse rate of dogs on walks. Researchers found some interesting results related to leash length, sniffing and shaking-it-off behaviors.
- Longer leashes allowed more sniffing
- Sniffing and shaking-it-off both correlate with lowering pulse rates
Source: The Bark, October 2019. Link. An important practical takeaway from this research is that walking dogs off leash when feasible and on a long leash otherwise may encourage dogs to engage in more sniffing behavior.