Why Your Dog Insists on Stopping Every 10 Feet on Walks

It can sometimes take 20 minutes to walk my curious dog down a single block. He takes a few steps, then stops to sniff. Takes a single step, stops to sniff. A couple more steps — oh, hold on, now we’ve found something really good to sniff. 

You’ve likely had this experience with your own dog, and since we’re all human beings with busy schedules and endless things on our to-do lists, you’ve likely had the urge to rush them along. Maybe you’ve even thought that pulling them away from a sniff session is the only way to ensure they get the proper amount of exercise. But our dogs are talking to us through their mid-walk pauses. And it’s important not only to respect the communication of their needs but also to look out for what else they might be trying to say.

We spoke to Ali Smith, dog trainer and founder of Rebarkable, and Lorraine Rhoads, director of health and safety at Dogtopia, to get some insight into what might be going on with our dogs when they stop frequently on walks, and how to best react. 

Dogs love, and need, to sniff

Dogs rely heavily on scent to understand their environment, and they have up to 300 million scent receptors to prove it. “Exploring smells is how they understand the world,” Rhoads says. “Sniffing is not a distraction; it is a core biological need.”

While some pet parents may rush dogs along to make sure they get exercise (or to reach their own daily step goal), sniffing is just as important. “I like to think about the sniff-walk as the time when dogs get to ‘see’ or understand the world around them in a profound and fascinating way, which is very different from humans,” Rhoads says. Each sniff provides them with information about who’s been there, what’s nearby, and even the emotional state, gender, and reproductive status of other animals, among other things. “When we rush them, we limit their ability to gather their daily ‘news feed.’”

Ali Smith stresses that dogs should have agency over how they use their time on walks. “I am a firm believer that our dog’s walk is our dog’s walk,” Smith says. “If they choose exercise? That’s great. If they choose to sniff a lamppost for half an hour? Also great!” She explains that unless a dog has specific exercise requirements prescribed by a vet, letting them make choices throughout the walk leads to a happier, more fulfilled dog.

So go ahead, let your dog linger on an indulgent sniff. It engages their brain, reduces stress, and provides enrichment that a rushed walk can’t match. “Remembering how much information is packed into a single sniff makes it easier to slow down and appreciate what your dog is learning,” Rhoads says. 

Understanding what your dog is telling you

When our dogs stop or hesitate on walks, they could be trying to tell us something. “That often gets missed because we humans are not the masters of body language, whereas dogs absolutely are!” Smith says. “The signals are subtle, diverse, and truthfully quite difficult to read, even to a practiced eye.”

For most pet parents, the challenge is learning what those signals actually look like. A wagging tail might seem friendly, but if the tail is held high and stiff, it can indicate tension or overstimulation. Flattened ears, lip licking, yawning, or showing the whites of their eyes (“whale eye”) can all be signs of discomfort or anxiety. A loose body and soft gaze, on the other hand, usually mean your dog is at ease. (See our guide to reading your dog’s body language for a breakdown of these cues.)

Smith says the key to honoring this communication is to listen, even when it’s inconvenient. “We can show them we hear them by responding appropriately when we do read what they’re trying to say, and by making a continued effort to learn our dogs really well,” Smith says.

This will likely also mean minimizing what we force them to do. That could look like taking a break when your dog plants their feet, giving them more time to sniff a new spot, or quietly moving away from something that’s stressing them out. The goal, Smith explains, is not just to get from point A to B but to make the walk a conversation where both sides feel heard.

Emotional and physical reasons for pausing

When a dog pauses, it can tell us a lot about how they’re feeling. Rhoads explains that a dog who stops frequently may be gathering information about other animals, assessing safety, appeasing another dog, or simply trying to understand a new environment. Pauses can also happen when a dog feels anxious, overstimulated, or in need of a reset — especially in busy neighborhoods filled with loud noises or unpredictable activity. These moments aren’t displays of stubbornness or a sign of poor training; they show communication about what the dog needs to feel secure.

Physical discomfort can also play a role. It’s possible your dog is experiencing pain, or something like a thorn in their paw, a broken nail, or paws that are too cold in the winter. Recognizing these signals can require careful observation. Pet parents can look for subtle body-language cues — a tense stance, a change in their usual gait, lip licking, or a tail tucked under — that suggest the pause is related to pain or anxiety. 

What a “good walk” really means for your dog

Smith compares walks for dogs to vacations for people. In other words, each dog has their own individual version of what the perfect stroll would look like to them. She gives examples from her own dogs: “My Coonhounds find a high-paced, sniffy run-walk that stop-starts and weaves this way and that to be the single most rewarding thing they could ever do. Whereas my German Shepherd would always prefer a relatively calm walk with some sniffs, some fetch, and plenty of dawdling.”

A good walk, she explains, is one that reflects the individual dog’s preferences, not what the human expects. 

Rhoads agrees, adding that from a dog’s perspective, a great walk is about choice. “Choice builds confidence and reduces stress,” she explains. Dogs thrive when they’re able to decide which direction to investigate or how long to study an interesting scent. Humans, meanwhile, often focus on goals like distance, step-count, or pace. Shifting those expectations, even for part of the walk, can transform the experience for pup and human alike.