How to keep a dog walking log (and a streak)

A dog walking log answers one question honestly: how much did the dog actually get walked this week? Here is what to record, three ways to keep it, and how to run a streak that survives real life.

What to write down

• The date. One line per walk, not per day, so two short walks both count.
• Minutes. The number that matters most. Published exercise guidance for dogs is given in minutes a day, so minutes are what you compare against.
• Distance, if it is easy. Nice for totals ("47 miles walked with Rex"), not essential.
• Who walked, if more than one person shares the job.

That is enough. Routes, weather and mood are optional extras that make a log harder to keep up.

Three ways to keep the log

Paper on the fridge

A calendar and a pen. Everyone in the house can see it and it costs nothing. The downsides: no totals unless you add them up, and it is not with you at the end of the walk.

A notes app or spreadsheet

Free, flexible and easy to total. It depends on you remembering to open it, which is the step that tends to slip.

A dog walk tracker app

An app can ask you at a set time, time the walk, and do the sums. There are free walk trackers on the App Store, some built around a map of your route. Good Walk is not that: it has no map and never asks for your location. It is built around a daily target, a reminder and a streak. Pick the kind that matches what you want to know.

Dog walking streak rules that work

A streak is only useful if it keeps you going after a bad day. These are the rules Good Walk uses, and they work just as well on paper:

• Any walk counts. A day with at least one logged walk keeps the streak. Ten minutes in the rain still counts.
• Count full-target days separately. That way the streak rewards showing up and the target still means something.
• Today is not broken until it is over. No walk yet at 3pm is not a failure.
• A missed day is just a missed day. The streak resets. The miles, hours and history stay.

How Good Walk keeps the log for you

At the time you pick, your iPhone asks "Has Rex had a walk today?". Tapping Walked on the notification logs your usual walk length without opening the app. Or start the walk timer: it records minutes and measures distance from the phone's step sensor. Walks you quick-log get a distance estimated at 2 mph, labelled as an estimate. Every walk goes into a log you can scroll back through, and the totals, the streak and the milestone cards (at 1, 3, 7, 14, 30, 60, 100 and 365 days) are worked out from it.

There is no account and nothing is uploaded; the log lives on your phone. Good Walk is free for 7 days, then $19.99 a year, $3.99 a month or $29.99 once.

Not sure what target to log against? See how much exercise does my dog need? and how long should I walk my dog?. Both are general guidance, not veterinary advice.