Group Dog Walks Are Improving Men's Mental Health In The UK

Nick Poulton had worked in TV operations for news channels like the BBC, Sky, and Bloomberg. After leaving his corporate job, he found a new way of life with his dog, Otto. Besides making an impact on Nick and his family, however, it also exposed him to another community: fellow men who were having difficulty opening up about what they were going through.

Dudes & Dogs was created with one simple premise: to get men out in the fresh air together for a walk and talk. “We want men to understand that it's not just okay to talk, it's important.”

Below, Nick shares about his experience in being able to open up in this setting and how crucial he thinks it can be to making men feel comfortable. To hear the full interview on Dog Save The People, you can also play it below.

Select excerpts from transcript of the interview below have been edited/condensed for clarity.

Nick Poulton
Men in general are not very good at talking about how they feel. In fact, we're pretty awful at it.

The idea of Dudes & Dogs is to create a safe space where a number of men turn up with a dog, set off on a walk, and talk. It sounds really simple, and it sounds like “What's the big deal with that?” But actually, for guys, that's a huge deal. Going to meet other men that you don't know, that you're not linked with through work or friendships, and to talk openly – that is a huge deal.

I first heard of Dudes & Dogs by seeing a post, on social media. Straight away it resonated, just because my own kind of journey I was going through with, I guess, my awakening or reawakening to myself through my dog and the walks we were having in the time we were spending together. But it's pushed my comfort zone and I’ve never left without feeling better for doing it.

When you're walking with guys, it's much easier to open up because you're not sitting across the table from them in a kind of a body language where you could be too feeling too exposed. Looking at your dogs and that lack of eye contact takes the pressure away. It unlocks real kind of honesty. You could be talking about some very serious stuff, but then you can next minute be laughing because your dog's doing something silly over there or bounding up. That's the beauty of what they bring is they add that level of safety and it's OK, you know, because it can feel like a big step for guys to join these walks.

We always say, you know, come, come and see what walks about. You don't have to speak. You can just listen. And I would say visibly, you can see guys their body language shifts after they've been walking for 20-30 minutes because they realize it's safe space. There's no judgment.

Our founder is a guy called Rob Osman, who lives in Bristol, and I reached out to Rob and showed my interest in the whole initiative. I offered to get involved as a as a Dog Dude if he ever thought I was the right fit. I ended up getting my training last year.

I started my walk in the South Oxfordshire in September and Otto is 50 percent of this. If it wasn't for Otto, I couldn't do it. If I'm nervous, if I'm not feeling great, we turn up and he's there with me. It just gives me an extra level of confidence and purpose. So a lot of it is down to him.

Suicide is also the biggest killer of men under 45 in the UK. And when you think about that, that's just incredible. That is a shocking thing… We have to remain realistic that after decades or centuries of men being discouraged from doing this kind of thing and opening up, it's not going to be a light switch moment. This is going to be a slow burn, but it's about sticking to the cause and slowly but surely helping guys. And if you can help one guy, and they mention it to another guy, who then mentioned it to someone else – that's great.

Featured Links

Jack Sommer