Walking the dog is one of the many musical numbers written in 1937 by George Gershwin for the duo Fred Astaire – Ginger Rogers for the soundtrack of the film Shall we dance, where this music accompanies a sequence of the walk with the dog on the deck of a luxury ship. In 1960, this music was published with the title Promenade.

Its strong jazz character is further enhanced by the instrumentation for symphonic band where the solo clarinet interprets all its expressive character.