· By Minou Tpain
Author: Denise Partlow
Instagram: @modernk9 Carolinas
I want my dog to get his energy out so I bring him to a doggy day care
-I want my dog to tell me when he has to go out so I let him press an “out” button.
-I want my dog to eat whenever he wants so I leave food out all day
-I want my dog to play whenever he wants so I keep toys scattered on the floor
While this may look like we are allowing the dog to have choices, let’s be real for a second, it’s not. This has more to do with taking the responsibility off of ourselves and putting it onto the dog. We have become dog owners that don’t want “hard”. We don’t want to be in charge of the dog’s day, let him take care of it himself….
And I get it-we’re tired, over-worked, lacking rest, overwhelmed. We go to work and everything is so scheduled that when we come home we don’t want to do anything that requires thinking, so why not let the dog just do whatever he wants? He’ll be fine, right?
Unfortunately, no.
This has nothing to do with giving the dogs choices and has everything to do with us not prioritizing our dog’s needs properly. There are many other ways we can give our dogs choices but just giving them all the freedom within your home, that is not a good place to start.
Having a structured day is not mean, it’s what dogs need. If you know anything about the way dogs function, then you know they thrive off of predictability. Notice how all of the scenarios above are about what the human wants but not about what the dog truly needs. We have to remember that what we think a dog might want has to be truly based on what they genetically need, not what society tells you dogs “need”.
So instead of you taking your dog to doggy day care, play with your dog yourself.
Instead of allowing your dog to press a button, help him to see that you are reliable and will let him out at different parts of the day.
Instead of allowing your dog’s food to sit around all day to spoil, help your dog to see that he will predictably eat at a certain time every day.
Be a part of your dog’s day, interact with your dog, fulfill his needs yourself, be that fair and predictable provider-The source of all goodness… and you will see that your relationship will blossom.
