A potential client called me recently who wanted me to train his dog so that the pooch would leave him alone when he came home after work. This dog owner was fine when his dog greeted him, and was all right taking him outside for an after-work potty break, and feeding the dog was acceptable, too; but after that, this dog owner wanted to be left alone.
I explained to him that yes, he worked hard all day and came home tired. But his dog was home alone all day, by himself, with nothing to do, and was a social animal. That dog’s owner was everything to that dog, so of course the dog wanted to spend time with him after work. The man, however, wanted to sit on his sofa and play computer games. And most of all, he wanted his dog to stop bothering him for companionship.
There is no training to change the amount of social interraction time a dog needs with his owner. A dog is a companion animal. Companion animal. That means there is a need for social interraction between the dog and his owner. Not whatever leftover time the owner has for his dog, but a dog should come before computer games, texting, or chatting it up on the cell phone. A dog needs exercise, training, play time, and down time with his owner.
I have no idea what happened to this man and his dog after we hung up the phone. It seemed like a mismatch to me. We adopt dogs into our lives for a reason, which I’m hopeful is to be a family member. A dog should get the opportunity to affectionately thrive among his family members for as much of the day as possible.
Working people do come home tired, but that’s not to say we can’t include our dogs in the latter part of our day. Let them hang out. If they nudge us, give them attention. Play ball with them. Walk them. Talk to them. Laugh with them. Give them food for behaviors we like. Teach them new things. But don’t ask a companion animal to be a caricature in our lives to be appreciated when the mood strikes us. Because they, too, feel and have the basic needs of relationship just as we do. We should train dogs to be part of the family not apart from the family.
To send your dog to the Love Wags A Tail board-and-train boot camp for motivational learning with our cast of characters, contact us with your dog training, behavior modification wish list to get started.
Helen Verte Schwarzmann
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Certified in Training and Counseling
Certified Pet Dog Trainer-Knowledge Assessed
Certified Trick Dog Instructor
AKC STAR Puppy, CGC, and Trick Dog Trainer and Evaluator
Your Board-and-Train Dog Trainer for south and southwest Florida, Southwest Ranches, Plantation, Fort Lauderdale, Weston, Broward, Naples, Collier, Fort Myers, Lee county
