My Life with Spencer

in the park yesterday i said to spencer ‘go to the table,’ and he chose this one. it’s cute and all but its significance is more than an aesthetic photo. as you can see, the checkers table is small and not so comfy for the big guy; but he’s working and it’s another manifestation of what dogs need and what we can do to fill their lives in a way they crave.

the important point here is that spencer chooses to go to that table, because he wants to interact with me, i don’t make him go there, i ask him to go there and he does willingly versus fearing what would happen if he did not. this is a fundamental difference in the way i was taught to interact with a dog versus most dog training these days.

i try to put spencer through the paces, to keep his mind engaged not just through affection and couch priveledges (intermittent ones) but more through what will satisfy him versus me; and dogs love a purpose, they love to work. and the more we provide them with a job, the more satisfied and grounded they will be.

the mistake i think many dog owners make is they stop working their dogs once they feel they are ‘trained.’ it strikes me as similar to a person achieving something significant and then deciding they are done working on themselves or their lives. we don’t stop, why do we give up on our dogs and wonder why they sometimes revert back to old behavior or seem unhappy?

we don’t give up on our children, we don’t give up on ourselves it seems, but most of us accept the minimum from our dogs once they fall in line. shame..

i miss bunny