The Little Bear Dog Blog

Little Bear and his friend Bonnie

How much of your time does your dog take up?  Personally, I can’t even begin to add it up and to be honest, nor do I want to. It feels like one of those ridiculous business surveys that seem to endlessly whine in the media that if the British workforce just stopped having toilet breaks/sharpening pencils/laughing with colleagues [delete as appropriate] then our GDP would rise by 20%. I don’t want to reduce my relationships into something I can plot on a spreadsheet thanks.

That said, time spent with our dogs is still a crucial issue and is inexorably linked to their behaviour and I think our own levels of happiness.

Pressure

As pressures in the day job mount and the hours I spend working canter swiftly past the ‘half-the-day gone yet and what about sleeping?’ mark, it’s tough to fit it all in. Life is busy, no news there for any of us, but part of having dogs in our lives is that commitment to mould our time, no matter how scarce, around their needs.

As we still walk them separately, yesterday I did four walks, one each in the morning, one each in the evening. Other half did the same on Thursday while I was in the office. Then of course there’s the feeding, playing and general cuddling that are part of their daily routine.

Had I said ‘too bad, I’m busy’ yesterday and retired upstairs to my home office, I doubt I would have got anything done; primarily because of the guilt, but also because a tired, contented dog with a predictable routine is usually a lot less trouble!

Even though Little Bear hides at the sight of his harness he loves his walks. If he can find someone to play with all the better. Annie is the best time-keeper I know and will actually woof at you when it’s time to go out. Once home, they then crash on the sofas for hours on end, only stirring their stumps to give the postman a good barking at from the window or in Annie’s case, to remind me that it’s their lunchtime. I’m glad she does too otherwise I’m very likely to forget my own!

Benefits 

But the benefits run deeper than a quieter life. Forcing myself out the door four times a day and putting myself in training mode (what’s their body language telling me? How are the likely to react to that cat, child on the scooter, dog across the street?) is a great balancer.  It gives me another focus and allows me to get away from myself for a while.  Top of the benefits list though is that it’s a lot of fun. We get to clown around as we play ball or chase and even the distraction game of finding food on the floor can be entertaining if you approach it with the right attitude.

We have fun on our walks because I want it to be something we do together.  I’m not just lead holder and pooper-scooper, I want to be the coolest, most fun person in their lives because if I am, then the behaviour problems improve.  So, that’s my learning for today.  I may be perpetually busy, but I’m never going to be too busy to have fun with my dogs.