So me and my dog just got back in the house. He's conked out, asleep on the living room floor. I wouldn't mind joining them.
Having a dog is exhausting. Let me rephrase that. Having a well behaved dog is exhausting. I've been giving him three hours of exercise, mostly in the form of structured walks, each day.
He would still be a pretty well behaved dog with two hours of exercise, heck, even with less, but he is clearly a happy happy dog when I give him three hours.
He loves walks. He just loves them so much. We start out walking at a swift pace. After a while, things slow down, and he starts sniffing. It makes me happy, as well, to see how intent he is on exploring the world through his nose. I envy him that ability.
My dog is awesome with humans, regardless of circumstance. He is gentle with adults, small children, disabled persons. But his dependable impeccably good behavior flies out the window when it comes to other dogs. He's not aggressive towards other dogs, no, he simply gets out of control excited and nervous. With dogs, that can lead to bad things. My boy needs to have expended most of his energy before meeting other dogs. If he is in a high energy state when he meets other dogs, things go south. (typical pitbull) But when my dog is tired, he is well behaved, even around other dogs. Then it becomes my job not to protect other dogs from him, but to protect him from other dogs. My boy loves calm, well balanced dogs the most. This is good.
So this morning we walked for almost an hour, starting at 3:30 am. We went home, and went back to bed. Upon waking, we tumbled into the car (no work for me today, even though I need the money
), I went to morning mass, and then we went to a park. This particular park is large and wonderful. We took a decently long walk through the park, and then headed to the dog park.
We (we means "I") had chosen this dog park with care. This dog park has three areas. There is a large fenced in general area. On each side of this area are two smaller fenced in areas: one for small dogs, and another area for "first time guests" where only one dog and one owner is allowed in at a time. That was where my boy and I went. He ran back and forth, so fast, and so happy, and we played with a ball. He didn't remember to return the ball, instead he ran with it, and shook his head back and forth, killing the ball by shaking, in typical pit style. Then he just happily kept it with him. He was fascinated by the other dogs, as always. His contact with them consisted of sniffing the dogs who came up to the other side of the fence.
Meanwhile, I watched the dogs on the other side, and their owners. I looked for dogs who were troublemakers. I observed how the owners handled their dogs; what kind of leadership the owners displayed, how quick or slow their dogs were to obey them, and most of all, whether the owners even noticed in the first place when their dogs were getting in trouble, and whether they intervened. I waited until some trouble making dogs had left.
With time, my boy was exhausted. It was hard for him even to run. I knew he would behave well. With slight trepidation, I put his leash on him, and we went into the main area. One dog came up who I knew was starting to make him nervous. This dog was only seven months, but was already huge. He had a huge puppy energy, and was allowing my dog no personal space. I'd been talking to the owner of that dog, and I told her her boy was about to make mine nervous, and she helped me shoo hers away. My dog and I continued to walk, side by side.
And everything went smoothly. We went to two places afterwards, and he got complimented on what a happy happy boy he was.
They say a tired dog is a happy dog. The owner of a tired dog is a happy owner indeed. And a tired owner.
Having a dog is exhausting. Let me rephrase that. Having a well behaved dog is exhausting. I've been giving him three hours of exercise, mostly in the form of structured walks, each day.
He would still be a pretty well behaved dog with two hours of exercise, heck, even with less, but he is clearly a happy happy dog when I give him three hours.
He loves walks. He just loves them so much. We start out walking at a swift pace. After a while, things slow down, and he starts sniffing. It makes me happy, as well, to see how intent he is on exploring the world through his nose. I envy him that ability.
My dog is awesome with humans, regardless of circumstance. He is gentle with adults, small children, disabled persons. But his dependable impeccably good behavior flies out the window when it comes to other dogs. He's not aggressive towards other dogs, no, he simply gets out of control excited and nervous. With dogs, that can lead to bad things. My boy needs to have expended most of his energy before meeting other dogs. If he is in a high energy state when he meets other dogs, things go south. (typical pitbull) But when my dog is tired, he is well behaved, even around other dogs. Then it becomes my job not to protect other dogs from him, but to protect him from other dogs. My boy loves calm, well balanced dogs the most. This is good.
So this morning we walked for almost an hour, starting at 3:30 am. We went home, and went back to bed. Upon waking, we tumbled into the car (no work for me today, even though I need the money
), I went to morning mass, and then we went to a park. This particular park is large and wonderful. We took a decently long walk through the park, and then headed to the dog park.We (we means "I") had chosen this dog park with care. This dog park has three areas. There is a large fenced in general area. On each side of this area are two smaller fenced in areas: one for small dogs, and another area for "first time guests" where only one dog and one owner is allowed in at a time. That was where my boy and I went. He ran back and forth, so fast, and so happy, and we played with a ball. He didn't remember to return the ball, instead he ran with it, and shook his head back and forth, killing the ball by shaking, in typical pit style. Then he just happily kept it with him. He was fascinated by the other dogs, as always. His contact with them consisted of sniffing the dogs who came up to the other side of the fence.
Meanwhile, I watched the dogs on the other side, and their owners. I looked for dogs who were troublemakers. I observed how the owners handled their dogs; what kind of leadership the owners displayed, how quick or slow their dogs were to obey them, and most of all, whether the owners even noticed in the first place when their dogs were getting in trouble, and whether they intervened. I waited until some trouble making dogs had left.
With time, my boy was exhausted. It was hard for him even to run. I knew he would behave well. With slight trepidation, I put his leash on him, and we went into the main area. One dog came up who I knew was starting to make him nervous. This dog was only seven months, but was already huge. He had a huge puppy energy, and was allowing my dog no personal space. I'd been talking to the owner of that dog, and I told her her boy was about to make mine nervous, and she helped me shoo hers away. My dog and I continued to walk, side by side.
And everything went smoothly. We went to two places afterwards, and he got complimented on what a happy happy boy he was.
They say a tired dog is a happy dog. The owner of a tired dog is a happy owner indeed. And a tired owner.
