What Dogs Like
The pet industry continues to grow by leaps and bounds. In fact, in 2018 the total spent in the United States alone was over 72 billion dollars. People do not consider their dogs to be dogs, but fur babies instead. There are big box stores for every product known to man, and pet stores are included. There are aisles and aisles of toys, food, collars, treats – some better than others. You can even have a box of treats and toys delivered monthly to your fur baby (Bark Box). I will admit my dogs have a toy box, however, I can’t remember the last time they got a new toy. I have Nylabones (4), balls, and a couple of stuffed animals that had the squeakers ripped out of them months ago. The funny thing is, we will hear the dogs rummage through their toy box until they find the specific toy they were looking for. Dogs are entertaining! Recently, I saw on Facebook that a local pet store was advertising cutesy backpacks for dogs. I once was at a dog conference and there was a groomer pushing her purple hair colored Maltese around in a baby carriage. Now, come on! That’s a bit much, and most of the people who were professional dog trainers were not impressed. Here is the deal – it is best practice not to spoil dogs. Dogs do best if they are treated like dogs. I have seen a lot of small dogs come into our facility for aggression issues. They are carried in and many times, even if they are friendly and just bringing the dog in for boarding, they want to hand us their dog. NO! Put the dog on the floor, it can walk. One of the things we tell people that ask for our help with their aggressive dogs is, are you willing make to changes at home? If they are not, don’t waste our time. With aggression cases we instruct;
- No more sleeping in bed with you
- No more getting on the furniture
- No more sitting in your lap
- No more carrying the dog
- Dog has to work for everything they get
- You out the door first and the dog follows
- Walk on a loose leash (no more pulling)
- Sit, down, and place/stay
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