Chandra Lynn Smith, Letters to the Doghouse| Hanover Evening Sun
Q. You may have written about this before, but I only recently started reading your column. As a new dog owner I have been reading and reading. Mostly I get confused. What is the first piece of advice you give new dog owners about the most important things dogs need?
A. New-dog-owner-overwhelm is something every veteran dog owner understands. You could read one hundred books about dogs and training and come up with one hundred different plans. Of those, twenty of them should probably be burnt because they are worthless. The other eighty will be varying degrees of helpful, and maybe ten are excellent. And, of course, a new dog owner has no idea which is which.
Let me make this relatively simple for you to start. Stay tuned next week, and I will go a little more in depth into this topic.
When you bring a dog into your home, whether it is a puppy, purebred, mixed breed, adult, purchased or rescued, the dog comes to you to become your best friend. Every dog needs three things, and he needs them in order. Your dog needs exercise, discipline, and affection. Seriously, that is what it takes to have the best dog ever.
These three things are not optional and the order is also not optional.
Exercise is the first most important thing your dog needs. It comes before affection for a reason. Dogs are not dormant animals. Their metabolism and energy level is much higher than humans. And, since most dogs spend many hours a day home alone, when we are home they need activity. Yes, play with your dog. But each day he needs specific exercise time. We will go deeper on this next week.
Discipline is the second most important thing your dog needs. The definition of discipline is to train or develop by instruction and exercise especially in self-control, and training that corrects, molds, or perfects the mental faculties or character. More often than not we hear ‘discipline’ and think punishment. But it is more than that. When you teach your dog what is expected of him, praise when he obeys, and correct when he doesn’t, that is discipline. Dogs are pack animals, and they are most healthy when they know the rules.
Affection is the third most important thing. I’ve never met a dog owner who had trouble with this one. I’ve met many who made the mistake of doing this one first and more than anything else. The problem is that creates a dog who acts much like a spoiled child. Besides, it is much easier to show affection to a well-behaved best friend than a brat.
A well-exercised dog that understands and obeys the house rules is easy to lavish affection upon.
Chandra Lynn Smith owns Best Friend Dog Training. Address your questions to her via email at ChandraLynnS@gmail.com.
