Dogs crave rules and routine. They need boundaries. A dog without boundaries can become aggressive, demanding or very proprietary of things including its owner. It spirals out of control until owners no longer want the dog and the dog is sent to a shelter through no fault of its own. You don’t want to reward behaviors you will later regret or have problems correcting.
Spoiling a dog means giving him anything he wants including making excuses or ignoring bad behaviors. ‘He doesn’t really know what he is doing’ or ‘he didn’t mean to do that’ or ‘but she so enjoys it’ are all phrases many of us have used. Just because your dog enjoys chewing your slippers does not mean it’s a good thing.
Little Max Grows Into Big MaxLet’s use Max the Great Dane as an example. As a puppy, Max would jump and slobber all over visitors when they came to the door. It was not an aggressive attack, it was a ‘happy to see you give me attention’ attack.
Believe it or not, you can love your dog too much, to the point where it is not good for the dog. Spoiling your dog a little is to be expected … accepting bad behavior is not.
You need to use the power of love to your advantage. Pet your dog when he’s calm and happy, not when he is excited and jumping. Reward your dog for listening and for doing what you ask him to do.
As usual, one size doesn’t fit all, but many dog-first people don’t need fixing. Rather they could use validation. That is this post’s purpose.
A perhaps less obvious basis for loving a dog is that we tend to choose a dog that matches our ideal look and personality—and that’s easier to find than with humans. After all, only you, rather than you and the dog, get to decide—The dog is unlikely to reject you: “Nah, I’m not into that human.”
Critics assert that people who spend lots of time with their dog—hugging, playing, talking to the dog, let alone who say they like dogs better than people, have a problem.
Recent Mayo Clinic research reports that, on average, owners sleep efficiency doesnt decline if the dog sleeps in the owners bedroom and only modestly if in the bed. Id imagine this varies with how deeply you and the dog sleep.
So the argument goes, such people can’t deal with humans so they focus on their dog. Such critics assert that dog lovers should focus less on their four-legged creature and more on improving their people skills, reducing their fear of people, and their narcissism.
Human foods are not for pets
You may be killing your little friend without actually realizing it is what you were doing. Perhaps the biggest mistake is to feed your pet from the table. The food that humans enjoy and want to share with their pets may be too rich or fatty. Such treats may be very difficult for your pet to digest. Food you enjoy eating may contain toxins that your pet body cannot deal with. Chocolate is considered a very dangerous treat to give to any dog. Certain breeds of dogs and cats cannot tolerate certain foods. You have to be careful or you may cause your pet to become violently ill.