Stories and curiosities of having a furry love
Since the beginning of our journey together we’ve known we like to be with dogs, pat them, take care of them, give affection to them and receive it back. To name only a few things from our relationship with them. A lot of people are brave enough to admit they love their dogs way more than they love family members. It’s OK, don’t feel guilty if you’re one of these. You’re not alone. Not by a long shot.
This knowledge about appeasement and stress signals has been around for a while, although, I really don’t know why, professionals in the dog world don’t inform properly dog owners about them. And this is really important, both to avoid big unpleasant stuff and also to learn how to speak with your or any dog. Also because people misunderstand quite a lot signs like licking.
“Ese vacío que deja el amigo que se va…
… Es como un pozo sin fondo que no se vuelve a llenar”
Adopting a dog is a decision that has to be made both with your heart but also with your head. And getting a grown-up dog can be a not-so-easy task.
Although you might wind up with an extremely affectionate, well-behaved, easy to get-along-with and healthy pet, this scenario may not always be the case.
Basic Training: First Steps
Every dog should know where boundaries are. Even the most spoilt ones should respect their owners and obey three basic commands: sit, stay and come here.
One of the biggest mistakes we owners do is the over use of words when working with dogs.
Commands have to be short, firm and simple, and need to have been learnt beforehand with a strong foundation. Less is more here.
Another basic and yet absolutely vital lesson your dog needs to master is how to sit and then how to lay down.
For early stages, you need treats as rewards.
To get your dog to sit down, it’s going to be a bit complicated at the beginning, but please do not get frustrated or desperate, this is hard for them and they need you to keep calm.
There are many dogs out there waiting for a home.
Although it‘s really cute and nice to have a dog since its very early age, rescuing a friend from a shelter of from any place that is causing them suffering is a really fulfilling experience and will make yourself proud of belonging to human kind. The good thing about an elder dog is that it usually has had already some kind of training, is more mature and quiet and shouldn’t be willing to destroy every leg of your furniture as almost every puppy does.
Believers will say it’s a gift from God – no pun intended in the word spelled backwards-, scientists will say it’s about evolution. The fact is that we have these wonderful friends with us, which also happen to have been our companions since long time ago and have endurance all kind of adventures with us.