little white truths

This post is related to my earlier one on what we can learn from dogs (see here).

It is however different in the sense that it's about my own learning curve after we got a puppy, rather than observations about what dogs do and what we can learn from them.

Anyone who's had a puppy (or a baby!) will understand that you have to learn on the go and be ready to adapt, and that you'll be given plenty of opportunities for a laugh (and a grumble) in the process.

Here's what I've learned so far:

You need to toughen up 

I posted the below on Facebook not long after we got our Golden Retriever, Sai (short for Saigon - long story):

Every morning, I let Sai out to do poos and wees. When she does this, she gets a doggy treat. To start with, she did both and got one doggy treat. Now, however, she goes outside and does half a wee, runs in expectantly for her treat (and gets one), goes out and does the other half within three minutes (gets another treat), and then does the same with her poos (leaving a few minutes between each act so I don't get suspicious). So four treats instead of one. Little rascal cheater. Totally abusing the system. My golly.

As some friends noted in the comments, if a nine-week-old puppy could run rings around me like that, what could a three-year-old child do? While we don't have kids yet, I certainly needed to learn to toughen up. The answer, of course, was to only give her the one treat (and a pat for the other three 'events' because I am indeed a sucker). I still have to remind myself to be tough with her when needed, since it's so easy to fall for that little face.

Strangers can actually talk to each other

I know. What an insane notion. But it's true.

We all spend years wedged next to others on public transport, in lifts, in queues at the bank. We don't talk. When you get a dog, you'll find that fellow dog owners start speaking to you while your dogs are running around and playing in the park. And not just the dog owners - walkers and parents with children will exchange a few words with you for no other reason than that you have a dog. It's something that still amazes me, and it's wonderful.

I look forward to taking Sai to the park because I know I'll meet some new person whom I'll likely never speak to again, but whom I'll have a few laughs with. Why haven't I been speaking with strangers all these years?

It's so easy to fall into the 'solution: food' trap

While we take Sai to the park for a good run almost every day, there have been a few days where we've been unable to do so due to eg time or bad weather. So what do we do? We keep giving her doggy treats as compensation. I'm not entirely sure that this is the best solution, but it's one that's so easy to reach for.

A friend recently admitted to me that she often feeds her baby when she can't seem to get him to stop crying. Fact is, it works. While we agreed this is fine when dogs/babies are very young, it's something that can't continue. Sometimes your time/presence works just as well as food (well, almost).

How do you teach a puppy that not everything you do is about her?

This is a hard one, and one I still don't have the answer to! Every time my husband or I go to the kitchen (or the bathroom, the bedroom, the computer...), Sai follows us there, expecting that our movements involve some kind of food or game for her. It's all so exciting. I'm hoping she grows out of it so I can go to the bathroom in peace. Ha. If you have an answer for this one, do let me know. No dog owner I know has been able to come up with one.

They're unpredictable

When we brought Sai home on her first day, we had dog toys laid out at the ready. But she decided that my plants tasted much better than toys and dog biscuits, and that the most interesting thing in the backyard was definitely the drain. She loves the toilet too, often going in there to check it out. Seriously, she stares at it like it's some kind of fascinating bone that she hasn't worked out how to eat yet. What she doesn't like is the rubbish bin in the kitchen - I think she views it as a horrible monster that swallows all sorts of things that she might have eaten herself. I get that.

I guess what I'm getting at here is: be careful of your things and work out what needs to be removed/hidden (shoes for many, cables for us) or, if it can't be removed/hidden (like the toilet), make sure your dog isn't doing anything it shouldn't (like eating the toilet paper). Train your dog when needed.

They will outsmart you

If you think you're smarter than your dog, think again. Sai worked out how to breach the baby gate within half an hour of her arrival at our house. Within the first week, she'd learned how to open the kitchen drawers simply by watching how we did it. Don't underestimate their intelligence. She also managed to work out how to knock my coffee mug off the table, even though I'd left it in an (I thought) unreachable position. As you probably know, coffee is poison to dogs, so it was lucky I was able to pull her away from the spillage before she'd consumed too much of it.

Set rules from the outset

If you let your dog on the couch when she's a puppy but decide later on that this isn't ok anymore, don't be surprised if it's difficult to change the situation. I expect the same applies to children. Set rules and stick to them.

In Sai's first week at home, we sometimes fed her scraps from our plates as we sat down to have lunch. We soon realised this probably wasn't a good idea, since it would make our own meals 'fair game' to her. So what we did after that was instead save the scraps and scrape them into her dog bowl after we'd finished eating and left the table. Her bowl equals her food, and she gets that.

Happily this means we can leave our meals on the coffee table, well within her reach, and she won't touch them (though she will look at us with those puppy dog eyes and make purring noises of course - not much we can do about that one).

It's so easy to give a dog a happy life

I honestly believe that few greater privileges in life exist than being blessed with the chance to give another creature a happy life. It's so easy to give a dog a great life - all you need to do is feed them, show them love, pat them and walk them. That's it.

Unfortunately, I don't think the same applies to children; particularly as they grow up, you can't control what happens to them in the outside world. With dogs, it's easier. They are resilient, loyal and loving, and they'll never hate you (unless of course you abuse them, but that's another topic). Unlike teenagers. And you can have a dog and rest assured that it will most likely never end up in therapy, talking about what a terrible childhood it had. Enjoy that privilege, and know that it is indeed a privilege.

That's the list! Anything you have to add? I'd love to hear it : )