It’s a lovely thought!
We get a dog to be our companion, to be with us all the time, to accompany us on trips to the cafe, the pub, the family, the local fair …
And then reality hits.
THIS dog, the one you’ve got, is not quite what you expected!
He doesn’t like noisy children, he finds strangers approaching him worrying, he’s anxious about other dogs, and as for the bangs and mock-fighting and hullabaloo at the historical re-enactment you were dying to go to - horrors!
Maybe you do have a super-sociable dog. Maybe he just loves everyone. But you still may reach his limit if you take him on a long excursion to a rowdy place.
You may be enjoying looking at those stands of goodies, but does he like being squashed between so many people’s legs? Down there at ground level where he can’t see a thing, possibly getting enthusiastic greetings from children or other dogs. You’re busy admiring the offerings at the market or fete, so it’s hard to notice this in time, and guard against anything untoward.
What’s sauce for the goose may well not be sauce for the gander!
“I want to be alone!”
Then you have to look at your dog who just plain doesn’t like crowds.
You did all the right things with socialising her, but she still doesn’t like some of the things you’d like to do with her.
Imagine that was you.
Imagine your family insisted on dragging you round somewhere you hated. A family member who’s mad about motorcycles dragging you off to Brands Hatch, Silverstone, or Mondello Park? The smells, the noise, the crowds … maybe you’d love it! Or maybe you’d hate it.
But you’d like to have a say!
We need to extend the same courtesy to our dogs.
Do they really want to be hauled around a showground on a short lead, hot, bothered, nowhere to lie down?
And just before you say, “My dog’s FINE!” I want you to consider that if a dog is in a stimulating environment and keeps close to you, quiet, “no trouble at all”, this dog is most probably “shut down”.
She can’t escape the situation, so she keeps her head down and hopes it will all go away.
It’s a form of learned helplessness. She can’t cope, there’s nothing she can do, so she submits to the torment.
Go without the dog!
The fact is, there are things you enjoy, there are things your spouse enjoys, there are things your dog enjoys.
If everyone isn’t enjoying the outing, then - why not leave them at home?
And enjoy the happy greetings when you return exhausted from your outing!