by Patty L. Fletcher
In my world, I have both a pet and a service dog. I keep a routine for both. Some believe it is not necessary for pets to have a routine. My question is why? Let’s think about this for a moment. If you have a dog, and this dog never knows when it will be fed, walked, or played with, how do you think it feels? How do you feel when nothing ever happens the same way twice? Confused, that’s how. Your dog feels the same.
If an animal of any kind has a routine, it is going to be more obedient, less excitable, as well as more stable and loving. It is less liable to be aggressive or dangerous.
If you doubt me, ask yourself the following question. If you have a job to do, and three people tell you three differing ways to accomplish this, yet they all wish you to deliver the same result, can you successfully accomplish this? Odds are the answer is no. So think about this when dealing with the family pet. Get everyone on the same page, then stick to it.
Below are some tips to go by.
- Feed and walk at the same times every day.
- Provide play time every day.
- Have all family members use the same commands and techniques.
- All agree on disciplinary measures.
- Do not use physical violence as a way to discipline. If you don’t like to be hit, odds are neither do they.
- Most important, do not use their crate or place that they stay when you are gone or where they sleep as punishment.
- Make sure to give them lots of love and praise when they’ve obeyed you.
Follow these tips. You will have a Happy Healthy obedient dog.
About the Author
Patty L. Fletcher lives in Kingsport, TN, where she worked for nine years at CONTACT–CONCERN of Northeast Tennessee, Inc. She now writes full time. Her autobiographical book is Campbell’s Rambles: How a Seeing Eye Dog Retrieved My Life (2014). There, she tells how she obtained her first guide dog from The Seeing Eye® in Morristown, NJ, what motivated her, the extensive training she had, and the good friends she made.
For more about her and her book, http://campbellsworld.wordpress.com/
