Your Dog May Not Be Who You Expect (and That's Fine)

So often when we are looking to welcome a new canine addition into our families, we have a picture in our minds of how life will be. The things we are going to do, the places we are going to go. Long strolls in beautiful places, passing the time of day with others out walking their dogs. Trips to dog friendly places, having a leisurely drink or meal, with our very good boy or girl settled quietly under the table, or the centre of attention for the admiring humans around, happily accepting fuss and attention from anyone and everyone in the vicinity. Maybe picturing sweeping the board in the local fun dog show with your beautiful (and beautifully behaved) dog on their best behaviour.

And then reality hits, and nothing is as you pictured it. I can understand this very well, I have been there. I had so many plans when bringing my dog home as a puppy. And none of them have come into being. And you start to wonder just what you have done wrong, why nothing is as you thought it would be.

I think many of us do this, regardless of whether we are bringing home a puppy or an older dog from a rescue centre. There is a hardy breed of dog people who specialise in taking on the dogs who find it much harder to land in the right home, but I am fairly sure that they have started out at some point in the past like the rest of us, with these lovely daydreams that dissipate in the cold light of day.

The thing is that we have to remember we are dealing with living, breathing beings. Sentient creatures with minds and experiences all of their own. Some of the factors that go into making that individual dog who they are we can have an influence on, others are completely out of our control before a puppy is even born.