Posts

Showing posts with the label dog owner

8 Easy Ways to Train Your Puppy to Be Obedient in Short Time

8 Easy Ways to Train Your Puppy to Be Obedient in Short Time My neighbor's kid has a dog that sits at the kitchen door and waits every single time. Doesn't beg, doesn't whine, doesn't lean on your leg. Just sits, with a tennis ball at his feet, until somebody opens the door. I asked her how long that took. She said it started with him being a bad dog. I got the story later over a beer, and the short version is that it took about eight months of the boring kind of work, not the showy kind. Nobody filmed any of it. Nobody posted a thirty-second video of the dog going from wild to perfect. It was just a kid in a garage with a bag of treats and a dog who did not care about the bag of treats. That story has been sitting in my head for a month, because it's the honest version of a title like this one, and the honest version is more useful than the promise. Before we get into it, I should say what "short time" actually means here, because I think it gets misunder...
Read more

Before vs. After Getting a Dog — The Gap Is Absolutely Unhinged

Before vs. After Getting a Dog — The Gap Is Absolutely Unhinged I used to be a rational person. Then I adopted a dog. Now I occupy 18% of my own bed and I have no regrets. I want to issue a formal warning to anyone thinking about getting a dog. Not a "don't do it" warning. More of a "you will not recognize yourself in six months and somehow be completely fine with that" warning. Let me show you what I mean. The bed situation Before After The bed is mine. Queen-sized. All of it. I sleep in the middle like a starfish. It's glorious. I occupy 18% of the bed . My dog is spread across the rest in what I can only describe as a power pose. I sleep on the edge like I'm about to fall off a cliff. I do not move him. He weighs thirty pounds. I weigh six times that. And yet. Leaving the house Before After Grab keys. Walk out. Done. Forty seconds, tops. Step 1: put on shoes. He sits by the door, staring. Step 2: explain where I'm going . Step 3: he whines. Step 4...
Read more