@healthchristian My 2 go to a sitter when I work and 1 of them has a best friend I've never met or seen. The other one keeps "accidentally" getting into crates after a smaller dog has gotten into one and blocking the entrance so the other dog can't leave. He then takes a nap.
He's not crate trained. I'm pretty sure he's just being a jerk but the sitter is like, "lol he did it again. He's so cute."
@healthchristian My neighbors wife will sometimes pick up my dog to go to her house to play with her dogs. I've never met her dogs, I've never been to her house, but I've met her a few times and she's so nice. She'll bring my dog back and talk about how much fun they had and my dog will sleep for a whole day afterwards. (My neighbor and his wife live separate and are apparently happy like that)
@healthchristian Ah, something similar happened to us! We have two energetic huskies but also two jobs at a corporate law firm, so we are frequent clients of the local doggie daycare. One day, we took the dogs to the dog park and they jut got super excited when they saw a couple of other huskies arriving and the other dogs were clearly happy to see ours too. We’d never seen them before though, but we figured they were friends at daycare.
@healthchristian I like to let my dog choose where to go when we walk every now and then, he always has this one weird route around the neighbourhood he takes, with seemingly random u-turns and stops at all his dog friends' houses. It's pretty funny how consistent it is .
I find that too many dog owners are obsessed with controlling everything about their dogs. They need space too sometimes, just like we do! A little freedom only builds confidence.
@healthchristian Professional dog walker here: this makes me so happy.
I live the other end of what you’re saying! My adventures with my puppy pals are all so unique, and I do get to see parts of them their parents might not. Dog Walkers are like your fun aunt or uncle (or non-binary auncle). It’s exciting when we come over; we try new things and bring new perspectives (and sometimes new treats!) We smell like other dogs!
We’re paying a lot of attention to how each dog is acting/interacting with the world, and trying to find way to keep our walks fresh and engaging.
But … I don’t see how it goes when I’m not around, either! It’s fun to hear the other side.
You’ve got a good sitter
@healthchristian Nope. My dog's life without me is waiting for me to come home. She rarely eats or drinks when I am at work and will not go potty when my husband takes her out.
@baboo if i'm home my dogs won't go outside if my husband tries to let them out. I keep telling him he's doing it wrong! They just prefer if I do it. Sometimes, I just want to sit on the couch for a bit after work but they just stare at me and won't follow him to the door.
@healthchristian I used to let my dog free roam the neighborhood. It was a long way down a dead end road so traffic was low except for the comings and goings of some apartments across the street.
I was calling my dog to come home and spied him across the street at a neighbor's apartment, so I chased after him, apologizing profusely if he had caused any fuss. Neighbor said, "No problem bro, he comes over all the time."
That's when I learned my dog would regularly go to these peoples home, walk INSIDE their home, they'd give him treats, and he'd hang out for a little while before heading back to my house.
@imagebeastmarkbeast While this is a super sweet story. Please don't do this. It is terrifying for those of us with reactive dogs, or past experiences of being attacked by dogs
@pollyk He was a Chihuahua and dachshund mix. I seriously don't think he was even capable of attacking anyone.
As far as other people's dogs attacking him... It was a possibility, but in the six years we lived there we never had a problem. He had little man syndrome and would bark up a big game, but face to face with any animal and he was a sweet little wienershnitzel.
Because of his nonthreatening nature and affable attitude towards other animals and people, he was the only dog that we would let free roam like this.
Maybe it wasn't right of us, maybe we should have leash walked him. But he's still alive today, and there was never an incident of him being attacked by, or attacking another animal. He did chase squirrels though.
@imagebeastmarkbeast We got attacked by a dash once. They were originally bred to fight badgers and can be extremely fierce fighters. The owners just about decked me when I kicked it away before it could become an issue. In addition to not wanting my dog to be injured (again) by an offlead dog. Allowing even a small dog to run up to him and him become defensive and attack it is also going to undo years of building up trust in the lead. I also don't actually want to stand there and watch my dog kill a small dog, even if I know he is totally in the right.
I know the roaming dog thing is in the past, and ok, in your opinion nothing "bad happened" but I really need to point out that there are lots of people and dogs who don't want to be visited b another dog, no matter the size.. and that for a lot of people any dog roaming can be anxiety inducing and is extremely irresponsible.
@healthchristian Our dog trainer/sitter LOVES our dog and she ADORES him. He will borrow her for the night just for fun, takes her around to events and playdates. So he's always posting Instagram stories and I'll be like, oh look it's my dog at that party. During the lockdown she had a way better social life than I did.
@healthchristian Yep! My dog goes to a pack walk doggie day care 2 days a week. At home she’s this rambunctious husky mix that likes to talk back and refuses to eat. At day care she’s one of the queen bees that is calm and collected that they use to help introduce new dogs into their pack! I wouldn’t believe it but they post regularly on Instagram so I see her and I’m just like that is not my dog!
@healthchristian My pup follows me from bed to bed each day. Sometimes he waits at the top of the hill when I have some ranch chores (he's understandably wary of the electric fences), but he knows where to wait to find me.
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