We are all getting so serious about this dog thing these days…what to feed our dog friends, how to train them, even how to dress them??? What are we doing right? How do we “fix” their behavior? Which containment system to use? So many decisions to make…Will they make the house dirty? Make us sneeze? Will they knock the kids over? Bring ticks into our living room?

The dog-being does not really care about getting dirty and he does not keep a calendar. He cannot appreciate a tiktok video.

Somewhere in all this angst, we seem to have lost sight of the sheer delight we can share with our dogs.

The dog-being does not really care about getting dirty. (Unless you have a Frenchie) and he does not keep a calendar. He cannot appreciate a tiktok video. He does not care who is texting and he doesn’t mind the rain/cold/snow (unless you have Frenchie).

Apart from the first little flush of excitement and happiness we experience when bringing home our new friend, very few of us are fully realizing the potential for good old-fashioned fun that owning a dog can bring to our lives.

Having fun is one of the most important things you can do for your health and wellbeing…

Having fun is one of the most important things you can do for your health and wellbeing and it seems that we put that element of our lives somewhere near the bottom of the list. So, guess who can help you with that?? Yes!! Your very own canine companion. He would be happy to take your mind off those bills and the grocery list. He will willingly take you to the woods for a ramble or play with a tennis ball outside for a little while. She will happily go down to the river with you to swim or fish and she doesn’t care what you wear.

They will shake muddy water all over you and dare you not to be precious about your clothing. Your dog will play “hide the slipper” until you grow a sense of humor and tempt you to follow him through the fields after an elusive smell until you expend some of that pent up energy – both of you! My dogs will chase butterflies and pounce on crickets for the sheer joy of doing it…no purpose in mind. What can we learn from them?  I know, I know, they don’t really have any serious responsibilities, but couldn’t we put aside some of ours, sometimes?

My dogs will chase butterflies and pounce on crickets for the sheer joy of doing it…no purpose in mind.

After all, the weekend is supposed to be for relaxing, right? We don’t have to spend it in Lowes…and after work is supposed to be for rebalancing our brains, yes? Maybe checking into the woods for a half-hour would make it easier to be present for the other family members? Or better yet, ask them to come along… We spend too much time looking at nature through the filter of an iphone anyway.

I see so many videos and clips of pets doing funny things…I bet they are doing funny things right in front of us!

The art of having fun should not be complicated or expensive and your dog will take a drive with you, listen to your troubles, bark joyously at pigeons and ducks and make you slow down and pay attention to your surroundings.

He is waiting in the wings for a running mate, not because he wants to lose weight but because it is fun to run! He has no time schedule and no other agenda than to be your best buddy so take advantage of the joyous nature of this being and follow him into some low tech adventures…let him take your mind off weighty matters and even if you don’t do anything other than watch him play with a piece of tire, let yourself into his world for a few minutes and laugh out loud at his lack of self-consciousness! We could all experience a little Life in Dogtime just for fun!!

– Janine Lazarus, HashtagWV #137. November 2021. For more dog training tips, follow Janine at Goodladd.net and on facebook @goodladddogtraining.

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