By Nick Miller

A quick disclaimer:  I don’t approach my marriage like a dog trainer.  I don’t think that would have gone over so well with my progressive, and independent (and lovely) wife.  But owning a dog is a long term relationship, and there are certain things that are constant in any relationship, no matter what species we’re talking about.  So hold the wise cracks for the end of post 🙂

 

Part 3 of 3

 

Have Goals for your Relationship – For those of you that know me personally, you know that I have a 2 month old and a 2 year old (human children) at home right now.  I’ll be honest and let you know that Amy and my goal for our relationship and family is the two of us surviving the next few years at this point.  But seriously, it’s important for us to evaluate our relationship and talk about our goals inside and outside of our marriage.

What about you and your dog?  What is your mission statement?  I know it might feel funny to think in terms such as these, but I think it can help you no matter where you and your dog are at.  I’ll give you my mission statement for my relationship with my dog Sequoia.

Our goal is to act as a team and help in educating dog owners on how to improve their relationship with their dog, to aim high with our own personal obedience goals and to remember to not take ourselves too seriously and enjoy a good off leash romp in the woods on a regular basis.

You and your dog’s mission statement will be something personal and most likely each will differ from the next.  But the important thing is having something short and positive that you can continue to easily focus on.  Steal mine if you want, but just make sure you’ve got one!

 

 

Love Yourself First – I know what you’re thinking…. take it easy there you hippy dog trainer, you!  But hear me out.

I’ve learned the hard way that those who suffer the most when we abuse ourselves with negative thoughts are the ones who are closest to us.  I don’t think that is a news flash to anyone reading this.  That toxic energy ripples out and can affect anyone with whom we come in contact with.  It takes a truly enlightened person to not be affected by someone in a down mood.

So now maybe you’re thinking – But Nick, when I’m down my dog knows it and comes and gives me affection and makes it all better!

Can you imagine the stress of being your dog and taking that responsibility on?  Sharing affection with your dog is a wonderful, wonderful thing.  It’s one of the reasons why most of us have dogs… because they can be such affectionate partners!  But it’s important to always be thinking about sharing the right type of affection.  Our stress can inadvertently come off as any host of emotions that are not a stable energy to be sharing with our dog.  Just remember that the dog we are sharing affection with is the dog that we will continually get.  Trying to soothe an aggressive or nervous dog will lead to more agression and nervousness.

It’s simple, but when I’m feeling a bit of negative energy creeping on I just play the grateful game, and I start listing them one by one: Amazing wife, children and family, amazing job, health for self and family is good, roof over my family’s head… and thats usually all I need to start turning it around.

You can contact Nick via email at nick@urbanhounds.com, or follow him on Twitter and Instagram @nicklesarescary.  This blog post was approved by his wife, Amy.