Dr. James Hagedorn's Guide for Fixing Your Relationship with Your Dog

Hi, it’s me.

Do you have a dog?

If you answered no, please stop reading, you’re no longer included.

If you answered yes…welcome.

Relationships with dogs carry a lot of responsibility.

Responsibility is more than a 5 syllable word; it’s a 6 syllable word.

A few months back my dog and I got into a heated argument. He thought shitting in his crate was ok, but I had other ideas.

Like with most arguments, this one had stages.

It starts with me timidly mumbling “Well maybe desecrating your clean crate is not the best idea,” and eventually escalates into the knockout stage, where we just threw our most vicious blows. I said something I wish I could take back. I said “Oh, that’s why you were at the shelter.” Knockout, round 5, I won. But did I really?

For days after that he didn’t talk to me at all. He never said a word. I would ask how his day was, and he would just stare at me, blankly. As if he didn’t have anything to say, as if he 

couldn’t even say anything. It hurt me. But it was only fair. I had hurt him.

After a week of receiving the silent treatment, I discovered a remedy. It came from the heart, as these things have to. After much thought................... I gave him a rawhide, and all was well.

Let’s zoom out a little bit…ok?

My insult represented hate. The rawhide represented love. I gave him love. So after giving him hate, I countered that by giving him…that’s right…love.

Now think, how can YOU apply that to YOUR relationship with YOUR dog?

The next time you get into a fight, instead of driving to the shelter where you got your dog, and making him look at it while threatening him with a not-so-pleasant homecoming, try giving a gift, a gift of LOVE.