You would of all heard the saying Happy Wife, Happy Life, well Happy Dog Happy Life is no different.
For your dog to be pleased and, most importantly, healthy, he must have his instinctive needs covered. So how do we achieve this? The 3 guidelines below are just the beginning. However, with my vast knowledge and experience working with and owning dogs for over 50 years, these are a great starting point;
Exercise
Exercise. A dog MUST channel his energy and, as such, release adrenaline. There is nothing better for this than exercise; unfortunately, many dog owners I have worked with think taking them out for a quick 5-minute exercise and pee stop is sufficient, WRONG! To ensure your dog remains a healthy dog, you need to get that adrenaline going, and to do this, I recommend at least 30 minutes and depending on what breed you own, this can change from a simple walk to a continuous run. I will cover more on this in another article, How To Have A Healthy Dog.
Discipline
Discipline. This is one of the hardest areas for dog owners, especially at the cute and cuddly puppy stage; however, this is also the most important stage and where training and discipline must start. Believe it or not, this will help guide your dog to be happy and structured as he grows up. You must set limits and boundaries to help them learn what you want them to do and the things you don’t want them doing. For me, this is one of the most important parts of all my training guidelines and strictly adhered to will end up with your 4 legged friends falling into the Happy Dog Happy Life category.
Love
- Love. Behind discipline, this is the second hardest thing to get right. If you overlove your dog (I know is there really such a thing), it could become anxious, disobedient, and on occasions aggressive to anyone that approaches you, along with a lot of other traits that again I will cover in another article.
- I really understand that the love we feel for our dogs is like the love we have for our children. However, we need always to remember that the dog is a pack animal and needs to understand from a very early age where he sits within your pack and as such MUST live under certain guidelines, 3 of which I have put out in this article.
Please feel free to comment on this article and ask any questions you may have regarding your dog’s happiness or any other topics you would like to know more about regarding your dog.
I really like the layout on your webpage, easy to navigate and read and very friendly and informative.it is set up very nicely.
I like the personal knowledge you bring to the topic and it is easy to see all your posts. Are the dogs in the photo your own? The importance of right food is a good topic and well written. I feed my dog natural food from a company ARCANA that makes it right in my hometown. Better health, better use of the ingredients for his body and a lot less pooping too! \keep up the great work and much success to you.
Hi Laurel,
Great nutrition is the foundation for any dog and choosing Arcana for your dog was a great choice.
Having worked with and owned dogs for 50+ years I have gained a lot of knowledge and it is something I want to share with both new and experienced dog owners.
The dogs in the photos are mine.
Mark
Hi Mark, thank you for sharing this amazing information with us. As I have a baby (well not quite as it is 11 years old, but it is still mammy’s boy) I am eager to assimilate as much information regarding his wellbeing. Ohhh I so love that pic with discipline, fantastic, you are perfectly right. They don’t want to know ab discipline as much as we want to correct and educate. Although they are very clever, all pets, they are doing their ways, not ours if they want anything. Overall I completely love your article, nothing compare with their love. as much as you sent them away they always come back to you to love you forever. I have no further questions for you. Thank you.
Thanks for sharing this Angel.
Hi. What an interesting article on dogs.
I will be adopting a dog soon, and I have been searching up online sereval things I an worried about. I beleive that love is the best thing one can give to another soul, and dogs will definitely appreciate the love they are given! We need to be kind to animals and satisfy their needs in order to be considered good owners!
Best regards,
Dominique
Hi Dominique that is a great thing you are doing by adopting a dog. Please reach out if you need any advise with training, nutrition and anything in general.
Woof Woof
Mark
I love dogs. But i wouldn’t have one right now as i live too close to the town and small place. So, i woul rather wait until i have somewhere that he can run around without a lead and not bother anyone. My old dog barely wore a lead and he was much happier than many of the other dogs that only get out once a day.
Your old dog sounds a lot like my three dogs, they are all off the lead trained.
Great to see you are going to wait for the right time to get your next dog.
Woof Woof
Mark
The guidelines you mentioned is definitely a must. If a dog does not exercise regularly they become sick very quickly. Love and discipline must be balanced. If you love your dog too much, they tend to be more naughty and less disobedient. But again same if you discipline too much, your dog may become scared of you and do not want to approach you. Thus a balance must be learn between the two.
So true Bernard, that balance between love and discipline is crucial.
May Your Home Be Filled With Love And Dog Hair.
Mark
Hi Mark,
Excellent article; thank you for sharing!
You are so right when you say that giving too much love and overprotecting a dog can make him anxious. That’s exactly what happened with my dog. He is not dangerous, but he is afraid of many things. My dog is 12 years old, so my question is it too late to get rid of its anxiety?
Thank you very much, and looking forward to reading more of your posts.
Hey Daniella,
From my experience, it is never too late to treat anxiety in dogs.
My question to you would be would you prefer to use medication, training, or a mixture of both?
Let me know and I will do my best to help you and your old pal.
Woof Woof
Mark