Who Really Owns Him

So, it’s seven o’clock in the morning under gray skies and pounding rain, and you’re out there pounding the pavement with the family dog so he can do his business. Leash in one hand, plastic bag in the other; you move along slowly as the cold rain seeps down the back of your neck. Meanwhile, your dog doesn’t seem to care about the weather, he’s just enjoying the smells.

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Dogs don’t always pay a lot of attention to what people say; they focus on how they say it and more importantly what they do. It doesn’t matter who says they’re the dog’s owner, that doesn’t make it so.

In almost every case the dog is going to bond with the person who takes care of them. Dogs see who feeds them; they see who gets up groggy in the dark and rain to take them out. They even see who cleans up the mess they leave behind.

Dogs see who grooms them and who takes time for them.

That means if you’re going to get a dog for your kids you need to remember that if you’re the one doing all the work and putting all the time in with the dog, then you’re the one the dog’s going to bond with.

Dogs and their owners are inseparable, like all the stories of little boys and their dogs. Dogs are smart. If your kids don’t take the time to bond with the dog, he won’t bond with them. The dog sees his owner as being the person who spends time with and cares for him.

If your child simply tolerates the dog it is all the dog will do for him! So make sure everybody is willing to put their time in to caring for him.