“From the dog’s point of view, his master is an elongated and abnormally cunning dog.”
~Mabel Louise Robinson
What truth! I love my dogs. I wake up every morning to wagging tails and puppy kisses. It is so wonderful to be so loved and adored. My dogs think I hung the moon and that I am the greatest person in the world! They live to please me. How could I not love, love, love them!!
But, they are dogs! They are messy and time consuming. I love my home too and I love my home clean. But let’s face it, my dogs could care less! They track in mud, leaves, water. They think, I think just like them! They consider my carpet to be the place to rub the mud off that is clinging to their backs. They spill water every time they drink from their water bowl with no consideration for the puddles they are creating on the floor. So, as a result I end up mopping and vacuuming my house everyday! Sometimes I do it more than once!
It is my choice to have dogs that live inside and share my life. They are not going to accommodate me. I have to accommodate them. That is the price I pay for being higher on the food chain. I cannot train them to appreciate a clean, odorless home the way I do so I have to furnish my house to conform to their needs.
I am slowly resolving the sources that cause the problems so that I do not continually have to clean up after the issues. I am doing things like:
- Building wood decking over areas in the yard that have a tendency to dirty their paws to keep them from tracking in mud.
- Covering areas where they trail back and forth with rock to keep paws dry and clean.
- Building a potty area to contain the area where they do their business.
- Getting rid of carpeting and installing wood and tile in areas of my house where they are allowed.
It is only fair to pets for you to identify the sources of the problems they cause and resolve them rather than you expecting them to learn to avoid the problems. They do not have the same reasoning skills as us! If you do that, you will find your pets are half the trouble and double the enjoyment!
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