Successful Dog Ownership is About Compromise

As a dog owner, you’re responsible for meeting your dog’s needs. While these can vary from dog to dog, here are some of the main needs that dogs generally have (in no particular order):

*Stable social environment, meaningful social interactions, boundaries
*Sense of purpose (work/play)
*Novelty (exploration)
*Rest
*Nutrition and healthcare

As humans, we in turn have similar needs as you see in the list above. Again, an individual’s needs will likely vary.

In order to successfully navigate life with your dog, it’s important to be aware of not only their needs, but your own as well. As the saying goes, you can’t pour from an empty cup.

In real life, it’s not always possible to check all the boxes of your dog’s needs and your own every day, and that’s OK.

Successful dog ownership is about compromise. It’s not about meeting all your dog’s needs at the expense of your own, and it’s not about your dog being perfectly behaved for you without you considering their own well-being.

Instead, there are 4 steps I recommend taking so you can meet in the middle:

1. Identify your own needs, as well as your dog’s, via a list.
2. Organize these needs on a day to day basis based on their priority, and/or what you have the capacity to offer. You can also look at the bigger picture of your and your dog’s needs on a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis.
3. Set attainable expectations by making your goal to do the bare minimum to meet your and your dog’s needs, and consider anything else a bonus.
4. Lean on your support system whenever you can.