Off The Cuff

Dogs Without Manners

Posted by: From Arkansas in Humor, Pets on Jul 09 2008

Welcome back!

For years, I have had a gripe about dogs that have no manners. I sat on my doggie manners throne watching some dogs act out while tisking my way along. A tisk here and a tisk there for every bad doggie action that I saw or experienced. It was difficult because we owned a doggie that was an angel…more or less. Ahem. Not as much as that sounded though. Nope, when she was younger, she had her moments too. Big ones. More about that in a minute.

In March, we brought home a new puppy. She was five weeks old at the time and very happy to be with us. She still is quite happy to be with us. Unfortunately, we are not as happy with her at times. She has no manners at all. None. Now, most people would, at this point, say that this is because we spoil her and haven’t taught her to have manners. Hmmm. Could be. But we felt that she should just KNOW these things. After all, don’t the smart doggies learn all that at the feet of their mommies?? Doggie manners must come from the mothers. Haven’t we heard that all our lives? It’s the parents’ fault? I thought so. Her mom is the problem.

I knew there was a reason. But now, what do we do to help her acquire said manners? I have no idea. She whines a lot. She runs around the house like a chicken with it’s head cut off. She wants to play all the time. You would think she was a puppy or something. Oh, she IS a puppy. Ah. Could be the problem. Ya think????

Actually, I was reading about this very subject today. Seems that dogs that do not get enough exercise act out a lot with whining, running around, acting silly. Yep, we have a winner. Unfortunately, we do not have a fenced in yard. Wish we did. She would be able to run around to her heart’s content. We have to keep her on a leash because of the leash law in our area. Even though we live in a fairly rural area, we also live in a town where they have limits. Sigh.

At this point, I would love to find a way that she could run as much as she would like to somewhere around here. Our niece runs her around the yard but she isn’t here very often anymore so that isn’t an option either. Whew!

The expert that had the advice also said that in humans and in dogs, we need exercise to be happier. They said that in the brain, serotonin is manufactured when exercise happens. That chemical is vital to the brain both in humans and in dogs. For those who take anti-depression meds, that is what most of them are replacing. When someone hurts a lot or has a high level of stress, serotonin can decrease in the brain. If that happens, a person or dog can have other problems often looking like or leading to depression. Exercise takes care of that because the serotonin is replaced naturally through the exercising.

So, one of the ways to have a happy you and a happy doggie is to get some exercise. There was a quote (I forget who said it now) that said if you have a fat dog, you aren’t getting enough exercise. Thought for the day, huh? Yep. And I have to get into that too. My exercise level is……..well, you just saw it. ACK! Time to get out the leash.

Oh, my angel of a doggie? She used to get into the trash when we left without her. And do NOT leave her alone with another dog. Whew! She and her litter mate sister, in different instances; tore up a new couch, a bunch of shipping envelopes..the kind that had that gray stuffing in them..and had them all over the floor, tore up the underside of a mattress. When with another dog, she and the other dog (that’s questionable. I think she did it herself to show off) chewed up a door. If we took her with us to Wally World, she would jump out of the car and go inside to find us. Yes, quite an angel. In her later years, she was a good doggie. She slept most of the time and gave up wanting to go with us when she became too tired to do so. We do miss her a whole lot.

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