Asking a lot

This morning I was thinking about what we ask of our dogs.  We ask that they please forget about many of their dog ways and fit in; fit in to our human world that is.  Having a new puppy I am working on that right now and it does leave me pondering.  Yes we do ask a lot from our canine partners but this life together was forged many many years ago leaving us with merged results; dogs live with humans.

Sadly many dogs don't live great lives; street dogs, dogs who once lived with humans and were abandoned and those born on the outskirts of living with humans, not truly wild yet not domesticated.  Life for our dogs offers huge variety from living in a bag or arm of a human not being allowed to ever truly be a dog to that of a working dog who's life may be closely knit with a human yet more closely resembling a life from the far past.

When you add a dog to your life, adjustment can take a good long while and be a challenge.    Depending on the dog and yourself will factor in on how much you have to ask of your dog.  Just imagine the dogs who will live in wide open spaces; tending flocks of sheep and left pretty much to their own vs. dogs who live in the center of a big city in an apartment.  Sure the dogs out in the fields have a less confined life but there is more asked of them with regards to working for a human.  Dogs who live a more rural life are asked to curb their canine behaviors more to fit in.

Often a dog is chosen for a specific purpose; their very canine traits a plus.  Other times an owner may try to discourage those very traits; requiring a dog to work hard and asking much more of them.  Sitting back and considering where dogs come from and how far they have come as far as their life with us, humans can be a little amazing.  They often not only live with us but many work for us and depending on the work that they perform can be asking a lot or a little of them.

Dogs are great at being dogs; the vast majority of them that is.  A dogs ability to meld to our ways; assimilating into a human world is pretty amazing when you think about it.