4 Keys for a Happier Dog: Exercise, Training, Experiences, and Affection

Roger was our beautiful Golden Retriever that loved life and everyone that he encountered. He would greet you with his big brown eyes, wagging tail, and a stuffed toy in his mouth whenever one was available. Roger loved the beach, swimming, squirrels, and spending time with his family. He passed away way too early, and he is dearly missed. Marks's Happy Pets (www.markshappypets.com) blogs are dedicated to Roger, and they are written in his voice. Please enjoy.

4 Keys for a Happier Dog:  Exercise, Training, Experiences, and Affection

I love my life! As you may know, us dogs live in the moment and my life has been filled with lots of great moments for sure. Going to the beach, chasing squirrels, swimming, playing fetch, and getting lots of cuddles are some of my favorites. I know that some doggies aren’t as happy as they could be, so I just wanted to share my ideas about how to help all doggies have a really happy life.

EXERCISE for the body and mind

My brother Charlie and I love to go outside to walk, run, sniff, and play. I heard my human parents talking about how many steps they get every day, and how scientists have found that getting enough steps is great for a healthy body and mind. I asked Charlie if we get twice as many steps as our humans since we have four feet instead of just two. One thing that we do know is that we really do feel happy and relaxed after getting home from a long walk or play. Studies have found that more exercise is associated with less fearfulness, less separation anxiety, and less noise sensitivity in doggies. Maybe that is why our humans always seem to take us out for a great play session when they need to leave us for a while. It certainly seems to stop Charlie from being nervous and eating stuff that he shouldn’t be eating!

Our humans enjoy letting us do a lot of nose work because apparently 20 minutes of sniffing for a doggy is the same as a 1 hour walk without sniffing. We get our lunch in a rolled-up towel, and it takes a lot of work to find all the yummy nuggets. We got pretty good at unrolling the towel, so our humans started tying the towel in a knot and that made lunch even more interesting. One of our doggy friends said that her humans throw a bunch of food in the back yard, and she spends a long time sniffing through the grass to make sure she finds everything. We love using our noses! And when we sniff out a tasty treat it is even better!

TRAINING to build an understanding of what is expected in the human world

I love my family. My humans play with me, feed me, cuddle me, and take me to lots of fun places (like the beach!). But it took me some time to learn all the rules. When I was just a puppy I learned that some places were good to pee and poo, and other places were not so good. My humans were so happy with me when I peed in the good places. So I decided to keep going there when I had to pee. And I loved chewing on things when I was a pup because everything was so new and interesting, and sometimes it helped my teeth not hurt so much. And sometimes I chewed because there was nothing else to do. But my humans seemed to like me chewing on some things, but not other things (like their fingers). It made me happy when I found the things that were ok to chew on because I could tell that my humans were happy too.

My brother Charlie gets nervous when he passes some dogs while walking on a leash, and this makes him bark at the other dogs. I know that Charlie is just telling the other dogs that they should not come too close because he is anxious, but it can make walking with Charlie a bit crazy. And I could tell that the barking made all the humans around us quite anxious too. To help Charlie our humans taught him to not be so nervous when passing other dogs on our walks (see “anxiety in dogs part 2” blog). And it really helped because I could tell that Charlie (and our humans) were happier and less anxious when we passed other doggies on our walk.

Let them EXPERIENCE the world around them

When I was just a puppy my humans took me to a lot of different places where I got to see, hear, and smell so many new things. I met new people, new doggies and even kitties, went swimming, rode in the car…. ooooh I had so much fun.

And getting to do all these things probably made me less scared as I got bigger. That is what they taught us at puppy school- that lots of experiences can make doggies less anxious and not as mean. Because new things can sometimes be scary. I remember walking with my humans once when I saw a lady pushing a basket on wheels right towards us! I was so scared because I had never seen such a thing and so I barked at it. And then I saw that there was a tiny human inside the basket- this was such a strange sight! But I kept seeing these baskets on my walks and I wasn’t so scared anymore because I knew it wasn’t going to hurt us.

To LOVE and Be Loved

My humans are scientists, and I heard them talking about how playing, petting, and cuddles can reduce my stress hormone called cortisol, and increase my “love” hormone called oxytocin. And they said that the same thing can happen to them just by petting me! I am not a scientist, but I do know that I love spending time with my humans because they play with me and give me lots of pats and belly scratches. And I feel great knowing that I can make humans happier and healthier just by letting them pet me!