There are days where I wonder about having a dog.

You are SO right! This Form is a BIG SOFA that gets us all together and holds our hand! Love it, SwampDonkey!!!

 

Yet again, I hear you . . .

 

Yes, that's another really good point @Chococheer, we can choose to train the things that are most important to us.

When I was a kid we had 3 labs at different times and only the last one went to puppy class but only for the initial 6 weeks or so. But they all sat at the kerb, came back when you called, didn't run off and were all doting, soft, loving girls.

Compared to them, Plum has been trained to within an inch of her life! I'm going to chill a bit more.

 

This is such a good post! I did wonder how you all cope on blah days. I almost posted a picture to prove cats are 1000 times worse though but I thought better of it in case you were eating...nothing makes me swear more than coming in to find a headless rabbit on the kitchen floor

 

There are lots of good things about this forum....but one really bad thing about this forum is the 'oh, I am made to feel so inadequate by people who do lots of training with their dogs' comments.

Come on - really. What you do with your dog is up to you. But don't blame anyone else if you are having guilt trips that it's not enough. That's up to you to work through.

If your dog normally has lots of walks and exercise sufficient to keep them fit, lots of love and attention, and then time to time you want a sofa day so on that day they don't get to do much - it's no big deal. Really. If though, day after day, you don't want to take your dog out, then dog ownership is not for you. Dog ownership involves getting out and - at a minimum - walking the dog. Pretty much every day, but skipping a day here or there just is not worth stressing about.

 

It's human nature to compare ourselves to others. But try not to. Just get on, and do what makes you and your dog happy. I LOVE working with Coco. He's nowhere near the level of others but we have immense fun working together and moving forward. Big steps. Small steps. I really appreciate them all.

 

Well I haven't had the best of weeks...and tbh all three in the last few days have acted like they haven't had a single days training between them! From the dog warden returning Casper on Friday, tonight Benson had to be fetched from next doors garden..he was digging madly in their flower beds, and Bramble don't ask what has gotten into her right now...jeez!!! Quaffing a bottle of wine, feet up, tomorrow is another day..

 

In our office we have "The Pit" we put anything that upsets hurts or worries us in it. Once it's in the pit it's done. I do it with the dog stuff too, the bad stuff. Chuck it in the pit enjoy your wine, have a rest,deal with it another day.

We also have "only if protoco"l but that's not for none NHS staff

 

Cassie too , I feel just as if we've done no training. Maybe it's the time of year? Yes, tomorrow is another day.

 

I also used to work as a psychiatric nurse at a small acute involuntary unit. It's pretty much the same story I guess regardless where in the world we are. We medicate them and get them stabilized, however once they are discharged they have no where to go to and ends up coming back. Like they say here, "it's a revolving door." I left the field partly because it was starting to get to me, and also that I felt like I wasn't really helping anyone. Fortunately for me, I am a nurse so we can move around different fields. Still it's not like I have escaped psychiatric patients. Fellow nurses know that I am the psych nurse so they make sure I get all the psych patients. It's amazing how much I can tolerate abnormal behavior.

Still, I find it very rewarding when I get home, I have Sparky ecstatic to see me wagging his tail and giving me kisses. There are many days I felt the same way as you, too tired and drained to even walk him. I will still walk him or try to find something else to do. Today I was too tired and decided to use the 50 foot line and head to the school. Let him run around playing fetch. Another dog owner we knew joined in with her Golden and they ran around a little bit. Good enough for me and he had fun.

 

This has been good...just reading through some of theses comments.... Thanks people xx

 

Agree.....it makes all the difference to know you aren't the only one with the same thoughts and feelings. I could have given Maxx away last night as he barked hysterically for over an hour because he wasn't allowed out of the play pen to launch himself at my 92 year old Dad who was over for dinner. It was too hot to put him outside. I'd had a totally s**t day at work and just wanted to sit on the couch and watch the tennis with Dad (The Australian Open is on). Hubby was cooking dinner so I was on dog duty.
Then this morning he sat quietly in the kitchen while we got ready for the day like a mature, responsible dog (he is 13 weeks). He picked up his leash and walked nicely to the car when it was time to drive me to the station so what's with the Jeckle and Hyde personality?

 

Ahem, just re-read my above post and it sounds like Maxx was driving me to the station ! As clever as he is, we haven't come to that....hubby drove