The poor bored dog

In my travels I run into a lot of dogs, some well kept, some not.  When seeing a dog being treated more as a possession than a friend or family member, its a real downer.  That poor dog tied with a short leash to a dog house all day, what a pity.  What about being crated all day?  That's jail.  When someone once asked me "Do you own a dog?"....I said "No, do you own a child?".

Yeah you feed their belly, but what are doing to feed their mind?  Long term boredom in a dogs life can be a real spirit killer and can bring on early aging and shorten their life.  A dog really needs mental stimulation along with outdoor play activities.  When my dog knows he's going for a hike or a ride, he's so excited.....like he's been waiting all day times 7 for this.

We (me and my right hand babe) try to take our dog out hiking as much as possible, most every day.  Even at night in the rain.  We feel guilty if we don't. When exercising our dog, we exercise ourselves, its a win win that's healthy for both.  When our schedules are overloaded, a simple ride to the store with our dog can be a good substitute filler.  I watch him looking out the window at different stuff, he's learning and observing life.  Hey that's much better than staring at the lawn or the walls all day.

Its nice that general society is taking more consideration for our 4 legged pals in allowing them to venture into business establishments.  I love to see dogs in the local home improvement stores, I just want to pat them all.  At our store, Paw Addict, located in Newport Rhode Island, a lot of restaurants allow dogs if they have outside seating areas.  One Irish pub in particular has a dog menu, you can get your dog a burger, that's soo awesome.

I feel guilty going on vacation without my dog, so if we can, we take him.  Yeah dogs need vacations too.  On one trip to Maine on the way to Arcadia National Park, it was like a 6 hour drive, our dog was standing or sitting up the whole way.  He was soo excited cause he knew he was going somewhere fun.  The memories we've had together are priceless.  There's a lot of overnight accommodations that allow dogs, you can check out Bring Fido for many.

With the modern digital age being more sedentary for so many, sharing some wild animal spirit together is much needed food for the soul for both human and furry pal.