How to avoid your own bad habits becoming your dog’s bad habits!

All dog owners generally realise that as well as training their dogs to follow all of the necessary commands to keep them safe, well behaved and manageable. It is also important to keep control of your dog in other ways, such as by ensuring that they accept you as their pack leader and alpha, and do not develop bad habits!

However, whilst most dog owners are acutely aware of their dog’s bad habits and problems (such as jumping up or being pushy with children, for example) one point that is often overlooked by dog owners (and everyone else too!) is our own bad habits. These bad habits can ultimately affect our dogs too, and lead to bad habits developing in them as well!

If this is something that has never really crossed your mind before, this article is for you-in this piece we will look at some of the bad habits that people develop that can soon cross over and become bad habits in our dogs as well! Read on to learn more.

Eating junk food

All of us cave to the junk food urge from time to time, whether that be biscuits, ice cream, crisps or anything else! Junk food is fine in moderation, but does not of course do us any good in the long term if eaten to excess-and one important consideration when it comes to junk food and your naughty little treats is the effect that your eating habits can have on your dog!

If you feel as if you are eating something a bit naughty, it is all too easy to relax the rules where your dog is concerned and let them have a few crisps or something you are eating too-as well to be hung for a sheep as for a lamb, as it were!

However, just a couple of crisps for a person is the equivalent of eating a hamburger for many smaller dog breeds, and giving your dog regular scraps of junk food (or allowing them to sit at your feet hoovering up any crumbs) can soon take their toll on your dog’s waistline, as well as your own!

Avoiding bad weather

None of us really want to go out to walk the dog when it is pouring with rain, freezing cold or otherwise unpleasant to be out, but it is nonetheless important that you do so!

Whilst it may be sorely tempting to skip the day’s walk when the weather is awful, or just put your dog out into the garden to do their business, this is a bad habit to get into and will mean not only that your dog will miss out on their exercise, but it might also lead to them being reluctant to go outside in bad weather in the future!

Ensure that both yourself and your dog can brave the worst of the weather with the right coats and clothing, and dry your dog off thoroughly when you get inside. It’s fine to cut the walk a little short if neither of you are enjoying it at all, but don’t skip walkies altogether!

Not committing to exercise

Skipping the odd day of walkies is another bad habit that it can be all too easy to get into, and which can quickly snowball. Whilst most dogs will tolerate the odd missed walk in the occasional extenuating circumstance, such as if you are ill, ensure that missed exercise does not become a regular occurrence.

If you have to miss the walk one day and your dog doesn’t seem to be too bothered, that makes it easier to do the same thing again in future-or two or three days in a row, until it can get to the point where your dog is not exercised regularly at all, which of course, does them a huge disservice.

Being lax about supervision

Managing and supervising your dog properly is important, and this is particularly true in unusual situations or when something new is happening, such as if you take your dog to a friend’s house, have a party or generally, do something different.

When you’re relaxing and maybe, having a drink, it is all too easy to forget about your dog’s presence, which can lead to problems such as them scavenging for food that they should not eat, becoming bored and destructive, or even failing to observe basic things like their water bowl being empty or your dog becoming unhappy.

If you will not be able to supervise your dog properly during such situations, do not take your dog with you!

Inconsistency

Finally, consistency is the key to a happy and well-trained dog, which means that adhering to the ground rules that you have put in place for them and not bending the rules is vital.

Letting your dog sit on the sofa sometimes but not at others, or allowing them to beg at the table on special occasions might seem like doing your dog a favour, but it can actually confuse them and make them feel insecure.

Inconsistency is one of the worst bad habits that can rub off onto your dog, so when you make the rules, stick to them!