A reader told us he’d repeatedly read that “dogs need a job.” Such advice is not hard to find, including on the AKC site, “How to Give Your Dog Jobs.“ Our reader then asked: Do they? Really? Ah, good question. Before we all try to send our border collies to coding school and turn our Labradors into delivery drivers, it would probably be smart to start by defining “job.” Here’s a common one: “A task or piece of work, especially one that is paid.” Ah, then, we are left with “what’s a piece of work,” and are in danger of going so far into the weeds that even a trainer sniffer K9 couldn’t find us.
I’m going to jump to the head of the line and suggest that dogs don’t necessarily need to accomplish a task. I think the standard advice is trying to say that dogs need mental exercise as much as physical exertion. That dogs can get bored, and boredom often creates behavioral problems like chewing on TV remotes, incessant barking, or somewhere, someday, a late-night order on QVC by a standard poodle.
I couldn’t agree more that many companion dogs must be bored out of their minds. Animals with a recent history of complicated social relationships along with a raft of life-or-death decisions to make every day, surely can’t all be satisfied by taking a few leash walks in the same place every day and hanging around the house waiting for food scraps to fall from the sky. On the other hand, neither can we spend our days feeling guilty because our dogs only get to work sheep once a day, play hard during long off-leash walks twice a day, get a fresh chew toy in the afternoon, and get full body rubs on the couch every evening. (I have absolutely no idea where that example comes from. Just made it up on the spur of the moment.) That said, here are some random thoughts about what dogs need, related to the “dogs need jobs” advice.
Brain food through their noses: I’ve gone on record, as have many others, that a primary need of dogs is to use the sense of smell, often more than we let them. I wrote a post titled “Take Your Dog on a Sniff, and abide by it religiously. Jim and I are lucky to live on twelve acres that allows us to walk our dogs off leash and sniff all they want. We take them on a long walk off the farm once a week, and let them set the pace on the way out. It amuses me how much energy it takes to stop walking like a primate–shoulder to shoulder, looking ahead, moving at a consistent pace–and walk like a dog, running ahead ten feet, stopping to sniff for thirty seconds, maybe sixty . . .
Susannah Charleson and Puzzle
It takes a lot of physical and mental energy for dogs to use their noses, just ask people who train K9 bomb or cadaver dogs, like Cat Warren, who beautifully describes this in her NYT best-selling book, What the Dog Knows. And it’s easy to incorporate nose work into a dog’s life. When I think of it, I have the dogs check out whatever I’ve brought home from a store. (Note to self: Think of it more often, please.) And every day we put them on a down-stay, throw their toy out of sight, then tell them to ‘find it.” Easy peasy. You can engage your dog’s nose in a range of ways, from simple (take your dog on a “sniff”) to elaborate discrimination games. There are a gazillion sources for scent games to play with your dog, check out Dogwise for lots of ideas, including The Canine Kingdom of Scent, Fun activities using your dog’s natural instincts.
All the World is a Stage: Is a dog’s job performing tricks to amuse us, or to get access to a dinner bowl? I suppose we could think of it as a live performance, the actors without a union or understudies. What’s great about tricks is that dogs have to use their brain to learn new things, requiring mental exercise that is as good for them as physical exercise. (And also can lead to quieter, calmer dogs.)
Some tricks do triple duty, like the play bow above. They can provide mental exercise, a good body stretching exercise, and a great way to relax a dog in a slightly stressful situation. I’d incorporate a trained play bow in every dog training class if I was Queen. Just saying.
Games as mental exercise, aka, a sort of job: Does competing in a sheepdog trial count as “a job?” Oh yes, but so does moving the sheep around at the farm, or maybe a “herding ball” could provide a bit of the same exercise. (Granted, until herding balls become sentient, it’s not close to the same, but we can’t all have a flock of sheep in our closet.) But there’s sooo much now available if one has the time. Agility! Nose work! Fly ball! All of these things can be done for competition or just for fun at home. And all of them have goals, and require dogs to use their bodies and their brains. Given how many opportunities there are to engage in these wonderful games, I’m giving them short shrift here, but how lucky we (and our dogs) are that we have these opportunities. They take time yes, BUT, hey, you can turn just about anything into an agility course in your back yard (safety first please), play nose work in your house, and make up all kinds of ball games without leaving your house. Just be creative, and be sure that your dog really loves the “sport” as much as you do. (We’ve all seen too many examples of the opposite, yes?)
The Need for Autonomy, Agency: This is a long way from a job, but I think the lack of it results in a lot of the “boredom” people talk about in house dogs. I’ve had several dogs with injuries that required almost no autonomy on my dog’s part, and every one of them turned into passive lumps who lay around and sighed like a teenage girl who couldn’t get tickets to a Taylor Swift concert. We can’t say with complete confidence that dogs get depressed in the same way that people do, but I suspect that they do. I think Willie and Skip and Maggie all got depressed at one point in their rehab, when almost every move they made was under our control. After six weeks or so, they got quieter and “calmer,” which some people would love but I knew was a sign that they weren’t themselves. I wonder if some family dogs are “quiet and calm,” because they get little stimulation?
Here’s that photo of Maggie recovering from a strained Achilles I posted a few weeks ago, I just wish I’d made a video so that you could hear the loud, adolescently-dramatic sighs.
Good news is that Maggie is all better now, whew!
What about you? Do you think “all dogs need a job?” Does your dog have one? If so, how do you define it? Better yet, how do you think they define it? I’m all ears.
MEANWHILE, back on the farm: I’m pretty happy to say goodbye to last week. After that fantastic trip to Cape Breton, last week consisted of three doctor appointments related to facial surgery next week (just carcinoma but on an eyelid, not a great place to take off skin), getting turned around and going to the wrong clinic for one appointment, and then . . . THEN, missing a book talk that I thought was at the library and was somewhere else on Friday night. Me and another author, Bill Stokes, stood in the library parking lot, all ready to join 3 other authors and talk about books and writing. But the parking lot was empty. I checked the library’s website and found a book talk scheduled for the 28th, and concluded we had the wrong date. Went home. Changed. Watched TV. Later found out I had gone to the wrong place; the talk WAS last Friday, just not at the library. I was sick to my stomach all night, didn’t sleep much. If you showed up I AM SO SORRY! Sorry for me too, I was truly looking forward to it. Argh.
On a happier note, the weekend weather was beautiful. I spent a lot of time feeling grateful for this gorgeous view we have out our kitchen window. Who minds doing dishes when you can look up at this?
On Sunday I hacked down the five brussel sprout trees (I literally had to use an axe). Here’s one, with a garden glove for perspective. Many of the sprouts were small, but I figured I’d better get them in before the truly hard frost comes this weekend.
That’s a tiny little clipper in the basket below, so although the results are minimal, they a tad better than it looks in this photograph. I’d say we have a good 5-6 meals of sprouts, and we’ve already had two. Not too bad for my mini-garden of 4 x 4 raised beds.
Here’s a meal we had last week, including our sprouts, fried green tomatoes also from the garden, and roast free-range, organic, pork from down the road, at DreamFarm.
I’ll sign off with photos of Maggie getting her monthly chiropractic adjustments from Dr. Sara Greenslit at AnShen Vet. Dr. Sara is not strangling Maggie, honest, she is adjusting her neck and Maggie is more than happy to put up with it. (Note beef liver on the chair.) Skip loves it too, he’d had his adjustments already. I take them in every month and believe it has helped avoid some major injuries.
Maggie would like to know where the treat is now . . .
Time for me to sign off and attempt to muck out my house. (McConnell proverb: If you can tell the house from the barn it is clean enough.) Tell us what you think about “dogs and jobs,” and whether your dogs are considering forming a union.
Kendra says
My first border collie had standard jobs. Her minimum work requirement was 2 long walks a day, unless one was replaced with an off leash trail run (her favorite). Between these jobs, she would lie on the deck watching squirrels prance about the yard. She also supervised me in the garden or doing lawn chores.
My current BC/ACD mix is a different story. We adopted him at 6 months old from a couple who never should have gotten a herding puppy. He was overweight, wearing a shock collar, and they already had a small replacement dog. It took me a couple couple of months to learn lunging at bikes, skateboards, people, dogs, and squirrels was “reactivity.” This led me to your books! We dialed back the neighborhood walks. We drove to remote trails. Thankfully he loved playing fetch in our small back yard. I bought a snuffle mat and treat dispensing toys for meals. We took a wonderful specialized dog reactivity class at the humane society.
Then he tore his CCL and had a TPLO at 14 months old. For six weeks, all walks were confined to pacing our small backyard on a leash because we couldn’t risk him lunging at a trigger. Because he is noise reactive to sidewalk noises when he’s in our living room, we bought camp chairs and spent our evenings sitting with him in the kitchen. It was mind numbing. Breakfast was fed in 3 snuffle mats. Dinner kibble was mixed with a bit of nonfat Greek yogurt and water, then frozen into a West Paw toppl toy (tip: buy several toppls). The first BC almost never got treats, but he got bully chews, no-hide chews, and cow hooves. He wasn’t allowed to fetch, but learned to catch a toy thrown directly at him. We also started daily PT.
Now we’re ten weeks post op. At week 7, we started to resume very early morning and late night neighborhood sniff walks. Although he’s still reactive, we had no backsliding and he’s becoming a more confident dog. He’s starting to take us further away from home. The dog who used to freak out at anything unusual is handling scary Halloween decorations quite well. He has discovered that exploring the neighborhood is a job he likes!! We’re starting to hike trails again, but it will still be several weeks before he’s allowed off leash and we can play fetch in the yard. I can’t wait to resume those jobs.
Jane Appleton says
“If you can tell the house from the barn it is clean enough”….. that name me chuckle! I’m going to steal that phrase 😂🤣😂
Jane
P. J. Grath says
As I live with a young Aussie, I’ve heard that “She needs a job” song-and-dance many times and addressed the issue on my own blog. My belief is that Sunny Juliet does not distinguish work from play but that she does need plenty of mental stimulation and lots of exercise. We are now doing dog agility work, which she enjoys, and when I don’t want to get out of bed as early as she does, I “exercise” her mind by asking her to bring me — naming them — various of her toys. I used to think it was ridiculous to teach dogs names of objects, but you should see how she perks up when I tell her, “Get your rabbit! Bring me your rabbit!” Her whole facial expression changes from boredom to happy alertness.
You scared me at first with that image of the glove by the sprouts: it looked as if you’d chopped off your hand! Glad that was NOT the case!
Lorraine says
I don’t mind my dog stopping and sniffing on walks at all- but what does put me off is the licking. I haven’t had a male dog before who is so obsessed with other dogs’ urine. I know it’s a natural behaviour but I am worried about disease transmittal, and it’s just unpleasant to watch him slurping at every steaming puddle…
Charlotte Kasner says
The corollary is that we sometimes need to tell dogs what isn’t their: no need to rush to the door to check on visitors, no need to unpack the shopping! etc etc
Amy Free says
Domestic rabbits need all the same things described above (nosey-exploration, autonomy and agency, physical and mental engagement) yet I would guess that few humans would call a rabbit’s doing these things a ‘job.’ So it does make me think about how “job” and “work” are defined. Does there need to be some end-goal that serves humans and/or is self-satisfying to the animal?
Our Rex girl was a master of the rabbit treat-puzzle. In a way, giving it to her was a “job” for her to complete, but it also could be “play” in the sense that she did not need to “work” to find the food (she was plenty well-fed). Same thing when we haphazardly toss dried orange peel sprinkles for our dwarf boy to forage and find around the room. I want to engage all their senses and provide opportunity to express natural behaviors. Job? I dunno!
Dogs being depressed when they cannot have autonomy, etc., immediately makes me think of the miserable lives of most domestic rabbits – confined to cages, usually solitarily, most always with a daily routine that bores them just shy of death. People have said, “Bunnies are boring pets.” To them I reply: You have never known a happy, healthy rabbit. Make any mammal live in the species equivalent of a phone booth, and yep, that being will sure be bored. Given a safe indoor habitat with all the “job” factors? Rabbits are amazing.
Trisha, wishes for a smooth eyelid procedure! And I’m selfishly hopeful to get to see you on campus this semester. (I work with a prof who said she emailed you to lecture about PLAY!) 🙂
Deborah Mason says
One of our “pound puppies”, Lab/Springer mix, has decided picking things up for me if a great job. Not only will he pick up & bring me what I ask (as long as I can convey what that thing is), he will meet us at the door with a ball (usually), he will “shop” the craft room floor for things to bring me, mostly scraps of paper, for a cookie. Yes, we pay him a cookie for the items he brings. He now has reached a point that yesterday, when my computer mouse slipped to the floor, he hopped off the couch to pick it up for me, without me even needing to ask. He also picked up the package of ham I dropped on the kitchen floor while making lunch. That one I asked for & he had to figure out how to pick it up without damaging it. I’m currently avoiding bending because of a recent fall that left my rump quite painful.
He also does Rally, Agility, just-for-fun Now Work & tricks. He loves to learn new things.
Trisha says
Deborah, I love the combo of fun and practical. And get better!
Trisha says
Amy, yay yay yay for including rabbits!! You are such a great advocate for them, and in my limited experience, as you say, so many live empty lives in tiny cages.
Trisha says
Charlotte: Great point. Yes, barking can stop now thank you at the utility reader, for example. Maggie and I continue to be in discussion about this very point.
Trisha says
Lorraine, Skip is a urine licker too, normal for male dogs as you say. I’d love to hear a vet talk about disease transmittal in fresh urine… I’m guessing it’s not a big issue compared to feces.
Trisha says
PJ: Love your morning game, and eeeps about my hand. Too many Halloween movies? 😂
Trisha says
I said that first to an audience of sheep producers–all with barns–and got a rousing reaction. We are not alone.
Asa says
In the wild, canine pack drive is a significant part of the dynamic. Each pack member is valued for their contribution to the well being of the pack. Depending on circumstance, each member takes on a job and executes that job to the best of their ability. To a degree, roles can be quite fluid as the understood goal is support of the pack.
Sabine says
One has to feel sorry for the backyard dogs, who – if they’re lucky- get to go on a walk through the neighborhood on weekends. I am the proud owner of a wirehair dachshund from a line of high drive hunting dogs. 500 pounds of ego in a 20 pound body. If he’s not “worked” daily, he turns grumpy and hyperactive. Ergo: I take him and his cheagle girlfriend for long walks every day. In addition, we do impulse control training, tracking and searching for items all over the house on those nasty weather days. I also have some Ottoson puzzles for them to solve and in the evening they get each a kong. No, they’re not overstimulated, because we don’t do all of the above in one day. Accept for the walks, of course. Working line dogs definitely do have other requirements than lap dogs, that’s for sure. 😉
Frances says
The dogs’ main “job” is keeping me company and keeping me sane, which they do very successfully most of the time. Sophy has additional tasks of tracking – mostly cats shut in sheds or garages (sadly no cats now, but perhaps there will be in the future in time for her to practise it again) and sisters mislaid in open gardens or vast garden centres – and path finding. On one occasion she told us to turn right and a whole group of slightly lost adult humans said nonsense, it was obvious we should turn left. Ten minutes later we quietly retraced our steps and dutifully followed where the tiny papillon led – within a few hundred yards she had us in a village with pub, signposts and even a bus stop! Curiously she never wants a reward for these self imposed jobs – rather as working sheep is for BCs, the satisfaction of doing something well that humans can’t do at all seems to be sufficiently rewarding in itself.
Ann Flegel says
We fostered, and then adopted a Boxer/American Bulldog mix three years ago. He’d been on the run in the south, and the vets didn’t think he’d make because he was skin and bones. They found out later he was HW positive, more than enough for this 5-year old to deal with. I’d done Schutzhund tracking with Boxers I’d had. I set a trail of Charlie Bears around the house a few times a day. We didn’t want to close the crate door because he’d been almost starved in one. I’d enforce his searching with “Find It”, and “Yes”. It was just enough for him to trot around the house for gentle exercise. It’s been two years, he’s well, but checks his crates, and floor regularly for the trail of mini treats. He uses his nose to explore food that hits the floor that is not a dog treat. Sometimes it’s worth eating. He travels the house in search of a trail. It’s an activity he’s repeated at our vacation home. Often I’ll have him do a down and stay before he’s finished the trail. We go to parks where he can pick up the scents of other dogs, and he’s really getting into that.
I think his bear searches helped him during his recovery. He immediately seemed more interested in what was around him, he was more present, and got much smarter about things. Often the bear trail would lead from his dog bed in front of the fireplace. He’d return from his tracking, and cozy in front of a fire. He is so happy with people and dogs now.
Susan S says
For my two sporting dogs, life is scentwork. On their long daily offleash walks that’s pretty much all they do, after running around mindlessly for a while. How long ago was that rabbit here? Which tree did that squirrel go up? I wonder if their years of training for competition, which has involved following odors to source & solving scentwork puzzles like converging odors, has influenced & enriched their perception of the great outdoors.
Marianne Firlit says
Keith was a black Labrador who had a great job as a therapy dog. Among his talents was a game “find the keys”. I would blind fold him and hide a set of plastic baby keys anywhere even in another room in a drawer. Blind fold removed Keith would always find them. The kids would squeal with excitement. They were in a playroom while their parents were in domestic violence court. One little boy made me promise no one would ever hurt him. 💔 Every game ended with the kids hugging my bud guy.
Diana says
Y’all with the urine lickers, why do you let them? Why don’t you use a command when you want the dog done or not doing whatever? Drop it, leave it or what have you? Why are you a slave to your dog sniffing at whatever? Since my dog had a yard, I always felt the walk for exercise.
Trisha says
Diana, re urine licking. Skip licks once or twice as a way to gather information about Maggie. Her urine is clean and there is no health risk at all. I could easily tell him Leave It but feel no need to stop a dog from being a dog.
Trisha says
Marianne, thanks for making my heart get all big and squishy.
Cat Warren says
Yes, yes, yes about dog jobs! And the need for off leash exercise, and sniff time. I know you are good friends with Karen London, and she cites a study on sniffing on leash and off: the results were SO telling.
https://thebark.com/content/dog-walks-sniffing-shaking-and-pulse-rate#:~:text=An%20important%20practical%20takeaway%20from%20this%20research%20is,Sniffing%20and%20pulse%20rate%20showed%20a%20correlation%2C%20too.
Dotti says
Interesting about the chiropractic treatments. Buddy, my 14-year-old border collie has arthritis & wrenched his back a couple of years ago trying to get at a possum on the top of the 6-foot-high fence. We’ve been treating him with acupuncture for over a year & it works wonders for him. I don’t think he would still be here without it. I also used acupuncture on Missy my 13-year-old female when she got CVD. Unfortunately Missy is gone now due to a tumor that caused total paralysis on her rear end. My vet does a great job on the acupuncture & I’ll be discussing chiropractic treatments & when to chose that over acupuncture. I’m sure there must be availability in my area.
Trisha says
Oh thanks Cat! How did I miss that study? Kudos to you and Karen for getting the word out.
Genie says
This is a bit off topic, but can anyone give me an idea of the breed or breeds of the dog on the right in the photo of the 2 dogs? We have a new rescue and I think it would be helpful to know what breed/breeds our new girl is and helpful in understanding some of her behaviors.
Any feedback is greatly appreciated.
Jann Becker says
Our first dog, Sammie, was half & half BC and Aussie…just a wee bit compulsive. I’m not sure who gave whom a job though, since my husband HAD TO play fetch or Frisbee for 20 minutes morning and night. He even shoveled a path around the yard for the dog (dogs by then, another story) to run in when the yard was covered with snow. As “a dog that needs a job” Sammie took it upon himself to run my husband ragged.
Evelyn says
My dogs have always had ‘jobs’ — it is to help me stave off depression.
They also are loose in the house yard at night and keep would be burglars away.
They also wok better than the bell at the gate to warn us of visitors.
Apart from that, when both dogs and I were younger, we did RallyO and Agility.
Now we old crocks walk gently around the yard.
Heidrun says
Good to hear Maggie is well again <3
As we're in a situation that prevents me from working my dog as usual plus giving him quite some stress (we're moving house for the first time in his life) I can relate to the shut down and depressed dogs. And I have to be extra careful with situations were he already needs some guidance to behave as desired.
Being a "high energy breed" working provides an outlet for everything he otherwise bottles up. As we normally train two to three times per week for about an hour this is rather hard on him now. He is used to big and/or difficult searches and giving him some easier/quicker tasks like doing a small search area just doesn't do the trick. On top of this our daily walks are a lot shorter and lack of the usual adventures. Oh boy, I do feel guilty…
But it's important for me to see how much this kind of work actually improves his life under normal circumstances. Doing searches makes him content, more balanced and easier to handle. And it makes him really, really happy: big grin, relaxed body, deep sleep.
No toy, food puzzle, trick training or free roaming/sniffing walks (he gets them twice daily) could achieve this.
So, yes: he definitely needs his job.
Our other dog is quite content with getting only moderate exercise, rolling in the grass (or other things…), playing with toys etc. She can sleep off stress easily and is happy with a comfy place on the sofa any time.
She loves doing small searches but doesn't depend on them to meet her needs: happy dog without a job.
I think there is a big difference between a dog who really *needs* a job and one who can live a life where his/her needs are met by providing enrichment.
Enrichment certainly is a plus in the life of a dog with a job but it's not enough. And they will tell you.
Amy Free says
I’m back. Found myself still thinking about this topic into the day yesterday and then it popped into my head this morning. “Love what you do, and you’ll never work a day in your life.” Maybe this maxim for humans also applies to our four-footed family members, hence our, is it a job? or is it play? uncertainty. 🙂
Trisha says
Heiden: You couldn’t have said it better. Thx!
Kat says
D’Artagnan has an actual job where he “goes to work” several times a week. He’s a Therapy Dog and people often ask me if he enjoys it as much as they do. I tell them that when I go out to call him in from where he’s dozing on the deck he’ll often open one eye to acknowledge I’m speaking to him but has no inclination to get up but if I ask him if he wants to go to work he’s on his feet and heading inside to get ready. He loves his job and wants to do it. He and his brother Falkor Bash also have self selected jobs. During the day D’Artagnan is outside monitoring the property and Falkor is inside watching over me. At night Falkor Bash sleeps across the front door where he can guard the house and D’Artagnan sleeps beside the bed. Somewhere between 5:00 and 7:00 a.m. is shift change and D’Artagnan goes down to sleep across the front door and Falkor comes up to sleep beside the bed. We are well protected. They also get one long walk per day usually somewhere outside the neighborhood.
I don’t think it is that dogs need a job so much as dogs need interesting things to do. That can be a specific job or regular enrichment activities such as play and sniff and walks.
Robin says
Another great article, thank you! I let my Aussie choose our walk/run route each day. I’ve been astonished at how he chooses new turns and sometimes new streets/trails but always brings us back home in 3 to 5 miles. Fun for us both!
Anne says
I don’t think all dogs need jobs. I’ve known some dogs that are happy being a companion, going on walks, getting some attention and treats and need nothing more. I wouldn’t call any of those a job. When I think of dogs needing jobs, I think of the too smart and too active breeds- like my Aussies. They need something more in their life – agility training, obedience training, herding, rounding up balls, tracking, learning tricks- there is a long list of socially acceptible jobs you can set up for your dogs. These kind of dogs will make their own work if you don’t structure their life in some way. And some jobs they think of are just not that good for us humans- chasing cars, digging up the garden, barking at the wind, biting children (attempting to “herd”), eating the wallpaper and so forth.
The differentiation of work vs play to a dog is an interesting one, especially after watching herding dogs of many different breeds at work. To some of them, this is life or death serious. MUST CONTROL STOCK. To a more casual herder, maybe “fun with sheep” does apply. I’m not talking about the owner, who may be casual or serious, but some dogs are really more casual about it than serious. Those serious dogs tend to take their “fun” also seriously. So collecting and hoarding tennis balls, or bringing back only the “correct” apple from a pile of crab apples, or being the fun police in a group of dogs is always more work than playful, or being the fastest one to the toy in a game of fetch.
Jane says
I managed to turn one of my rescue mutt’s fear-based compulsions into a sort of “job”. He’s a bit fearful of people and has a tendency to bark like crazy at delivery folks approaching the house. He would stand on the back of the couch, facing the approaching person and throwing his whole body into the force of each bark. Now I’m quick to get up and head over to him, all the while telling him, “okay thank you, I’ve got this”. He now looks back at me when he hears me approach and visibly relaxes, jumping off the couch to come stand by me. He has every appearance of an animal who has clocked out of his shift. And he always gets to inspect whatever item I’ve brought in from the porch.
Mariah says
My first dog on my own, Mowgli, was a brilliant but inexperienced acd who had no problem using his mouth to get things to stop or go away. I was in my 20s so it makes sense that about a week after adopting him, we went to work for a band and toured the country while living in a converted school bus. What started as a horrible idea and situation (obviously looking back now I can’t believe we did this) ended up being what I believe to be a fulfilling way of life (job?) for him. Mowg appeared to really enjoy the travel, exploring new places, collecting and securing his group of people (what better than to have them all contained and under control for many long days of driving!), and he watched over the bus anytime we were at a gig. I made him an id tag with “security” on the front. The bus never got broken into, we all learned to put our snacks up on top bunks only and Mowgli got to experience the oceans, deserts, redwoods, sleep under the stars, navigate cities and so much more. Kind of crazy but it worked! And I was 21 so…
LisaW says
We all need to feel contendly productive now and again. A dog’s “job” depends on the dog’s interest and skill level as well as the general context of their enviroment/family. To quote Trisha, “It depends.” At least for our us and our dogs.
Olive as terrier needs certain conditions where she feels useful and mentally challenged. Her body does not lend itself to strenuous activites but her mind certainly does. Over the years, we’ve done find the treat under the correct container (a kinder version of the old shell game), find the (insert name for toy here) and bring it, a raft of tricks we do each morning and night (which have shrunk in length and movement as she’s gotten older), and many thousands of hours of ‘find it’ in the yard and house. Two of my favorites are bow–where we each do a deep bow to the other, and focus–where we lock eyes for a second.
As she’s aging and her eyesight and hearing aren’t so keen, I’ve noticed her nose is working a lot more (I’m sure it always was but I didn’t see or hear it as much). Her daily routine has calmed down as has her need to rule the world. Now in response to “What kind of dog is she?” I simply say: “Opinionated.”
As with many of us, she’s not always right, but she’s never in doubt. Maybe that’s her job!