Friday, May 11, 2007
Poor Dog

I hear this all too frequently while I'm out working with my human. Generally those words are spoken when someone sees my human correcting me or oddly enough when she simply tells someone to not approach or pet me.

I'd like to set the record straight. I'm not a "poor dog". I'm actually a very lucky dog. Most Fidos and Rovers spend most of their day's home alone just waiting for their humans to get off work.

I spend my whole day with my human. Where she goes, I go. There are only a few times when I've been left home to fend for myself and I generally use that time to nap, patrol the territory and watch the neighbors from the living room window.

Most other dogs are only played with or worked with when the human has some free time. Often these dogs aren't given much if any formal training and those that are lucky enough to spend that much time in training with their humans still must sit home alone most of the day. Often these other dogs only get yearly visits to the vet for basic health checks and shots.

I on the other hand spend at least an hour a day in training with my human – these sessions are usually broken up in to 15-30 minutes intervals. Every time I get a runny nose or simply don't seem as perky I get a trip to the vet. Ok that part I'm not crazy about but I do appreciate that my human worries about my wellbeing that much. Heck when I had a nasty ear infection my human had me to the vet three days a week for treatments for several weeks until we got the painful infection knocked out. Gee it's a good thing I have no concept of finances, I'd hate to think what that must have cost. My human also keeps me fully vaccinated against everything, not just the basics.

You see my human needs me. If I can't do my job she suffers and I'm feeling pretty darn bad as well. I enjoy helping her and want to be there for her. It's my job and because of this job I am afforded extra care and privileges that most dogs will never know. So next time you humans are out in public and see a working dog on the job, please don't think we are poor or mistreated dogs. Rather try to understand that we probably get better care and attention than most dogs. Hee Hee.

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