Being a pet parent can be stressful. We’ve all been there. Whether it’s puppy potty training, learning obedience, working through one specific issue or a rescue dog with a traumatic past, sometimes it can get overwhelming.
I don’t know about you, but when I get stressed out and overwhelmed, I can get cranky. And although I hate to admit it, my frustration is sometimes taken out on my furballs. Before you get any ideas about what I mean, let me explain. We try very hard to teach the dogs rules and boundaries and manners. But they are far from the most well behaved dogs I’ve met and at times I wonder what the heck I’m doing wrong. When I come home from a long day at work and the dogs are couch hopping like they know they are not allowed to the cats are bugging each other and getting into any little thing on the counter, sometimes I reach the boiling point. And then I yell. In an angry voice. Loudly.
The cats scatter and run off to hiding places and the dogs hit the floor, laying on their bellies with big sad eyes. And I immediately feel awful. Am I wrong to feel frustrated or upset? No. But do they deserve such a harsh response? No.
Just over the weekend we had several visitors come over. I’ve talked about teaching dogs the “Place” command and we try to use this when guests come over to teach calmness instead of overly excited energy. Well, as 5 people walked in the door one after another, all hell broke loose so to speak. Instead of going to and staying in their place, Ares and Chaos were running around the room, wiggling their bodies with joy and jumping up on people for attention. Chris and I were trying to control the chaos but our verbal commands were falling on deaf ears. And we got frustrated. In retrospect, none of our visitors were too upset with the craziness and it really wasn’t anything to get upset about.
We went over to my parent’s house and their new neighbors came over to chat. I was worried my dogs would make a bad impression by getting excited and jumping all over them. So I left them inside to stare out the glass front door wishing they could meet these nice new people. As it turned out, they had a little dog who escaped the house and was running up onto the deck just minutes after I came back inside. And I thought nothing of it.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my furry family members more than words can express. But just like other family members and friends, sometimes I take them for granted. There isn’t a second thought that they will all be there to greet me when I get home and snuggle on the couch or make me laugh with their silly antics. Unfortunately, as I’m sure most of you can attest, this won’t always be the case. It’s not something any of us want to think about, but that sharp pang of realization pushes me to remember what it’s really all about.
Why did I adopt these furry creatures into my life in the first place? To nurture and love them, fulfill their physical and emotional needs, to foster bonds of companionship, develop trust and security, to share my good days and bad. Certainly I wasn’t expecting them to be perfect or never make mistakes just as I am not perfect and make plenty of mistakes.
Sure, there will be still be days that I lose my cool and let the frustration get to me. The last time I yelled at them won’t be the last. Sure, there will be times I will overthink the situation and worry about things that don’t really warrant the waste of energy on stress. But I think we should all try to remember why we love them and gave them a home to begin with. Because, sadly, they won’t always be there to greet us at the door, snuggle on the couch or make us laugh. So what if they occasionally couch hop or sneak into the kitchen or jump on some guests. They don’t judge me for my mistakes or demand perfection from me. They just love and appreciate me for me and I owe them the same.
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