Is it bad to love dogs? OF COURSE NOT!! (If I didn’t love dogs I would never have chosen this profession!) That being said, acquiring a dog in order to meet your emotional needs will nearly always put the dog in the unwanted, detrimental position of authoritative parenting and possession. A tense, anxious and/or neurotic dog is usually the result.

Love for dogs should motivate us to become thinking, canine-style parents for them so they can relax and enjoy a life of calm, happy curiosity. Effusive displays of human emotions can make a dog feel responsible to parent us—and this stresses them out. They don’t want this parental responsibility, but they will take it up if they feel it’s necessary. The best thing we can do when deciding to get a dog is to prepare to lead them in a canine way—with our head, not with our heart.

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