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Dogs

Dogs are the best thing that ever happened for humanity. Better than fire. Better than tools. Better than electricity. Way better than the Internet.

I love a lot of special animals for special reasons: cats, horses, chickens, crows, ferrets, rats, raccoons, octopuses, emus, etc. But dogs are especially special. Some of the dogs I’ve owned are pictured here.

Modern brain scanning technology has demonstrated that dogs feel actual love, the same kind of love that humans feel – with the same kind of activity in the same parts of the brain. They do indeed love us. Of course, any perceptive dog owner could have told you that long ago, but it’s nice to have it verified by science. There are other animals that certainly feel love as well – chimpanzees and bonobos of course, elephants, horses, etc. But dogs are the closest to real, functional human love as it gets. If humans didn’t exist, dogs wouldn’t exist either. They are a species that has specifically evolved to love humans, and their behaviors endear them to us in a way very similar to the way human infant behavior does. Would it surprise you to know that, in many ways, dogs understand us better even than our closest primate relatives? If you point at something, a dog will understand what that means, better than a chimpanzee will. Yeah, dogs are special.

You may have noticed that the pages for some other animals are longer, with more information, than this dog page. This is because most people are familiar with all of the wonderful qualities of dogs, unlike many of the other animals I work with, so it’s unnecessary. And if I tried to tell you all about every dog I have owned, this page would never end, because there is just too much to say. Plus, it would be so emotionally draining for me that I might not have the energy left to actually do my job. I’ll just make a few observations, which you probably already know, but I want to cover anyway.

Because they love their owners, dogs suffer when the owner is away, the same way we do when our loved ones are away. But it’s worse for dogs. We understand that the absence is only for a little while. We know where our loved one has gone and why, that he/she will be back, and when. Dogs don’t understand these things. Over time, when the owner travels a lot, dogs can be conditioned to expect the owner will return, and they can even develop a sense of generally when that might be. But it’s not the same as our understanding and, to the dog, it’s confusing and stressful. And stress that occurs too frequently, without being mitigated, can lead to the same kind of health problems that it does in humans. That’s why it’s so important to provide them with quality, comforting, mentally distracting, personal care when the owner is away. That’s what I try to do.

The basic care – feeding, watering, walking, waste elimination, etc. – is just the beginning. Any decent sitting service, or even a kennel, can do those things. It’s meeting the dog’s mental and emotional needs that is important in really quality care. I go to great lengths to meet these needs. I provide frequent, comforting physical contact. I provide lots of entertaining, distracting, mentally stimulating toys and games; I ask the owner to bring along some of the dog’s favorite toys. I spend a lot of time talking to the dog, using words and terms it has heard from its owner and understands, to provide more consistency between home and sitting care. I try to extend walks for as long as feasible, in order to allow the dog to work off excess energy and reduce stress and anxiety. All interaction is positive; there is never any negative interaction.

In the case of a repeat or regular client, the dog gets to know me over time. So, I am no longer a stranger, but someone the dog has come to trust, expecting a positive experience whenever it goes to sitting. This makes the already positive experience even better, more stress/anxiety-relieving and beneficial.

I offer several different dog sitting programs, to meet different clients’ needs. See the Dogs section on the Services Offered and Fees page.