Your Dog is Not Your Baby
Have you tried to make your dog into a child? (Luis Gomez Photos)
Borderstan welcomes Tori Tyree who will be writing about you and your pets.
You may have seen her walking dogs down your street. Tori Tyree is the owner of “Walk of the Town,” a dog walking and pet sitting company. She has been working with animals most of her life — caring for them in animal hospitals, training dogs, volunteering at zoos and the Washington Humane Society and counseling customers about pet nutrition.
Tyree has been walking dogs in D.C. for more than eight years. She has built up a lot of experience and has some good stories to share. We hope you will find them useful for your relationship with your pets.
Full disclosure: The editors of Borderstan have used Tyree’s dog-walking services, but are not receiving any free services or discount in exchange for her occasional columns.
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From Tori Tyree
I’m going to start my first post with a daring statement and hope that you bear with me:
Our dogs are not children.
They are just as important to many of us — and maybe in some cases, more important than children if we don’t have any. But at the end of the day, it is a mistake to treat them as children or substitutes for children.
The very best thing you can do for your dog is to give him or her structure. Without a routine and a set of rules that they can depend on you to enforce, dogs become anxious and sometimes destructive. Perhaps you are thinking of a purse or Blackberry that you once owned or is no longer usable?
Don’t worry; I’m not here to take away all your fun. There are lots of ways that you can still spoil your dog and give her the structure she needs to make sure everyone stays sane — you, your family, the neighbors and the dog.
In the coming weeks I will address several dog-related topics including training tools, what foods you should be buying, tricks you can teach your dog (some are even for your cats!). I am also open to topics of interest, so please leave a comment. I look forward to hearing from Borderstan readers.
