June 29th, 2012
By Eric Letendre
Yesterday was my fourth wedding anniversary.
Went by fast, and I have to say, it’s been a great four years and we are now expecting our first child.
Rach and I have a great relationship because a very wise man taught me the secret to a good marriage.
The secret is only one word.
Do you know what the word is?
I’m going to share that word toward the end of this email.
Anyway, being a dog trainer is an interesting profession. I have been in the middle of many husband/wife arguments more than once.
They have a disagreement about their dog and then turn to me and ask who is right. If I take his OR her side, I become the chump.
Dogs do a lot of things we don’t like, just like our wives and husbands sometimes do things we don’t like.
A dog comes into the house and chews your favorite pair of shoes, pees on your expensive carpet and digs a huge hole in your garden.
We get mad at the dog and hopefully put a training program in place to teach the dog how to live with us in the house. We teach the dog our rules for successfully living under the same roof.
Success all comes down to communication. Communication is the training you use use to teach your dog to pee outside and to chew on toys that you have given to him.
Good communication between husbands and wives also goes a long way to create a happy marriage.
BUT…
…there is also one more step that you need to take.
Forgiveness.
You have to forgive your dog for chewing your favorite pair of shoes, for peeing on your expensive carpet and all the other bad behavior that he has done.
It does NOT mean that you let your dog continue to chew your shoes and pee on your rugs.
It means that you teach your dog the correct behaviors (according to you) and then forgive your dog.
I know, it sounds metaphysical and woo woo, but I have seen people that are just constantly angry with their dogs and it’s not a good situation.
So the choice is up to you. Continue being mad at your dog or, forgive, move on, follow a training program and watch your dog’s behavior change for the good.
So the secret to good relationships with humans or canines is simple (communication and forgiveness) and as Jimmy Buffett said:
“Relationships, we all want them, we all need them, what we do with them?”
What are you going to do?
All the best,
Eric
P.S. Please forgive
but this is a LAST day to take advantage of the special discounted price on the Good K9 Manners Course. Use the coupon code 10-OFFK9MANNERS to learn how to STOP unwanted behavior using the correct communication:
Congratulations on your Anniversary. I hope you have many more. I like what you said about forgiveness, lots of times we tend to hold a grudge, and that never helps accomplish what is most important, communication. Take care.
Thanks Harley.