23/06/2024
Sunday Sermon
The day of rest and so let's talk about resting. I apologise in advance for sounding preachy or ranty, that's not the intention, no one is being told off, I just want to give you something to think on and I've got myself all passionate about it.
Dogs are supposed to rest a minimum of 16 hours a day. That's 16 hours where their brain and body does nothing but relax, recharge, process and decompress.
Digestive rest is important and I think some dogs have their digestive system taken advantage of, to suit human convenience, under the guise of it being a priority for the dog's own welfare.
Having patience and teaching yourself and your dog life skills without relying on food is important. People aren't patient or they want their dog to have treats or chews or training rewards and can't wait to get them off any kind of dietary restriction, because they rely so much on their dogs digestion to manage their activities of daily living.
I once read a comment that said "Immediate red flag if a dog owner doesn't want to use food rewards" (actually I think they said pet parent). How rude to immediately think that. Why not ask why? What if high value rewards make the dog s**t itself? What if the dog needs digestive rest after a period of illness? What if the dog isn't into food rewards? How about find another way instead of presuming that if someone doesn't want to train that way that they're a big meanie.
Sometimes we have to prioritise health and healing over the importance of what you're training or managing. Can Fido have a couple of weeks off from performing for primula and party sausage, seeing as he's spent the last week vomming his guts up and pebble dashing the patio. Could Princess maybe have a week doing nothing and maybe not ask her kidneys to process unnecessary food and exercise waste, so she can recover from that UTI she just had?
So many dogs never the get the opportunity to heal because the people that feed them use food to satisfy their own human emotions, or fulfil a perceived need that they prioritise over a dog needing time to heal. It's a constant battle for me to get people to place importance on healing above all else. It's amazing how much of an inconvenience it is to humans when I suggest they need to rest their dog's digestion. Broken digestion needs rest to heal. Just like a broken leg. Would you give a dog a quick run on a broken leg because "he needs to let off steam or he won't settle".
My Sunday Sermon message is please, let your care, kindness and drive to meet your dogs needs be more considerate of your dog's digestive system. It is not normal for anyone to be constantly eating, for so many reasons.
I might put that on my fridge actually. "It is not normal for anyone to be constantly eating, for so many reasons". That might fix the diabetes 😂
Thank you for reading, please don't shout at me 🙏
