Know your pet

I have seen some posts on social media of late saying that petting your dog is not necessarily the love language they want or understand. To some degree I believe this is true, Dash loves attention, he loves to receive and give love. Since he was a puppy I have walked him in our estate and from the very first day I watched how he would come alive every time we would leave the gate. Unfortunately last year he had a leg injury which required an operation, before and after the operation I opted not to walk him as I did not want to cause any further damage. I watched how this affected him and he seemed almost depressed, not his usual playful and energetic self. I would cringe every time I would see him limp or hurt the leg further but one day I had the realisation that if I kept him “bubble wrapped” trying to protect him, I would have a very sad dog as I had taken away the one thing that we loved to do together. I decided to start walking him again regardless of the potential repercussions believing that I would rather have a happy dog living a short life than a sad dog living a long one. I have noticed our bond strengthening so much over the past few months and he has come back to life, my fear of injury has vanished and for the most part so has his limp.