It’s Sunday morning. It’s a work day for me… and unless I’m doing a training workshop out of town, it’s the second-to-last weekend I’ll be working. Just as you need to set rules and boundaries for your dogs, so do we trainers have to set rules and boundaries for ourselves. I’m so happy that you’ve chosen me to help you and your dog, but I’m human; I do require a certain amount of sleep and down time in order to give you my very best.

As we move towards the Christmas season, preparations for the holiday are going to become more intense and time-consuming. There’s so much to be done: cooking and baking, shopping, decorating, gift wrapping, preparing for house guests coming from out of town… The list goes on. Please make sure you schedule at least one full hour out of every day to devote specifically to your dog. They need this from you every day, but at this time of year, it’s even more important that they have your undivided attention for awhile so they don’t end up feeling rejected or forgotten and become destructive or ill-mannered in order to get your attention.

I understand the time crunch. Truly, I do. But, the bottom line is this: You made the decision to bring the dog into your life as a companion, so you need to ensure that he or she feels loved and valued no matter what is going on. One way to do that is to make time for them for training, or a nice walk, or play, or cuddle time on the couch, or whatever – regardless of how crunched you are for time. Really, what’s a mere 60 minutes a day out of 20 hours?

Have an awesome day and an awesome week ahead. And remember: Stay calm and lead on…