Poor Gus. Last night I forgot to feed him.
I was really tired this weekend as it had been a hard week for various reasons, so I did nothing all day yesterday except read a book or two.
By the evening I was much more relaxed – perhaps too much so. We had our meal, then I remembered I had to go and finish a card I was making for a challenge, so off I went to my craft room. By the time I’d finished the card it was mid-evening and I decided to flop in front of the TV.
It was only when it got to 8pm and Gus started his usual pawing at me for his Dentastix that I suddenly realised I hadn’t fed him. Normally I give him his dinner in his snuffle mat whilst or after we’ve eaten, but I forgot because of the card making. So, he did get his dinner eventually – just very late indeed….
Feeding Gus is a habit, one of the things I do every day. When we do something repeatedly, we form brain pathways that mean we can do it without thinking much – we create a habit. It means we don’t have to think hard about the common activities – driving a car, brushing our teeth, feeding the dog, and so on. The danger is that if we change the routine, we forgot to do things – like feed Gus.
Dogs develop habits too – like Gus pawing me at 8pm each night.
The things about habits is that they get deeply embedded. And they can be very difficult to change – just try brushing your teeth with your other hand and you’ll see how hard it is.
The same is true of dog habits. If your dog has a habit for barking and lunging at other dogs, or barking at everything that goes past your house, or reacting to every little noise then that habit becomes embedded and can be very difficult to change.
And those behaviours always get worse over time. The more practice your dog gets, the stronger the behaviour habit becomes.
Which means that if you want to change things and stop these unwanted behaviours, the sooner you start the easier it is to create a new habit.
Keep training and stay safe,
Carol
PS I can’t help you if you want to change the hand you use for brushing your teeth though. Sorry!