I’ve often heard that dogs need jobs. A bored dog is a destructive dog. A tired dog is a well-behaved dog.
Full disclosure: Leo and Mia live lives of leisure. I’ve tried finding a career path for Leo. We’ve done Rally-O, nose work, jogging. We have agility equipment in the backyard. Leo will do the A-frame two, maybe three times in a row. Apparently the dog walk is too narrow, or too high, although both dogs have run the one at Sunny Lane.
I have proof that Mia did it:
My original idea for a J post was Jump. I planned to show Leo jumping the hurdles in our backyard. Leo let me know that he’d rather play with his Jolly Ball, and I honored that.
So… a life of leisure for Leo it is. He’s happy, we’re all happy. If he were getting into trouble at home, we’d start sending out his resume again.
For an example of how having a job saved a dog’s life, I give you Wallace. He was the subject of a book that I blogged about a while back, and is the subject of Fern Camacho’s The Great Dog Adventure interview with Wallace’s owner Roo Yori.
Click here to listen to The Great Dog Adventure Podcast.
To me, what’s so inspirational about Wallace’s story is how persistent his people were. They tried everything. Kind of like me with Leo, except Wallace really took to the flying disc. And tug. A highlight of this podcast is Roo’s description of the tug machine he built for Wallace in the garage.
The right job will challenge a dog’s mind and body, and bring happiness and peace into your home.
For the A to Z Challenge, I’m using all positive language in my posts. Find out how I discovered the benefits of positive reinforcement training in my book, Bark and Lunge!
If you enjoyed The Great Dog Adventure podcast about Wallace, click here to listen to Fern interview me about Bark and Lunge!
Kari Neumeyer 
I think being a companion dog is a job. My dogs follow me from room to room ready to cheer me up or make me laugh. That is important work.
It sure is!!
My girls live a pretty leisurely life, too. We go on walks and hikes, though! My previous dog did agility but right now we can’t afford the classes.
Our dogs definitely need activity! They can tell time and let us know when to go for walks & to get their food. 🙂
How great that you have some agility equipment in your backyard! We have a tunnel and a couple other things that I can’t wait to get out again soon. Yup, our dogs’ main job is to keep us entertained….I always have a smile on my face when they’re playing!
Dogs do need a job to keep them sane, or maybe to keep me sane. lol
Rodrigo and Zoey share the job of our guard dogs. Scout keeps J exercised. Sydney keeps me company. What I love is when Zoey protects me – no dog outside of our pack (and our friends’ dogs are part of our pack too) is allowed near me. She’s very good at her job and surprisingly polite too.
But we don’t go to the dog park.