What is a "good" dog?

My mom always tells me that she doesn't think I've ever seen an ugly dog or one I don't like. That may not be entirely true as I've had some disagreements with dogs over the years but when I reflect back usually the problem was me not the dog.

Therein lies the key to the making of a "good" dog. The human factor is always the most important ingredient in the making of a "good" dog because really, dogs are good in their own "culture", if you will, but it is up to us to teach them what is "good" in our society.

We hear a lot of negative things about dogs in the media these days because the ugly truth is that "shock and horror" are what make ratings and sell advertising space. Again that is our fault isn't it?

Dogs are as good as the humans they live with and I would go so far as to say they are usually far better no matter who they live with. I can't comprehend their forgiving nature, their unconditional love, their willingness to learn, their humor, and their easy going nature when they are loved. It's as though they are here to remind us, the humans, of what is really important in this life and what really matters. I wonder though if dogs get frustrated because most of us aren't listening? Probably not because that is their nature.

As I sat in the Online Dog Expo this weekend that I helped organize, listening to the wealth of information of all the speakers sharing all about dogs, what kept coming back to me was the importance of education. The importance of working together as a team. The importance of serving and promoting others' missions and that our own would be taken care as a result if we didn't just focus on our own selfish ambitions. If we kept our focus about helping dogs have a better life, better health, better care and how we could do all this so much better as a united front standing together as the voices in a chorus for those who can't speak for themselves rather than divided, what an amazing outcome would emerge as a result. We've only just begun but everyone who attended got the message. The biggest excitement was just knowing how much the dogs would benefit if just each one of us shared with only one more person how exponentially quick that would grow! Think of all the "good" dogs there would be in the world then and none of the denigration that is so prevalent in the media today against dogs. Because they are only as good as us, aren't they?

So if we want a "good" dog, then we'd better begin working on us, don't you think?

Have a tail waggin' day!