How Your Dog Can Help You Become Your Best Self

Ah the love of a good dog…

There’s nothing quite like it! You’ve likely experienced this kind of love before – it’s a profound connection built over time and lots of shared experiences. As the years go by, your dog becomes adept at reading your behavior, predicting your patterns, and identifying your emotions (sometimes before YOU even realize how you feel!).

Your dog “gets” you – quirks and all – but does not judge, correct, criticize, correct, or try to change you. Your dog truly accepts you as you are (something that we humans constantly strive for but have great difficulty with, in practice).

How extraordinary to share your life with an animal who can teach you so much!

People who have not yet surrendered to furry, four-legged bundles of love may not have experienced this phenomenon yet.

Some people get caught up in the race for material things or corporate power, and some people just “check out” from their day-to-day lives by escaping to passive activities like channel surfing, or hitting up the bars every night.

But sharing your life with a dog keeps you grounded. 

Four Ways Dogs Help You Become Your Best

Here are four ways that sharing your life with your dog can help bring out your best side.

1. Dogs remind you of the impermanence of “things”…

…such as when they chew up your favorite shoes, iPod, or surfboard. Memories will last, but material items come and go.

2. Dogs remind you to be present…

…by actively engaging with their environment. They’ll sniff everything exuberantly, they’ll watch excitedly for squirrels and they may even behave badly when you’re stressing out about a future deadline (i.e. LOOK AT WHAT I JUST DID…PAY ATTENTION TO ME RIGHT NOW). You won’t find them zoning out on an iPhone while outside.

3. Dogs teach you humility…

…when you return home from your high-powered career to find that you must now clean up an accident he/she had in the living room while you were out. Sure, you may have closed that million-dollar deal today, but you still return home and pick up poop like everyone else (just take a walk outside at around 5:30 pm in a busy city and marvel at all of the well-dressed people stooped over to pick up a pile of poop from the grassy areas of the sidewalks).

4. Dogs show you what you must work on

Some articles on relationships have said that your partner is your “mirror.” Well, your dog is your mirror too. Dogs pick up on our challenges and reflect it. In my practice, it is not uncommon to see anxious dogs that are cared for by equally anxious pet owners, or socially awkward dogs with caregivers who struggle with human connection. By setting up a training plan and working through these issues, you can often resolve not just your dog’s issues, but also address your own.

The Animal-Human Bond Can Be A Spiritual Practice

God spelled backwards is “DOG”, and perhaps that isn’t a coincidence. There can be a very spiritual component to pet stewardship, if you slow down and take the time to connect with your dog.