30/08/2026
Something I’ve always found fascinating about dogs…
Why is it that some of the most calm, settled and respectful dogs you see in our cities are living alongside people who are homeless?
Think about it.
You’ll see a dog sitting beside its owner for hours while they sell magazines, ask for assistance or simply go about their day. Sometimes that dog has nothing more than a piece of cardboard to lie on and yet it can settle there for hours.
It doesn’t constantly demand attention.
It doesn’t need to be entertained.
It isn’t jumping all over strangers.
It understands boundaries.
And I’m pretty confident these dogs aren’t attending puppy school every Saturday morning or going to weekly group obedience classes.
So what’s different?
Leadership.
Their lives are fundamentally different from ours. There is often no schedule packed with enrichment activities, endless toys, constant stimulation or the need to keep the dog occupied every waking minute.
The dog simply becomes part of their life.
They walk together. They sit together. They wait together. They sleep together.
And because life can be incredibly challenging, their relationship often has a very clear purpose. The dog provides companionship, comfort and, in some cases, protection.
I’m certainly not romanticising homelessness. There is absolutely nothing easy about that existence.
But from a dog behaviour perspective, I find it incredibly interesting.
Because perhaps we’ve overcomplicated dog ownership.
Perhaps we’ve become so focused on training our dogs that we’ve forgotten the importance of leading them.
We talk about enrichment.
We talk about stimulation.
We talk about socialisation.
We talk about obedience.
But sometimes the most valuable thing we can teach a dog is simply:
“You can relax. I’ve got this.”
And perhaps that’s why some of these dogs, despite having so little, appear to have something many modern pet dogs struggle with:
The ability to simply switch off and be calm.
