06/03/2026
🐾 Imperfectly Perfect Dogs 🐾
Somewhere along the way, we’ve created a version of the “perfect dog” that simply doesn’t exist.
We expect dogs to bark when there’s danger 🚨… but never bark at anything else 🤫.
We expect them to be friendly with every person 👨👩👧👦, every dog 🐕, every child 👶, every visitor 🚪, every day 📅.
We expect them to tolerate being touched 🤲 when they don’t want to be.
We expect them to happily share their space 🏡, food 🍖, toys 🎾 and owners with everyone around them.
We expect them to never feel anxious 😟, worried 😰, frustrated 😤, overwhelmed 😵, scared 😨 or grumpy 😒.
We expect them to walk perfectly on lead 🦮 despite being surrounded by exciting sights , smells and sounds.
We expect them to ignore squirrels 🐿️, rabbits 🐇, cats 🐈 and moving objects 🚴, despite being descendants of predators.
We expect them not to chew, dig, shred , chase , bark, sniff, scavenge or explore 👉 even though these are all perfectly normal canine behaviours.
We expect them to understand that “Come here!” means come immediately, but “Go play!” means don’t go too far , and “Leave it!” means ignore your instincts.
We expect them to somehow recognise that sometimes we mean exactly what we say 💬, and other times we don’t 🤷.
And when they struggle with these impossible expectations?
We label them:
❌ Reactive
❌ Stubborn
❌ Dominant
❌ Difficult
❌ Naughty
❌ Bad
But what if they’re none of those things?
🤔 What if they’re simply being dogs?
Dogs are living, feeling individuals ❤️ with their own personalities, preferences, fears, likes and dislikes.
🐕 Some dogs are confident.
🌱 Some are nervous.
📢 Some are vocal.
👀 Some are cautious.
🎉 Some are social butterflies.
🧩 Some are socially selective.
❤️ Some love everyone.
🤗 Some prefer a small circle of trusted friends.
And that’s okay. 💙
We don’t expect every person to be outgoing, sociable, fearless and cheerful 24 hours a day.
We accept that humans have different personalities and emotional responses.
🤷 Why do we struggle to offer the same understanding to dogs?
The truth is that many of the dogs we describe as “problem dogs” are often just dogs trying to navigate a world full of unrealistic human expectations.
🚫 A reactive dog isn’t a failed dog.
🚫 An anxious dog isn’t a broken dog.
🚫 A vocal dog isn’t a bad dog.
🚫 A socially selective dog isn’t a problem dog.
✨ They’re simply a mix of genetics, preferences and previous experiences.
Perhaps instead of asking:
❓ “How can I make my dog fit into my expectations?”
We should ask:
❤️ “How can I better understand who my dog is?”
Because when we replace expectation with understanding, frustration with empathy, and judgement with compassion, that’s when our relationship with our dogs truly begins to flourish.
🐾 Not every dog needs fixing.
💙 Sometimes they simply need acceptance for who they are.
