A few days ago I took Lizzie, my hound mix rescue dog, to a nearby park to play. Although we have a fenced yard at home, Lizzie liked to get out and about to explore new places. So whenever I get a chance and the weather is nice, we hop in the car and head for a park with our 50-foot leash in the trunk. When we arrive, I put Lizzie on the long line and she is off like a shot. I took a video of her in action.
Most people think about taking their dogs out to play fetch, chase a frisbee, or something of that sort. Lizzie fetches in the house, but outside the house is an entirely different story. Lizzie is hound, through and through. What you see in the video is what she wants to do all of the time. Balls do not exist once we cross the threshold of the doorway. There are far too many other things to do! Well, only one, really. Sniff. And sniff. And sniff some more. Lizzie sees the world through her nose. It may look like she isn't doing much of anything, but she's actually doing quite a lot.
So while it might be fun to play fetch, I find it just as much fun to see Lizzie do what she does best. She takes in the world around her with her nose. It's not difficult to see that she's having a fabulous time. Her nose comes up off of the ground once in this clip. It's right at the very end. Her head pops up and she looks. At first she sees nothing. It's then that you realize that her eyesight has lagged behind her nose. She obviously smelled another dog, lifted her head, and looked. But it takes a moment for those eyes to catch up.
CLICK HERE to see the video: Let your dog be a dog!
I love this video because it shows my girl being herself in a state of sheer bliss. She spent 45 minutes straight with her nose to the ground with only two brief breaks to meet two other dogs. By the time we got in the car to go home, she was wiped out and asleep before we had driven five minutes! All that sniffing takes a lot out of a dog. That's a lot of information to process!
So if your dog doesn't fetch or do things you think he/she should do, take a close look at what is already going on. Maybe to your dog, what he/she is doing is even better!
Most people think about taking their dogs out to play fetch, chase a frisbee, or something of that sort. Lizzie fetches in the house, but outside the house is an entirely different story. Lizzie is hound, through and through. What you see in the video is what she wants to do all of the time. Balls do not exist once we cross the threshold of the doorway. There are far too many other things to do! Well, only one, really. Sniff. And sniff. And sniff some more. Lizzie sees the world through her nose. It may look like she isn't doing much of anything, but she's actually doing quite a lot.
So while it might be fun to play fetch, I find it just as much fun to see Lizzie do what she does best. She takes in the world around her with her nose. It's not difficult to see that she's having a fabulous time. Her nose comes up off of the ground once in this clip. It's right at the very end. Her head pops up and she looks. At first she sees nothing. It's then that you realize that her eyesight has lagged behind her nose. She obviously smelled another dog, lifted her head, and looked. But it takes a moment for those eyes to catch up.
CLICK HERE to see the video: Let your dog be a dog!
I love this video because it shows my girl being herself in a state of sheer bliss. She spent 45 minutes straight with her nose to the ground with only two brief breaks to meet two other dogs. By the time we got in the car to go home, she was wiped out and asleep before we had driven five minutes! All that sniffing takes a lot out of a dog. That's a lot of information to process!
So if your dog doesn't fetch or do things you think he/she should do, take a close look at what is already going on. Maybe to your dog, what he/she is doing is even better!
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