Building Compatibility

While you are working on your homework from the last post, we also need to consider compatibility. Not every dog is going to have the same items on their bucket list. There is so much variety and personality among dogs – and sometimes this is especially true among the dogs in our house – that there is no one-size-fits-all solution. However, there is a formula we can use. (More on that next week.)

We talked earlier this week about how we want to live our best lives together. Now, everything on your dog’s bucket list probably isn’t compatible with YOUR quality of life. Example: my dog Quin would love to sleep on the bed with us every night. But, I’m not here to be smothered in my sleep, so she has her own bed!!

So, what we need to do is decide which of the things make the biggest impact on our dog’s Living Full, Living Happy list – both good impact and bad impact – and work on adding in more of the good and doing less of the bad. If there is something on their Good Impact list that isn’t too compatible with another’s quality of life, or challenge then becomes how can we fill that need in another way.

Using my example with my dog Quin, she cannot sleep in bed with her people. But, she needs prolonged physical contact to live her best life. So, instead of allowing her to sleep in our bed or making her go without those snuggles, we can find compatibility in having cuddle time each evening on the couch, on the floor after work, etc.

We can still find a way to meet that need without compromising someone else’s quality of life.

This also applies to things like two dogs that don’t get along great together, dogs that don’t love certain activities, and more. We can find ways to maximize the Good Impact we can do and minimize the Bad Impact.

Photos are of Quin loving her snuggle time instead of sleeping in our bed.