I spotted two headlines in newspapers this week that made me stop and think. The first was a piece saying that a new documentary, Home Alone Dogs, has revealed that one in four of Britain's eight million dogs are depressed due to being left alone at home for several hours while their owners are out at work.
I've read some criticism of this documentary making such a claim, but frankly I can easily believe it. Dogs are social animals; they crave company. Our three dogs prefer being with us, and Buddy's face when he realizes I am leaving the house without him is a sad sight indeed. Dogs are also intelligent and enjoy physical and mental stimulation, so I think it makes sense that if they are left alone for too long they will become unhappy.
I also think that it does no harm for some owners to be reminded of the duty of care they have to their dogs. I'm not saying you shouldn't have a dog if you work, that's clearly ludicrous, but if you do have to leave your dog several hours a day, you should make the hours you do spend together quality time when your dog gets lots of attention, adequate exercise and some training to get his brain working. And maybe you should investigate if there's a way to break up his solitary hours by having a friend, neighbour or professional dog walker take him out.
The second headline that caught my attention was one saying that Lady Carnarvon has banned actors' dogs from accompanying them onto the set of popular period drama Downton Abbey, Highclere Castle. That might make you might think Lady Carnarvon is a dog hater, but she actually has three spaniels and two Labradors of her own. So why the ban?
Well if you read further into the matter, it sounds like actors have been taking their dogs to work with them and then failing to keep them under control. Apparently one dog managed to run into an out-of-bounds area and spread mud everywhere. I'm pretty sure that if anyone came to my house with a muddy dog and took him into an area of my house I'd asked them to keep out of, I wouldn't be asking them back. And that's basically what Lady Carnarvon has done, because as well as being the setting for Downton Abbey, Highclere Castle is also her home.
For me this is the crux of dog ownership; we, the human half of the partnership, need to be the best ambassadors for dog ownership that we can be, or too often our dogs suffer the consequences. If we don't clean up after our dogs by scooping the poo, our dogs get banned from more and more places. If we let our dogs misbehave in public and bother other people our dogs become shunned by more and more venues. And if we let our dogs run riot in someone else's house our dogs get banned.
Sadly, it seems that the more we are forced to leave our dogs at home when we go out, the less happy our dogs are. The saddest part is that by being more responsible owners we could avoid this. Just like in life, a few irresponsible owners have spoiled it for all owners at Highclere Castle, and the result is that no actors' dogs are now welcome.
I don't think it's our right to take our dogs to work with us - or anywhere else for that matter. I think it's a privilege which we should earn and cherish, if we want our dogs allowed and actually welcomed when they accompany us out and about.
Take care,
Julie xx