Do we share the same hobbies?

At this time of year I see a lot of families looking at adding a pup once the holiday rush is over.

Often we start with “well, how active are you?” - do you want a couch potato, or are you out there training for an ultra and needing a running buddy?

But that’s just part 1. Two active dogs can be categorised together in the same way Chris Stapleton and Sabrina Carpenter are both musicians. Like same same, but also wildly different styles.

So part 2 - imagine worst case scenario, all your dog wants to do 24/7 is exactly the thing they’ve been bred to do. Can you appreciate that hobby?

Think

“My dog won’t stop herding”

“All they want to do is point at birds in the garden”

“We go for a walk and they just want to sniff through the grass”

“I wake up and this dog just gut punches me and mouths my clothes”

“I look out my window and there they are, just hanging off a tree.”

“I was just eating my dinner and in comes my terrier with a freshly caught rodent”

If you’re doing your homework, you’ll be channelling this drive into things and putting control around it. If it’s happening 24/7 we’ve got work to do.

But if you think of any of these categories and think “how awful to have a dog that does that thing for fun, I couldn’t handle it” or “haha that sounds like an excellent dog” - that might be a clue of the direction to take. We can’t out train genetics entirely.

Activity level is a start, but what hobbies can you appreciate together?