Barking Up The Wrong Tree

Does Your Dog Guilt-Trip You?

Does your dog make you feel guilty?  They seem to have an amazing knack of making you feel guilty.  I’m not talking making puppy-eyes at you whilst you’re eating or anything like that, I’m talking real guilt here.

I work long hours, so my dog is left alone quite a lot. I have a lodger who is in and out so she gets let out inbetween and depending what shift my mother is on, she will call in before or after work and take her for a quick walk round the block, but still, the dog makes me feel guilty.

Especially so, if I come home from work and DARE to go out again later - and there is hell to pay if I do that two nights in a row.

Here are a few ways some dogs make you feel guilty:

• Make like a slug - you know the position, they lie on their front with their head on their paws and look bored, staring blankly ahead, and sighing every now and then.  (People tell me that a dog’s sigh doesn’t mean the same as a human’s, but judging by the times when my dog does it, I think they must be wrong)
• Refusing to take a treat because they know it’s a bribe and you’ve already been making the ‘I’m about to go out’ signs, like getting your shoes and coat out
• Nosing their food bowl round the room and sitting by it, even though it’s full, just to demonstrate their boredom
• Looking hopefully at the door, or getting excited in the hallway, when you’re making the ‘going out’ signs, like getting your car keys out

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