[smelcerk]

Couldn't wait to get home and share the advice I heard from another dog owner this weekend. Mia and I were competing in our first conformation show. A woman said to me, "Whatever you do, treat her like a dog, let her be a dog. Don't treat her like a human. You can see what we have done to that breed." Lightbulb moment. I have heard this advice many times before but it never felt right to me as I felt I was somehow not loving my dog enough unless I loved her as much as I did any other member of my family. But it makes perfect sense when looking at it as trying to improve the breed which is what we are trying to do. Also when looking at the human breed as a whole with all our flaws. Why in the heck would we want to put all that onto our dogs?