What is a Good Dog?

two good dogs.

What is a good dog? Is it a dog who knows a million trained behaviors, who always acts according to our wishes, who never steps out of line? Is it a dog who you can trust with kids, kittens, baby bunnies…?

When we say, “she’s just a really good dog,” what do we mean? That she hasn’t inconvenienced us much? Or that she’s gone above and beyond for us? Does a dog need to live up to Lassie in order to be “good” or can a dog be a little more like -- well, a dog?

I think a Good Dog is in the eye of the beholder.

Some people would not consider my dogs Good Dogs.

My two-year-old whippet, Florence, has stolen and destroyed plenty of items throughout her puppyhood and adolescence; normal for an adolescent whippet, but something Lassie would never do in a million years. In the last six months she has gone through two TV remotes, two reusable water bottles, and put some very annoying teeth punctures into my laundry detergent bottles – this is just to name a few inconveniences.

Florence has also comforted me in times of sorrow, provides laughter daily, and overall offers a much-welcome joyful and whimsical presence in my life. She is well-trained; she knows many different behaviors and executes them well. She is wonderful out in public. She is sweet to every person she meets (if overexuberant about it) and is loving and joyful when she meets other dogs. I think she is a very Good Dog.

My nearly-five-year-old whippet, Evelyn, can be reactive toward other dogs in some situations. She typically finds it difficult to have strangers enter the home. She is sensitive to noises from the upstairs apartment. She does not particularly like children; they move too fast and are too unpredictable. She plays a little too rough with Florence if not monitored.

Evelyn is also gentle and sweet with the ones she loves, and loyal beyond belief. She was my “partner dog” throughout Karen Pryor Academy, and I genuinely couldn’t have asked for a better dog for this – she excelled throughout the program. She frequently seems to read my mind during training and I think she could do absolutely anything I asked her to do because she is so, so clever and so willing to try for me. She is my ride or die. I have called her “the backbone of this family” more than once. I think she is also a very, very Good Dog.

I think the typical public-at-large’s idea of a Good Dog is: generally quiet, always well-behaved (meaning compliant with the owner’s wishes), always gentle with all people and dogs and all manner of other creatures.

There are dogs like this out there. If you have one, that’s great. I don’t think most of us have them – and some of us don’t particularly want a dog like this.

I have dogs who bark if they feel like it, who behave all sorts of ways depending on the circumstances, and who were bred to hunt rabbits and remember that genetic calling well enough that I don’t trust them around most creatures that are fluffy and smaller than them. I don’t think this makes them less good.

Like I said -- what really makes a Good Dog is in the eye of the beholder.

I like that my dogs are who they are. I like that they cause a little mayhem now and then. Puncture marks in my laundry detergent bottles just serve as a nice distraction from the real problems of the world. I like a dog who thinks for herself, makes her own choices, and doesn’t necessarily need my input (though won’t ignore it, if she thinks I’m being reasonable enough). That’s just me. That’s the kind of dog I think is Good.

What about you? Everyone’s version of a Good Dog is different, after all. I suspect your dog also has flaws and behaviors you don’t always like. This doesn’t necessarily take away from their goodness, which is after all not a behavior but an intrinsic state of being.

So what is a Good Dog, in the end?

I think it’s a dog you like living with, who loves you, who you love too.    

me and my good dog.