To make your dog happy is probably the wish of every dog owner. But what determines a happy dog’s life? Is it the walks together? The right “ training“? Or the right food? Maybe also the common play with his dog friends? What does a dog need to be truly happy? With our 3 tips we give you an idea of what makes dogs really happy.

1. The secure base

Every dog needs a home where he feels comfortable. In addition to providing basic needs such as food, water, a place to retreat and health care, it is especially important to build a good relationship with your dog. This includes giving your dog protection in difficult situations, e.g. during a visit to the vet or by shielding other dogs when they harass your dog. In addition, you should distinguish yourself as a bonding partner by engaging in exciting activities. Shared experiences will bond you together and your dog will understand that it is never boring with you by his side. Another important point is that your dog can rely on you. This includes both that your dog can rely on you coming back when you leave him home alone, and that your dog gets clear rules that you enforce and keep yourself. Saying „yes“ today and „no“ tomorrow will confuse your dog and degrade your quality as a bonding partner. My what you say to your dog and be mindful of your commands!

2. Rest and sleep

Hard to believe but dogs need about 17-20 hours of sleep. Of course not in one piece. The dog goes through short periods of sleep during the day, which should not be interrupted if possible. These sleep periods are not only important for the recovery of your dog, but also support important memory processes, for example, in the fixation of learning processes. Information from movement sequences, events and facts, are transferred to regions of the cerebrum and processed further there. Especially emotional events are processed and stored in the deep sleep phase. In older dogs, the sleep rhythm usually changes. The sleep phases become longer and more frequent than in younger dogs. So for your dog to be happy and healthy, you should give him enough space to rest. Especially young dogs sometimes have to be forced to this happiness. Here we recommend a little forced break after a walk, training or playing together. Often it is enough to send your dog to his basket, after a short protest phase, the rest phase usually sets in very quickly and your dog begins to doze.

3. The parenting

Although parenting is already mentioned in tip #1, it has a special place. Parenting should not be confused with training. In training, behaviors are linked with commands. Parenting serves to explain the world to your dog and to integrate him into your everyday life. It is important that your dog gets the opportunity to get used to the sounds, smells and different everyday situations in your life. This starts with housetraining, continues with the sounds of the vacuum cleaner and other household appliances and ends with staying alone. Also, getting to know limits and the meaning of the word „no“, are important for a happy dog’s life.

Get started now!

For each of these 3 tips you will find suitable training content in our app. If you have any questions about this topic or have any other problems with your dog, we will be happy to help you in our trainer chat. There you can discuss your individual questions with one of our professional dog trainers.

We wish you a lot of fun while implementing the tips ☺️.