What a new puppy taught Ming about leadership... ??

I grew up with no pet other than goldfish, the type that I would classify as ‘low maintenance'. My other half surprised me with a puppy recently, and the experiential and emotional journey I went through since his arrival is just phenomenal.

My reflection so far is that being a good dog owner in many ways resembles being a good leader. Below is a summary of what I have learned from my puppy and his vet to date:

Be Empathetic and Present

Understand he is a puppy of 3-months, and he left his parents and siblings to be with us. His well-being and happiness largely depend on us. Sometimes he grieves, moans, barks, and misbehaves, but we love him the same and maintain our presence to let him know we are there for him no matter what.??

Observe and ‘Listen’ to Understand

Our puppy often surprises us with his behaviour (and intelligence). We started working today and he dragged his bed to the corridor where he can maintain eyesight on both of us working from home offices. We have observed his behaviour and studied the patterns, so we understand what he does and what to anticipate – e.g., grumpy before bed, zoomies between 8-9pm, sits like a gentleman when he wants a treat.

You Play an Important Role to Create a Safe Environment

Here I quote the vet that our role as dog owners is not merely to provide food and shelter, more importantly, we are there to provide safety and social interaction. We have spent a lot of effort to dog-proofed our flat, set up the crate, prepare his nutritious diet, and established a safe haven for the puppy to reduce anxiety and build confidence in coping with any uncertain situations.

?Make Time for Interaction and Communication

What Fitbit failed to help me achieve, the puppy has succeeded in two weeks! I am getting at least 5,000 steps per day taking him out for walks, becoming more socially active introducing him to neighbours and friends, teaching him to follow instructions (apparently ‘fetch’ is not his thing). We bond through these activities and our relationship is getting stronger. We use positive enforcement to tell him whenever he does something great, telling him what a great boy he has been, and how proud we are of him.?

Encourage Curiosity (and Only Intervene When Needed)

We encourage him to explore the world. Well, I found this one a bit difficult, seeing him fall on his face, sniff other dogs’ bum, taste bird poop, and not stopping him. Every sense of smell, sound, sight, is helping him to better understand this world and be ready for it. And, of course, he needs to learn! This is where knowing when to intervene is extremely important, I had to pin him down once to remove a piece of plastic wrapping that he was happily chewing!

Patience is the Key

If he goes potty in the ‘wrong’ place, being angry at him or shouting at him will probably not do any good to either party. We acknowledge it, accidents do happen, and we understand that it takes time and patience to train, practice, enforce, and re-enforce the ‘right’ behaviour.

?Self-Reflection

We trained the puppy for a few days and he was getting used to going to the training pads for potty. Till one day he peed on the carpet, which I reflected was due to my OCD of cleaning the floor with detergent. Also, I realised I have never paid this much attention to a balanced diet, and that was for the puppy! So maybe start to treat ourselves better?!

Communicate with ‘Dog Fathers’ and Keep Learning!

Some of our colleagues are dog owners and I cannot tell you how much I have learned from their lessons in training their puppies. I have even created a WhatsApp group ‘Dog Fathers’ to keep the communication channel open, instant Q&As, and kept the learning journey from there!

Are you a proud dog parent? And what are your thoughts and reflections of being one?