Pooches: Good Habits Our Dogs Have Taught Us

 Spying on a friend's Facebook page the other day, his status noted how he had an amazing exercise walking routine that was eventually thwarted by the winter weather. I told him he needed to 'get a dog' and that obligation would keep him on track. But beyond the obvious exercise benefits, I started thinking about some of the other less obvious benefits there are to having dogs.

1) Our dogs help us keep a clean house

Most people think having dogs makes your house dirtier, but I've noticed the opposite. It is because of our dogs that we keep things put away neatly, avoid clutter, and clean up all food and dishes immediately. I learned this the hard way when I first adopted Miss M and she mistook one of my favorite pairs of heels for a nylabone. And if we ever forget to pick up any clothes from the ground, our pooches are sure to remind us. This is what happens if one of our coats falls off the hook:

2) We get more done during the day

Remember the idea of being able to sleep in on the weekends? We don't. With our pooches' time-telling superpowers we are awoken early each morning to Miss M's "melodic singing" telling us we have forgotten to feed her and she needs food immediately or she might wither away. And if that doesn't work, Mr. B knows that shoving his big, luggy head on our bed is a sure thing. The positive thing is that we do like getting our day started early to avoid crowds, and it's a great feeling to have our chores done by noon.

 3) We have become friends with our city-neighbors

I remember having neighbor friends when I grew up, but neighbor friends are a little bit different in the city. Normally, you don't have them. There are just so many multi-unit buildings on a single block that most people don't care about being neighborly and just go on their way. At least that is what I thought, before we had dogs. All of a sudden, a new world of city-neighbor friends was opened. We've met families that have lived on our street for generations, we're being excitedly greeted by the elderly man down the street that doesn't speak English, and we're meeting all the biking hipsters and other dog people. Having the dogs has given people a reason to talk to us. We've become more recognizable. And I really enjoy being a part of a community.
These are the things we've thought of. What am I leaving out?
  
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