30/09/2026
It's sneaky.
And it catches people out over and over.
There’s a particular kind of tired that we keep trying to exercise out of dogs.
But what if they're already exhausted?
Would we recognise it?
It can be hearing noises before we do.
“Dogs' hearing is always better than ours.”
She barks at people walking past.
“She's always been a protective girl.”
He's always alert.
“He's a great guard dog for our family.”
But have you noticed anything else?
Bigger emotions attached to the “ordinary”?
Ever noticed that other dogs seem to be a bit more relaxed?
Maybe your friend's dog just snoozes ten minutes after you arrive.
But your dog?
Well, you can't really remember them doing that in a long, long time.
But that's natural, right?
Dogs are all different, aren't they?
“My friend's dog is just a bit lazy.”
So here's a really tricky question to contemplate.
Is your dog “just the way they are”?
Or are they constantly on edge?
Because those two things can look weirdly similar when you've been living with it day in, day out, for months or even years.
It sneaks up.
Creeps along and can start to be explained away because we see it as something else entirely.
And that's why vigilance can be so easy to miss.
It can just look like the dog we've simply come to describe as “alert.”
Alert?
Or constantly on edge?
