My neighbor said my dog looked bored on our walk, so I started letting him sniff every single mailbox post for a full 20 minutes today.

He was so happy he did a little spin at the end of our block, and now I'm wondering if anyone else has a pet who has a weirdly specific happy ritual.

3 comments

3 Comments

sean_torres711mo ago

Honestly that sounds like a lot of time for a mailbox tour... but hey, if it makes the dog happy. My old lab used to get weirdly excited about licking one specific rock in the yard. Pets just fixate on the strangest things sometimes. Not sure it needs to be a whole ritual, but a happy dog is a good dog.

susanm561mo ago

You mentioned your lab and his rock. That's the whole point right there. The mailbox or the rock isn't the activity. Letting them finish the weird thing is. Cutting them off just teaches them that walks are stressful. My beagle will spend ten minutes on a single blade of grass if the news is good enough. I figure it's her walk, not mine.

river3201mo ago

Is letting a dog sniff a mailbox for 20 minutes really a good use of time? That seems like a long walk turned into a single activity. My dog gets happy with a five minute sniff, then we keep moving.