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It is well known that people who convert to any kind of behavior are pests. Well I never understood dog-lovers until I was 64YO when I, all alone, finally decided to try out dog care. I got my first dog, bichon frise/westie from a neighbor, a no-no, and Galileo was born on my birthday. So we celebrated his first birthday and my Medicare birthday on the same day.
The first thought was "What am I doing?". I was reliving my diaper life in my head. It didn't turn out that way at all. Dogs were easier to train than my own kids. Since my son refused to talk (first born) as a toddler, I was used to other forms of communication and it all came back to me. Once in a while I would forget call Galileo my son's name.
As years went by, keeping up with dog news and advice on Internet, I came to the conclusion that dogs reach the age of 2YO human. Now it's getting to be discussed all over the place.
So now I honestly believe that if a family member seems a bit out of line, impatient with me, I offer to have them take dog training at my expense with my Baruch (Spinoza). I followed my own advice recently and discovered that dog training had changed since I was involved with it. And ended up retraining me.
I wish there were more suggestions by mental health pro's that family members borrow their parents dog and take dog training. It's hard to be accepted if the family member wasn't brought up with dogs.
Also, the new methods in dog training should be revisited by old folks like myself.
Something one can't talk about with a PCP to even get permission to use this tool to see a mental health professional in your insurance plan.