Pablo Neruda
Joyful, joyful, joyful,
as only dogs know how to be happy
with only the autonomy
of their shameless spirit.

Be prepared. A dog is adorable and noble.
A dog is a true and loving friend. A dog is also a hedonist. - Mary Oliver

So yes - adore them, admire them, love them - and leave room for the fact that their lives are made for pleasure, scent, movement, mischief, and the sheer joy of being alive.
Let’s face it, dogs just wanna have fun! And why not? Why do we have dogs if not to share in the completeness of our being.

However the completeness of our being really needs for us to complete their being.
In order to complete their being we need to know about their ‘umwelt’. The ‘umwelt’ is the shape of the world that the dog (and every being) gives to his/her world. It’s subtle - where emphasis is placed, what counts as a ‘signpost’ and this shape changes as awareness and meaning co-exist. It’s created by the dog for the dog in relation to the dog. It underpins the scaffolding of the dog’s life, in that moment.
That moment may be a quiet one, where, experiencing safety and comfort they stretch out and fall into deep sleep, perhaps dreaming of the day’s adventures. Or it may be a rambunctious one where, with heart pumping, they’re charging through the undergrowth following a scent that only they recognise and which makes them blind and deaf to our presence.
The first scenario is where we all feel comfortable and ‘aligned’. The second may present a few problems.
Over time we have normalised a version of “dog” that is convenient, interpretable, and human-centred. We have built language around obedience, manners, and “goodness”, and we have accidentally trained ourselves to look for those things first. These qualities fit within our comfort zone and every being is at ease in their comfort zone.
The comfort zone for a dog is built on a different basis. Yes, they all want to be safe, warm, relaxed and well fed; on the other hand they’re mostly very happy to indulge in stinky rolling, eating things they find along the way and chasing.
People sort of ‘indulge’ their dogs in respect of the latter ‘behaviours’ because, well, that’s just part of having a dog - we meet in the middle.

Dogs have little imagination about us and our inner lives but limitless intuition about them; we have false intuitions about their inner lives but limitless imagination about them. Our relationship meets in the middle. — Adam Gopnik

If our intuitions were on a par with our imaginations, our understanding of ‘their inner lives’ would see that we don’t really meet in the middle. It’s weighted to our side, and we call that ‘meeting in the middle’.
This ‘perceptual inheritance’ that exists in relation to dogs really does them an injustice. Working dogs make that obvious, not because they are ‘special’, but because their umwelt is allowed to matter.
A sniffer dog is living in scent as reality. A guide dog is living in pattern, pressure, and prediction.
When we witness that, we get a glimpse of what is true for every dog, all the time: your dog is always living inside a meaning-world, not just a physical world. They are constantly sorting what matters, what is safe, what is dangerous, and what comes next - using the senses and instincts they were built with.
That is why a dog can look “naughty” or “distracted” when, in truth, they are simply immersed in information we cannot access. The dog is not ignoring you - the dog is orienting to what is most real to them in that moment. Even when they’re doing nothing more impressive than rolling in something dead.
Can you see that in your dog - even in small flashes? Do you notice it as the day unfolds?
How do you experience the celebration of your dog living out the wide variety of nuances that express his/her inner being? I guess some of them make you laugh, some might make you cry and some even steal the jelly from your roll.
Of course your dog’s inner being needs recognition in the same way that dogs need choice. Their mental health is bound up in ‘who they are’ and what is meaningful to them.
And maybe that’s what ‘celebration’ is really all about. It’s not parties and praise.
It’s you clocking, in real time, what your dog is living for - the things that float their boat, that switch them on - and being able to appreciate their joy in their own aliveness. And you’re on the side lines.
Truth is, not every dog gets to bask in their own umwelt. Some dogs are steered and shaped so hard - by accident, by habit, or by design - that their aliveness starts to shrink. They stop offering ‘dog’, and start offering ‘correct’.
Because we work with and live with dogs day in and day out, we notice dogs and dogs notice us. Whether they’re walking along the street, running in a park or looking out from behind a window it can feel as if our radars have crossed and they arrive in our awareness as we notice ourselves arriving in theirs. We ‘see’ each other. We see a lot of confused dogs.
Usually the ones that aren’t confused are most likely on a loose lead, walking pretty close to the knee of their guardian and looking up as if engaging in a conversation that’s dancing in the air. Their essence is lively, sparkly and has confident purpose.
Some are on a loose lead however generally they’re a step or two behind and there isn’t much in the way of conversation. Some take an interest in their surroundings, some just walk.
Then there are others for whom ‘umwelt’ left the building. Lots are wordlessly tugged into place rather than taught how/when to be in that place, some seem to be an after thought in the life of their guardian and one in particular was like a mechanical dog. So afraid to put one paw out of place, he’d lost all connection to the dog he was meant to be.
Dexter was exactly that. He came from a good, respectable family who - when he was a puppy and did something they didn’t like - would simply blank him. No information, no repair, no way back in. So he was always guessing what was right, until one day he couldn’t guess any more. And then he stopped being a dog.
The cost of living in guesswork is always paid by the dog. This is why meaning matters. ‘Don’t get it wrong’ is not a positive spin on any dog’s life.
For us to be able to complete their being we need to recognise what natural selection gifted our dog and work with that. The best trainers work with the dog that’s in front of them. They’re not trying to create a lapdog out of a Jack Russell.
If we really are to meet in the middle, the real middle, there has to be give and take. Sometimes what is most real in that moment is something we’d rather they didn’t do. We can stress out about it, accept it or work out how best to channel that ‘meaningful gift’.

I like the quote by Chad Mackin ‘Give a dog as much liberty as he or she can handle.’

I like it because we're not only talking about physical liberty, we're talking about mental liberty.
I see it most clearly with my own two. I have two Spanish rescue brothers who were abandoned at only weeks old. They come from a genetically mixed hunting breeds background so it’s highly likely that their parents, and those before them, were actually used for hunting. They need to run, to hunt and experience the aliveness of their being that is only fulfilled via their prey drive. They are mentally robust and, in my view, that’s because they can explore their essence.
When your spaniel carries a soft toy around the house that’s a dog showing what he/she was bred to do. Their essence is also rising to the surface and were there no soft toys, a sock would have to be found.
While you might not appreciate the barking of your Dachshund, believe me, they give it every ounce of their essence, they are participating!
These dogs are living out what is most real for them in that moment. It’s embedded in their umwelt and springs from their essence.

Because of the dog’s joyfulness, our own is increased. It is no small gift. It is not the least reason why we should honor as well as love the dog of our own life, and the dog down the street, and all the dogs not yet born. What would the world be like without music or rivers or the green and tender grass? What would this world be like without dogs? - Mary Oliver