I've been thinking about this for a couple of days now, having Seppel has made me be a much more active and involved dog owner.
Before Seppel it was just Seth and LiLo, and even before then my third dog was an old lady. While Seth and LiLo have energy to do things, they can 'live' without exercise and not exhibit any serious behavioral signs of being pent up. Seppel on the other hand will get restless if he doesn't get adequate exercise.
Since Seppel requires daily exercise it has made me exercise my other two dogs more. If Seppel wasn't here I never would have discovered both Seth and Lilo's drive to fetch the ball and I also never would have constructed my own flirt pole.
I always knew Seth liked to play ball, but I never knew that he would fetch for extended periods of time. It also wasn't until last year that LiLo showed me her love of the ball, and then also the flirt pole.
I don't think I was a bad owner by any means, but I definitely spent a lot less time exercising my dogs. The truth is although they don't get restless without it, my dogs are definitely happier being worked regularly. I can see it in daily life. When Seth is good and tired he isn't sitting in front of me or my parents begging, he's not standing in the kitchen begging, he's flat out on the floor sleeping. When he's pent up he has a tendency to be more annoying and do things he shouldn't do - like begging.
I feel like it's fair to say that owning a Pit Bull has made me a better, more involved owner. I guess if I had acquired any other higher energy breed dog the response would be the same, but today I choose to say 'Because Pit Bull' :)
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