How to Have a Lassie Dog

The show Lassie first graced television September 12, 1954, creating the first romantic imagery of a heroic canine and their beloved child. Saving Timmy from the well, alerting the powers that be to imminent danger and always behaving in the most admirable fashion possible.

How did such perfection happen, so consistently on the big screen? How can we learn from this to accomplish the same? My purpose is not to promote a training style or one up any methodology but to instead focus on the way of being that brings this dream to life. We all want our children to enjoy the canine companion in their life, don't we? Having a pet is proven to build character in our children, creating a sense of compassion and responsibility that comes with helping and caring for another.

I am not writing this only as a dog trainer but also as a mother of three beautiful, often wild, always beautiful children, all of whom have been raised as I have grown in my profession over the last 18 years. Both children and dogs have always had the same "recipe to follow" without fail when interacting, and without fail this recipe has always worked. A little consistency and due diligence go a long way towards creating a mutually beneficial living situation between two completely different species cohabitating.

Children behave. Teaching our children to act appropriately around dogs is simply good parenting. The tail pulling, playing keep away with the kibble, loving face to face stares into the pup's eyes, barreling into a full body hug, laying on top of a dog, riding a dog through the house, screaming, ear pulling, and teasing is ALL the equivalent to asking for a dog bite. If there is a video on social media justifying any of that, please consider it a tutorial on what not to do.

Train our children. Teaching the appropriate way to ask a dog owner if it is okay to approach or touch a strange dog will go a long way towards avoiding issues, not just for our children, but for a struggling dog and their owner as well. As a rule only well behaved dogs able to maintain composure under their owner's instruction should actually be approached by children.

Train the dogs. Regardless of your chosen methods, just train them, fairly. Teach them to be calm and behave appropriately with children, even in play. Dogs should be taught to be calm around children. This is LITERALLY the key ingredient to having the Lassie dream in your own household. Services from Board & Train programs to fully trained family dogs make having a well trained dog more accessible for all.

Choosing the right dog for your family is also vital. Some dogs are just not tempered correctly for children, and some families do not have the time to set their children and dogs up for success. A healthy relationship always involves respect and balance, well worth the benefits of a Lassie-like relationship to help form a beautiful childhood, playing in the parks of Austin Texas with your very own "Lassie".