My Dog Cured My Obsessive-Compulsive Behavior
Learning to live with chaos
I’ve always been tidy, but over the years, I’ve grown more fastidious — bordering on obsessive-compulsive behavior. So, for example, I was forever straightening pictures in my own home — I find frames hanging askew discomforting — but eventually I found myself straightening pictures in other people’s homes.
Then, last November, we got a puppy. On his first day with us, I watched with horror as he gobbled up his own poo in our back garden. I haven’t been the same since. And I think it’s a good thing.
With a dog, you can’t keep on top of little messes. And so you learn to let little messes go.
The dog returns from the garden with a stick. By the time I notice, he’s chewed it into tiny bits, leaving a wet mess all over the kitchen floor. Then he walks across the pale kitchen tiles, tracking muddy paw prints everywhere.
I tried at first, to keep up our old standards. I put handy wipes by the back door. I’d clean his paws every time he’d enter. Then I’d get down on my hands and knees with wet paper towel to clean the paw prints.
But it’s no use. I don’t have enough hours in the day — never mind the environmental unfriendliness of all those wipes and paper towels — to be cleaning all the time.
