[quote1300741648=Igmuska] Stimulation. Both mental and physical. [/quote1300741648] I felt this one should be re-upped. There are many dogs who live in cities or rural settings who, while having acres of land to run or taking walks in the city, are mentally very bored and destructive. Conversely, there are dogs in these settings that mentally stimulated but are in bad shape physically. It has to be a combination of mental and physical stimulation daily for a dog to be healthy and happy. Look at the major zoos, they are all doing what is called enrichment activities, like building false carcasses and feeding the big cats and scavenger birds out of it, or freezing fish in a block of ice for the polar bears etc... dogs can't be expected to just be content being our "pets". Give them a job, no matter how remedial to you, and they will start to care about the job and become better animals.