1. We admitted we were powerless over dogs -- that our homes, yards and dog-toy bills had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that no Power greater than ourselves, not even the Humane Society or the AKC, could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the minds of our dogs as we try to understand them.
4. Made a searching and fearful financial inventory of all the damage our material goods had sustained.
5. Admitted to ourselves, our neighbors and our veterinarian the exact nature of our training failures.
6. Were entirely ready to have an obedience instructor remove all these defects of behavior.
7. Humbly paid a trainer to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all dogs we loved and became willing to pet, feed and play with them all.
9. Petted, fed and played with such dogs, and allowed them to sleep in our beds whenever possible, except when to do so would keep them awake or hungry at the wrong times.
10. Continued to take inventory and when our dogs were doing without something, promptly provided it for them.
11. Sought through pleading and yelling to improve our conscious contact with our dogs as we try to understand them, praying only for knowledge of their will for us and the ability to carry that out.
12. Having had a nervous breakdown as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this warning to other dogoholics and to practice our obedience in all distracting situations.
borrowed from the 12 Steps of A.A. and adapted by
Lexiann Grant, copyright 1996