Pets

Are you or a family member thinking about getting a new dog or puppy? Will this be your first pet or do you have others at home? Do you have any children at home? Are they old enough to help out with the new family addition or are you adopting a new dog while your children are very young so that way your kids will grow up with the new puppy? These are just a few of the very beginning questions that you need to start asking yourself before you or your family proceed with the adoption. Getting a new dog and bringing him or her into your home is a huge decision that will take the support of everyone in the family. It’s not like shopping for a new toy, your bringing a whole new member into the family! Because this is such a big deal here are some questions you and everyone else in your family should ask before you go to pick up that cuddly new puppy and sign the adoption papers.

Big dog or little dog? Do you live in a small city rise apartment or do you own a large home on a nice sizable piece of land? Even if it has always been your dream to own a beautiful German Sheppard, it just wouldn’t be fare to the dog to adopt him if you live in a one bedroom apartment and you cant give him the opportunity to run and stretch that he deserves. So, make sure you are realistic about where you live and how often you will be able to let your dog run and play. This will be a big determination of what size and temperament of dog you adopt.

Do you have young children at home or do you live by yourself? If you have many people in your home; specifically children, your going to want to pick out a breed of dog that is very patient, loving, and can handle a lot of commotion. A Labrador for example is known to love being in a family atmosphere and can handle a lot of children running around and screaming without being phased. But a Dalmatian is known not to naturally get along with children very naturally and would take quite a bit more training to make him feel comfortable around a large family.

How often is there someone at the house? This will be a big determination on how young of a dog and how well trained of a dog you should get. If you live by yourself and work long hours it just wouldn’t be fare to the dog to adopt a tiny brand new puppy if you don’t have time to teach him what he can and cannot play with and how to housebreak him. Or, if you have to have that new puppy are you financially able to provide him with a well certified training program to teach him the things that maybe you don’t have the time to teach him? Maybe it/s the complete opposite and there are always people coming in and out of the house. In that case you want to make sure everyone in the family is ready for the adoption of the new pet and willing to pull their share in helping with the feeding, cleaning, and taking care of the new adoption.

Weight out what it will cost to take care of the dog for a year. A lot of Humane Societies will ask you to roughly figure out about how much you think you will end up paying in a years time, so it’s good to come prepared to show that you have thought adequately about this. Remember, although many dogs are spayed or neutered and have a lot of their shots there are still other costs to take into consideration. Not only do you need to factor in food, but lots of cities will have you pay a dog fee, you need to take your dog on annual checkups, and don’t forget grooming and toys!

As a new pet owner, you might be overwhelmed by several things. Hence, it is advisable that before adopting a dog, make sure to do your research first and educate yourself on how to properly take good care of a pet. You can [google_bot_show][/google_bot_show]use this link for more information. 

So before you head off to get that new puppy get everyone in your family together, sit down, and discus what you each believe your new roles will be with helping out with the new addition and what expectations everyone has. Believe me, you dog will thank you.

Most people understand that there are human medications, and there are dog medications, but with the economy still in a funk, it can be difficult to get your dog to the vet for care they truly need. As such, there are many people giving their dogs human medications, believing they are actually helping their pooch out. In reality, however, you can actually kill your dog in giving them medication that you can take easily and regularly.

More than 100,000 pet poisonings were reported in 2011 (according to WebMD ), with most of them being comprised of household items that are harmless (for the most part) to humans. Even giving your dog baby aspirin (formerly thought of as safe) is not only harmful to your dog’s kidneys over time, but has minimal to no effect on dog’s pain. It’s not just baby aspirin that does more harm than good for your dog, either. Even mild medications can have a disastrous effect on your dog overall.

Never give your dog any type of pain relieving medication, including baby aspirin. Ibuprofen, Tylenol, aspirin, etc, these all can have horrible effects on your dog, of any size or age. They can cause kidney failure or stomach ulcers (they cause stomach ulcers in people as well) and don’t work with dogs as they do with people. Rather, purchase pet medications for mild and moderate pain in the pet section of your local pet store (Wal-Mart has them for fairly cheap). These pain medications are designed to safely alleviate your dog’s pain.

Antidepressants can cause seizures and a raised heart rate in dogs, and at the very least can cause vomiting. People think giving their dog an antidepressant to calm them for long car rides or when the dog is nervous will be OK, but in reality, a single antidepressant pill can kill a smaller dog. Again, there are natural remedies for dogs that are sold in common stores designed to alleviate your dog’s anxiety. Even allowing your dog to smell a lavender dryer sheet can help their nerves.

As a pet owner, your number one responsibility is to keep your pet safe and healthy. And part of that is knowing the medication that is suitable for your pet only. You should not give them any products that are not for them to avoid complications. You can see [google_bot_show][/google_bot_show]great post to read here.

Surprisingly, even sunscreen isn’t safe on dogs. Topically, sunscreen is fine, but dogs tend to lick at that yummy smell and taste. Only apply sunscreen to areas of your dog’s body that he cannot reach to lick off, and further decrease his licking by buying sunscreen designed for dogs which tastes undesirable, or just use unscented sunscreen overall. True, it takes a lot of sunscreen to prove toxic to your dog, but you don’t want to take chances. My dog once at a whole trial bottle of sunscreen and threw it all up. It happens.

Now, under vet supervision (and recommendation), some allergy medications for humans can be safe for dogs.When allergies arise, dogs (particularly lighter breeds) can suffer, and over-the-counter medications for humans can actually help. However, only use them if your veterinarian approves, and only use the ones they say to use. Otherwise, you risk overdosing or harming your dog.

Before you bring that precious puppy home, really think about that statement. Yes, its adorable. Yes it seems to love you already. Yes, its hard to resist those sparkling eyes. But are you ready for the responsibility of raising it up into a loving, obedient house pet?

Sometimes, people, in their excitement over its cuteness, don’t take into consideration that a puppy, or a full grown dog, for that matter, is a 24/7 responsibility. Its amazingly like having a child. A lot of people don’t realize that and after a few weeks of frustration because the puppy’s cuteness evaporates when it becomes a holy terror, they give it away or take it to the humane society or just drop it off on someone’s doorstep. So if you would not think of adopting a baby at this stage of your life, it is probably not a good idea to adopt a puppy, either.

A good house dog will not raise itself. As the owner of a dog, it is your responsibility to love and nurture it, make sure it is correctly fed and watered, keep it in good health, take it to the vet, keep it our of danger, entertain it, clean up after it, teach it good manners, teach it right from wrong, and train it to follow house rules.

It is a serious commitment. Unless you want an unruly, uncontrolled animal in your house, you must be committed to teaching it to be obedient, to listen to you. If raised right, a loving dog will fill every nitch of your heart. If not raised right, it will become, at best, a nuisance, at worst, a dangerous threat ( it is still an animal, remember).

Before you even make the commitment, it is your responsibility to find out everything you can about raising a “good” dog. Read everything you can find on the care, feeding, training of dogs. If it all seems like too much work to you, but you still want a puppy, then be prepared for the puppy to take over your house and be a constant frustration instead of growing to be a loving, obedient pet.

Your dog will require material things, as well as mental teaching: a crate, food and water bowls, food, treats, toys, pee pads, if you go that route, gloves to pick up its “accidents”. Many experts are advising the person to take care of the puppies like parents. A website named [google_bot_show][/google_bot_show]my company for the parenting of the pets will be made available to the person. Before gathering the information, the rankings and reviews can be checked at online search engines. The information provided will be advantageous for the person. 

Be prepared for the vet bills. Besides regular shots, and spaying/neutering, if your dog gets sick, vet bills can be quite surprising.

Think about who will take care of your dog when you are going to be away on vacation. You must either have a reliable dog sitter or have your puppy kennel trained so you can leave it there and not worry about it.

It is your responsibility to be prepared to take your puppy out to pee quite frequently, even in the middle of the night, if required. You are the one who will be cleaning up its accidents. Remember that puppy bladders are small and your puppy can’t hold it as long as you might want it too.

You will be responsible for deciding when the puppy is allowed to play, when it is time for a nap, when it is time to eat, when and how to reprimand it. You will be the one who teaches your puppy just what is expected of it. It can’t know how you expect it to act until you teach it. If you don’t teach it, then it will just do whatever it wants and you will get annoyed with it.

Remember that you set the stage for how the dog is going to be when it grows up. Before you let your puppy get in the habit of doing things, think about whether or not you will want a grown dog doing those things.

If you let the puppy sleep on your bed, or lay on your couch, are you going to want it there all the time when it is big and shedding hair everywhere?

If you let the puppy beg for food while you eat, are you going to want a big dog pestering you every time it hears a dish rattle or bothering your guests when they come for dinner?

If you play rough with the puppy and let it nip and growl at you over toys, are you going to want it doing that when it is big? What if, because you let it be rough with you, it doesn’t know not to be rough with children because you never taught it that?

If you are ho-hum about teaching the puppy to come to you every time you call it, how are you going to make it stop and come back when it slips the leash and runs away from you?

Raising a dog is like parenting in that not only are you responsible for the care and feeding of it, you are responsible for teaching it how to act appropriately in all situations.

The good thing, though, is that unlike molding the character of children who are going to grow up and go out into the world where their upbringing will surely tell, your dog’s adult behavior is basically only going to have an impact on YOU.