What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word DOGS? For me it is the image of a cute little ball of fur which comes bounding towards you as though nothing in the whole wide world is more important than you. When it comes to dogs this is actually true, no other animal in the entire world is as faithful or loyal as a dog is. A person might be considered evil or bad by the whole world but to his dog he is no less than God. Dogs are undoubtedly the most wonderful creatures on Earth. As Mark Twain once said “Heaven goes by favour. If it went by merit you would stay out and your dog would go in”.
Some people have this wrong notion that to keep a pet dog is an easy task, one needs to only feed it and nothing else. But let me assure you folks it isn’t as easy and as a proud owner of a 3 year old pug I can say that keeping a pet dog requires a lot of love and care. A lot of aspects come into play when we think about adopting or buying a dog. For example a person who is a workaholic must never think about keeping a dog from the toy breed and a person who doesn’t have a backyard must refrain from buying huge dogs like hounds. The owner’s work doesn’t end there dogs require as much care and affection as any other animal. Their training, nutrition, health and behavior must also be taken care of.
Here are some tips which would make taking care of your pet dog easy.
TRAINING
Training a dog is a really important and difficult task, because dogs are notorious for their ability to chew and destroy every little thing they can find especially their owner’s shoes. Dogs respond to consistency and short and easy commands. For example if you want your dog to stop licking your guest violently you must use the command ‘sit’ instead of saying ‘no’. The command ‘no’ just confuses the dog further and it might start licking the guest with even greater enthusiasm. While training a puppy we must use treats to give the puppy the impetus to listen to us. The most important thing to remember here is that puppies won’t learn all commands in a day. They need your love and patience.
NUTRITION
A balanced diet full of nutrition is essential for a dog. Its diet cannot completely consist of meat or vegetables. The amount of food a dog consumes depends on its age, weight and breed. So while feeding a dog the correct amount of meat and vegetables must be kept in mind to avoid health problems in the future. Just because a doggie treat is loved by all dogs does not necessarily mean it will be liked by your dog. All dogs have individual tastes and this must be kept in mind while buying treats for your dogs. A vet must also be consulted while preparing a dog’s diet plan because dogs like humans are prone to many diseases.
HEALTH
If you have bought a puppy make sure it is vaccinated and has had a full check up at the vet’s clinic. Dogs must be taken to the vet’s clinic for a thorough check up every six months in order to avoid any serious health problems. Even a slight change in the food habits or behaviour of the dog must be taken seriously because these small changes if unheeded to might lead to massive health problems in the future. In summers dogs must be given a bath in the evening so as to enable them to cool their fur and dogs must never be tied outside the house. They are our companions and are our equals and must be treated as such.
BEHAVIOUR
Some common actions shown by dogs and what they actually mean:
Panting: This means that your dog is feeling hot and is trying to regulate its body temperature by panting.
Chewing: If your puppy constantly chews on toys and shoes it doesn’t mean that it is indisciplined. It means that it is trying to relieve the pain of its new set of teeth coming in by chewing on small toys. To help your puppy deal with this pain, small chew toys can be kept in the freezer and then given to your puppy to play with. If this behaviour is exhibited by your grown up dog this is just your dog’s coping mechanism to deal with separation anxiety. Dogs tend to get depressed when they are separated from their masters.
Dog biting: Dogs bite to give us a clue about what’s going on in their mind. It can represent fear, anger or anxiety. Keeping a track of your dog’s mood and behaviour can help you prevent a dog bite.
When a dog wags its tail it is happy or it is in a playful mood but if its tail is pressed between its hind legs then it is anxious or agitated. The owner must know how to handle each situation in a correct manner in order to calm his/her dog.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Keeping a dog is not as difficult as it seems to be. All you need is to give your dog is a little love and believe me you will get 100 times the love in return. Once you bring a tiny ball of fur home your life will change forever and not in a bad way. The aspects of training, nutrition and behaviour might seem burdensome to you now but once you bring a dog home you will be delighted to do these things. You will want the very best for your bundle of joy and your life will seem incomplete without it. You will look forward to seeing it welcome you home every day after a tiring and long day at work and it will break your heart to leave for work every morning after looking into the sad little brown eyes of your dog. Since I have a beautiful little pug myself I can guarantee that raising a dog will be the best and most wonderful experience of your life but keep in mind that your dog won’t become perfect or disciplined in a day. You will need to have a lot of patience and you will need to love your dog irrevocably. Don’t get a dog if you are bored, get one if you can keep one. Buying or adopting a dog is like getting home a human being you can’t just throw it out when you are bored with it. Once to live with a dog you can never live without one and I am sure all dog lovers out there will agree with me.