Many children dream of having their own dog. Thanks to it, it will be much easier to teach them responsibility and resourcefulness. However, it has its drawbacks – if the child does not really want to take care of it, unfortunately, the responsibility of feeding and walking the pet will fall on us. Before you decide on a dog for your child, you should check all the pros and cons, and also choose a breed that will meet the expectations of the whole family.
Young children often want a pet, and the most anticipated pet will always be a dog. He is a faithful friend, but requires much more attention than, for example, fish. Our kids should be prepared for a new family member. Certainly, the steps to be taken to see if the child will cope with the new responsibilities will help.
Let’s start talking to the child about the dog as not only a new family friend, but above all, let’s present it as a new responsibility. The dog requires walks, but also interest, play and care, regardless of the school year or vacations. Explain what the dog needs to be happy.
Let’s find someone in our neighborhood who has a dog but needs help caring for it. Let your child become involved in this kind of help, so he or she can see what caring for and playing with the dog is all about. Let him go for walks regularly, regardless of the weather, but also learn how to control and feed the animal. Through such an experience, he will definitely see if it is a good idea to have his own dog at home.
It is important to start breaking down the schedule so that your child actually finds time to take care of the pet. You can ask them to start getting up half an hour earlier, or to find an hour or so in the afternoon to play with their new pet. Explain that the rules established before taking in a dog must be strictly followed by the children, but also by all household members.
Many people are in favor of adopting a dog from a shelter. This is the best decision and is combined with the issue of helping an abandoned animal find a new home. If we have young children, it is not worth taking dogs from shelters that have experienced tremendous trauma and have been confined in them for a very long time. Children, especially small ones, unfortunately do not always know how to take care of such dogs and may become discouraged when the animal is very distrustful towards them. Older children can help in taking care of such dogs, but the main work should be done by us, together with animal behaviorists, who will explain to us how to open the dog to contact, so that it shows us its trust.
Many people choose to buy a dog from a kennel. It is necessary to choose the proven ones, which have the appropriate numbers assigned, as well as certificates. Then we have a guarantee that we do not support pseudo-breeding. You should also check whether the dog has a pedigree and its parents are also pedigree dogs. For small children a good breed will be Labrador, which is caring and calm. Loved by children are yorkies, which reach a small size and at the same time are less allergenic, because they have hair instead of fur. It should be remembered, however, that they require from us much more care. They must be regularly combed and washed with special shampoos. Unfortunately, many people can not afford such grooming, so they stay with dogs with hair.
A very good breed, especially for children, is the Beagle. These are low dogs, with short hair, easy to comb. In addition, they are calm and very sociable. However, it should be remembered that they especially need our care and attention. They love to play, so it will be a good idea to take in one beagle when you have a house with a garden. Scottish collie sheepdogs and French bulldogs are also very sociable and calm.
Before we accept a dog under our roof, it is important that it has its own corner. Buy a comfortable bed, the size of which should fit your new friend. Also important are toys and space for playing with the dog. It is also worth finding out in advance what kind of food your dog is going to eat and buying some treats, e.g. bones for cleaning teeth
Photo: Markus Trier/Pixabay
