Thursday, November 3, 2011

What Our Kids Need to Know about Our New Dog

By Dirk Gruenberg


Getting a dog for a family is quite a complicated undertaking. First, you should decide what breed of dog you believe will be the best match for your family. For example, if you really like the outdoors, then you might be best off to choose a dog who I likely to enjoy that too.

Both Labradors and Golden Retrievers seem to be a god fit for this. They also love children, which is something you would surely want. So once you know what breed you would like, and you get your dog, many dog owners wonder what they should teach their kids about the new family member. Here are some of the things you might want to say.

Doing his business: Your dog needs to be trained to do his business in a certain spot that you chose for him. It is a learning process, but it is important.

So the family needs to take the dog there about 10 minutes after meals and immediately when it wakes up from a sleep.

When the puppy is asleep: If you have brought a puppy home then the children need to be taught that a puppy loves to play, but it needs sleep, too, and when it is sleeping, as it will do often as a puppy, it needs to be left undisturbed until it wakes up.

Additionally, your kids need to understand that they must be gentle to your dog at all times. This is very, very important.

Another important point: Dogs bite. This is something your kids absolutely need to understand. Should they disrespect the dog and treat him poorly, being bitten may be a possible consequence.

So treat your kids to be respectful to your dog. If they are both respectful and gently, it would be unusual for a dog to bite them.

However, since biting is such a serious issue, you should never leave your kids alone with the dog - just don't risk it.




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