When it comes to choosing a dog, there are many possibilities. Sometimes you don’t even have to think about it, because the opportunity presents itself when we are least expecting it: maybe by finding a dog abandoned on the streets, or your friends might be welcoming puppies in their family, and you just can’t say no to taking one home.
Each case has its advantages and disadvantages, but if you have already decided, that you will have a dog, it can be useful to go through this list while you decide whether to buy or adopt.
# 1 Be informed!
Before you buy a dog, make yourself sure, that you have all the necessary information about the activity level or the behavior the dog has, not to mention to background check their parents. You have to be prepared that each dog needs different education and training, so it’s important for you to see, how much time and energy you want to give to your dog. For example, never buy a Labrador Retriever just because it’s a popular dog, if you can’t provide the space and the training for him.
#2 Cost
Even if you decide to buy a dog, you have to still keep in mind that you need to have a budget to provide good nutrition, the vet service, not to mention behavior classes, which can sometimes be very costly. Before welcoming a new member in your family, be aware of all of that!
3# Better than a psychologist!
Adopting a dog is therapeutic – guaranteed you will socialize more, have new stories to tell and definitely turn your life around ! Taking care of someone opens up new doors in your life, not to mention that there will be endless opportunities to meet with new people and show your new, dog owner personality!
#4 Be patient!
Besides the good deed to change the life of an abandoned dog sometimes the process is not that easy: you can take him home, but you need to be really patient. Some of these dogs mighr have been abused or simply not that loved in the past, so they might have trust issues and need to learn how to be brave again. In this case it’s much more unpredictable to know how their size will change, because most of the time they are a mix of breeds. That just adds to the surprise!
You should pay attention to things such as:
- the facilities where he/she was (hygiene, food and water, is he played, or why he/she looks sad and still, if he/she was alone or with other dogs)
- Consulting with a veterinarian (try to get his/her files to know if they already have vaccines and internal and external deworming)
- the state of eyes and nose, if he/she sneezes or coughs, if he/she moves without signs of pain and follows you, his/her reactions, presence of fleas or ticks, if there are wounds in the body or if he/she itches a lot, etc.
- the type of food he/she was eating – it is important to bring home some of the food he/she was eating in the past, so he/she doesn’t get diarrhea in the early days by a sudden change of food.
Author: Petable Team
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