Deciding to bring home a dog.
One of the best decisions you could ever make is to adopt a dog. But before you even consider taking a dog into your family, you need to think about the home that you can provide for a dog. Taking care of a dog takes time and commitment. You need to have realistic expectations of any canine companion and know that you can offer a home for life. If you have an doubts at all then a dog is not for your home right now, but that doesn’t mean that you won’t ever be able to share your home with a four legged friend. The best way to find out if you can promise a suitable home is to look after a dog for two or three weeks, this could mean fostering a dog or taking care of a friends dog. Having a little trial is the best way to experience life with a dog. Now you need to take a look at your options, it is no good adopting a high energy dog if all you can manage is thirty minutes walk a day, its no good opting for a high maintenance breed if you have no intention of daily coat care and grooming visits. The reason there are so many dogs in rescues looking for homes is not because they have something wrong with them, its because their original family chose the wrong dog for their home. To make sure you don’t make the same mistake as many other people ask yourself some questions:
1) Can your lifestyle afford a dog?
Unless you have the finances to provide a good quality of life for a dog you won’t be able to make a long term care commitment. There a vets bills, insurances costs, dog licence fees and good quality dog feed. To put this in perspective a neutered dog who lives an accident free life for 14 years will cost your family approximately €2,000 per year.
2) Can you exercise a dog?
No matter what size dog you take into your life they all need exercise and mental stimulation, hail, rain or shine. A good way to see can you make this commitment is to exercise yourself for at least 2 weeks for 40 minutes twice daily this will give you a good idea what it will be like to walk your dog.
3) Where do you plan to house your dog?
If you are taking a dog on as pet, then your dog should live in your home as part of your family. Dogs that live indoors tend to be better behaved and a better canine companion. The more time you spend with your dog the easier it will be to create a bond and the easier training will be. Saying that it is a good idea to have boundaries and rules in your home. Decide in advance what your dog is and isn’t allowed to do and stick to the plan.
4) How much alone time will your dog spend?
This is a tough one and one of the main reasons why families are turned down to rescue a dog but also one of the main reasons that dogs and pups end up in rescue. It maybe that you can financially provide for a dog, that you would love a furry family member, that you are prepared to put in the training and exercise time but unfortunately your dog won’t know that. Dogs are social animals and should not spend any longer than 5 hours a day alone. Your dog cannot read the paper or watch TV so the more time alone your dogs spends the more boredom will set in. A bored dog will be destructive, noisy and lonely. If you still insist you can provide a good home then consider doggy daycare or a dog walker to occupy your dog during the day when you are not at home.
Finally when you do decide to get the right dog for your family seek advise from a qualified and experienced professional. They will be able to deal with your concerns and talk through the right choices for your family and a dog will be the best decision you have ever made.
Suzi Walsh
