What Is It Like To Have A Puppy Or A Dog? : Part 2

Occasionally dogs need good medical care. All puppies need shots to prevent serious illnesses. All dogs need to visit the vet once a year for their annual check-up.
The person who is a combined doctor, dentist and surgeon for pets is called a veterinarian. (Say this word like this: VET-trin-air-ee-yan). Veterinarians are also sometimes called, “Vets.”
Every dog needs two good walks a day, including time to run off their leash and socialize with their dog friends. Each walk needs to be at least half an hour to be sure your dog gets enough exercise.
Dogs need a calm, loving home where they are treated with kindness and respect; exactly the same thing people need.
Dogs are very much like people in many ways. Scientists have discovered that their brains are surprisingly like our brains. They think a lot like we do when we are about 3 years old.
Dogs feel many of the same emotions people feel, including joy, fear, anger and sadness.
Also like people, they sometimes act badly. Or make mistakes. They might chew on your furniture, or pee (wee) on the rug, or bark when you want to go to sleep. In this book, we will talk about all these ‘bad dog’ behaviours and how to understand your dog and teach her better manners. No one really wants to be around a rude, out-of-
No one really wants to be around a rude, out-of-control or scary dog. They don’t want to be around a rude, out-of-control or scary person, either. So, just like kids (and people of all ages) have to learn some manners and what is good behaviour, dogs do, too.
Here are some other things you need to be prepared for about dogs:

1. They shed hair and need to have their coats brushed. Dogs with long hair need to be brushed every day.
2. Dogs need cleaning and grooming, including baths, cleaning their ears and teeth and clipping the tips of their claws.
3. Dogs are very unhappy if they are left alone for a long time. If everyone in your family spends all day in school or at work, having a dog might not be your best choice for a pet. You might be better off choosing a different pet that is content to be left alone a lot of the time.
4. The bigger the dog, the more they eat (and poop). That means spending more money on dog food and more work to clean up your yard.
5. If you rent your home, you may need to get permission from the property manager or owner to have a dog.
6. If you live in some cities, you may need to buy a dog license in order to have a dog.
7. In some countries there are very strict laws about having pet dogs. Usually, you can find out what the pet laws are for where you live by looking online.

Who wouldn’t like having a dog?
If you already have a senior dog or elderly dog, it isn’t fair to expect them to put up with a bouncy puppy.
If you have another dog, or cat, you need to introduce a new pet slowly. It may take some time for them to become friends. You can’t leave your pets alone together until you are sure they have learned to get along and not fight.
If you are away from home almost all the time, dogs worry about being left alone. And when they need to go, they need to go. It isn’t fair to get angry when a dog wets the floor because he couldn’t wait for someone to come home and let him outside.
If your family is planning to move, or renovating your home (renovating means making a lot of big changes like building a new garage or a bedroom in the loft) now probably isn’t the time to adopt a new pet.
That’s also true of getting a new pet during Christmas or other holidays when there’s lots going on at your house. There’s just too much happening for a new family member to be able to settle in and get used to their new life.
These are all things for you and your family to talk about. If you are going to welcome a dog into your family, you want it to be at a happy time when everyone is relaxed. Not stressed.
Summer vacation is an ideal time to add a dog to your family. That’s when you can take lots of time to be with your new pet.
Dogs, like people, feel homesick for their former home. They need time to adjust to their new home. They need to get to know you and like you and learn they can trust you.