Being A Responsible Dog Owner

Having a Dog comes with many responsibilities. The key explanation for restrictions imposed on dogs by many countries and states in America is because of irresponsibility of dog owners.

People get dogs for all the wrong reasons which they regretted at the end. Owning a Dog should never become troublesome, which is why it is essential that if you want to own a dog, do it for the correct reason before getting one.

You should not get a dog for:

1. Protection

The wrong understanding for people who have this rationale in owning a dog, is that the dog will automatically be protective for their family which absolutely will not come true. Wrong way of training like keeping the dog away and not socializing them properly with people for trying to make them to be protective could turn the dog to be fearful and wary of strangers. Instead of protecting the dog owner, when face with certain critical situation, this dog would probably run for life.

Worse still some owners, train the dog to be aggressive and bark by tying him in a certain location and training him to have the territorial aggressiveness. This is wanting for lawsuits to come knocking on your door. Thousands of children and people had been hurt all over the world just because some children often found wondering within the territorial supposed to be protected by your dog.

If your intention for getting a dog, is for protection, then a better way is to get those electronic alarm devices that can sound like vicious barking which can be turn on by motion detectors. This would probably much more useful than getting a dog.

2. Children companion

A lot of children often beg their parents for a dog, just for a reason of cuteness or fun to play with. Usually this comes with a promise of taking good care of the dog well being and cleaning up the messes they will create. Well this is definitely a very bad choice to be made. Because the effect of cuteness and fun to play with will be gone after days or weeks, and now the dog will be left with no care.

Typically this job is deliberately shift to the busy mom who does not have the enough time to train the dog and such the dog would acquire bad habits which can not be tolerated by the busy home makers. This is probably why there are so many dogs end up in the shelter and some on the streets. If you are not prepared to train the dog to be a good part of the family, then give stuffed toys to your children instead of getting them a dog.

3. Competing with your neighbor. : )

Out of all the silly things people do, possibly this is one of the worse one. Just because early in the morning one day, your neighbor brought his dog for a jog and shows you how good it is to have a dog and how beautiful his dog is, you get jealous and get one for yourself so that you can show it to your neighbor too.

Although you probably not be the one who do this, there are people out there who did these stupid things. Having a dog is a lifetime devotion and it takes effort to be able to enjoy and have a meaningful relationship with your dog. So pride and competition should not be a factor in getting a dog.

Actually, if you look at it, there is not much different in having the correct reason of wanting a child and wanting a dog. You should purpose to do all you can to make him a contributing member of the community. You should be dedicated to correctly socializing him, teaching him how to behave in any kind of circumstances, loving, providing and caring for your dog.

Responsibility in having a dog starts before getting one, you should start studying on how to best care and provide your dog. Get obedience training manual and learn from those so that you know what to do when you bring the dog home.