How to Choose a Family Dog

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     Are you looking to get a family dog but unsure what would be a good fit for you and your children? You are not alone, many people struggle with choosing a dog that will work well with your lifestyle. Obviously, when you have children, you need to choose a dog breed that is known for their gentleness and good nature around children.

You also have to think about the size of the dog, obviously, if you have very young children that still think of small dogs as toys, you may not want to adopt a tiny dog. On the other hand, if you can be home to show your child how to interact with a dog regardless of its size, that is the best-case scenario. Children typically learn to play and interact with dogs from their parents, which is why it is extremely important to show a child that the dog is not a toy.

In addition, you need to take into account if you should bring in a full-grown dog or choose a puppy. Obviously, a puppy is cuter and you can train him or her anyway you please, but they also require a lot more time for training, such as potty training. Bringing an adult dog into the family could mean the dog is potty trained, but not necessarily. Therefore, you have to make a decision if a puppy or a full-grown dog would be the best fit for you and your family.

Think about who is going to have the main responsibility of cleaning up after the new dog or puppy. Is it going to be a one-person responsibility, such as yourself or are you planning to make it a family responsibly. By getting everyone in the family involved in caring for the new dog, it helps children to learn responsibility. Therefore, if you have more than one child, you can have one in charge of feeding the dog, depending the child's age, one can walk the dog (if he or she is big enough to walk the dog), and one that cleans up after the dog. If you only have one child, you can split the responsibilities, the point is, give the child some type of responsibility because it will go a long way later in the child's life.

Taking your child or children along with you to choose the new family dog is a great experience because they feel that they were involved in the process. Therefore, allowing the child to interact with the various choices of dogs or puppies and often they will be the best judge as to which dog would work well for your family.

By selecting, a dog based on your family and your children's ages will help them to gain a new responsibility as well as learning to interact with a dog on a daily basis. Choosing a dog or a puppy is a very exciting time for children and therefore, you want the adopting process and the care of the dog to be a learning experience for the entire family.