These are amazing times to be a dog owner. Dog parks are everywhere, dog schools and day care centers have become ubiquitous, there are almost more dog feeding options than human ones. The pet industry has become an enormous conglomerate of choices, possibilities and new opportunities. However, with the the amount of information and choices, one can easily get confused and overwhelmed. So what is a prospective dog owner to do when deciding on how to get, raise and be an effective and responsible pet guardian? How to know that you are ready to be a dog owner?
If you think about getting a dog (or any other animal for that matter) as the equivalent of starting a relationship, you will start to ask yourself questions. Am I ready? How much time do I have to devote to this? What is the plan for settling in into a routine that will make sense for the both of us? For better or worse, dogs are dependent on humans for much more than food and water. The behaviors you teach or dog (willingly or not) are the ones they are going to repeat. They have need of structure, boundaries and guidance. Dogs are social animals, that much like us, depend on their pack to teach them the rules of the game. Therefore one of the biggest challenges you will face as a dog owner is being consistent on the rules and boundaries you want to teach, practice and enforce. Thinking that a dog comes out of the box ready to go is a fallacy. They learn how to act, what to practice, how to behave and when to rest from their pack. If you have a busy lifestyle and are always coming and going, the challenge will be teaching calmness and consistency to your dog. If, on the other hand, you are homebody and tends to leave only occasionally, you will have to teach your dog that you will sometimes leave them behind.
Challenges can also been seen as goals. An easy way to skip the challenge of getting your new dog accustomed to a new home is to have a goal to teach them what you want as soon as they arrive. Challenge or goal number two: do I have the resources to teach a dog what I want them to do when they get to the house? Where are they going to sleep, eat, potty? If you prefer professional help, here comes challenge number three. Find a trainer that sees your dog for who they are. Not who the trainer wants them to be. Find a trainer that you agree with. Find a trainer and be prepared to listen and do the hard work. Like any relationship, the one with your dog will need to be worked on daily. For the foreseeable future, your new pup will depend on you to learn how to act in the human world. A weekly one hour session with a trainer and then back to business as usual will not cut it. Goal number four: can I be consistent for the benefit of my dog?
However one prefers to call it, experience it or describe it, getting a dog is a serious decision that will, for sure, affect ones life. They are magnificent beings that can add an abundance of knowledge, joy and laughter into your life. They are also creatures that need structure in order to live in a pack. For me, the biggest challenge that dog owners face is having compassion and seeing a dog for what they are. Understanding that with any relationship, there are ups and there are downs. There are days that you don’t feel like walking your dog, or doing exercises that will fulfill them and (maybe) bore you to death. However, being cognizant that these beings have needs, allows us to change our mindset and see challenges as goals. Dogs will always be ready to adapt to what is asked of them. They want and need to be part of a pack. By us being honest with ourselves, by merely asking simple questions; am I ready for a roommate? What happens when my dog gets sick in the middle of the night? Who is going to be with them when I travel? We may able to arrive at the conclusion, that we prefer not face so many challenges and therefore should not get a dog. Conversely, we may have a plan set up and goals to achieve. We may have thought it through and found that we want all those things in our lives because having a relationship with a dog is unlike anything else in the world. And no challenge will ever be too great if we can spend time being a pack with them.
