Owning a pet is a great way to teach children responsibility and compassion, as they have to take care of it and do typical pet chores. Dogs are considered to be among the best pets kids can have because they are relatively independent and predictable in behavior.
However, it doesn’t mean you should just get the cutest puppy available. There are many factors you should consider before picking a specific breed, like the age of your children or the size of your house. But on top of that, you should prepare your children for dog ownership.
Before you decide to add a new pet member to your family, see if your children are responsible and compassionate enough for a dog, teach them how to behave around dogs and how to take care of them, and let them play with a friendly dog to see whether they like it or not. If you want to learn more, read on!
Introduce Your Children To Owning Pets
While it may sound obvious, teaching your children about the responsibility of having a pet properly is probably the most important thing of all. This doesn’t mean you should give a set of lectures – instead, try introducing them using movies or their friends as an example. You can also help them learn about the general characteristics and needs of various breeds on websites such as Euro Puppy.
If your children asked you about owning a dog, their question was likely inspired by one of your neighbors playing with dogs. This is an excellent occasion to teach them that having a pet is not only about playtime but also about more tedious tasks like feeding and grooming.
Teaching kids that a dog is indeed a living creature that requires lots of attention and may be more difficult if your kids haven’t had any smaller pets yet. In such a case, it may be better to start with one of the easy-maintenance breeds.
Get Your Children Acquainted With Dogs
It is a good practice to get acquainted with pets before owning one. This way, you learn about what they are like and how much you need to care for them. If your friends or neighbors own a dog, you should ask them to introduce your kids to their dog and let them play with it for some time.
Moreover, you can ask the dog’s owners whether they would let your kids take care of it for a few days, so they would have a glimpse of what typical pet chores look like. This way, they will learn how to behave around dogs. Not pulling ears or fur is obvious, but they should know that dogs may become aggressive during feeding or cleaning too.
Your children need to understand that as friendly a dog may seem, it is still an animal. This means that you should teach them about body language and other ways in which dogs show their emotions and how to approach them.
Explain The Responsibility
Children often treat their pets as their playtime companions. And this is absolutely fine, as long as they know that a dog, unlike other toys, cannot be put aside when they have something else to do. You should speak of a dog as a family member that will be there no matter what happens.
Explain what that means in the long run; the dog will need training for tricks, using the litter box, and not chewing on your shoes. Similarly, teach your kids how to keep your home puppy-proof.
Apart from that, pet ownership comes with a few duties you will have to take care of yourself, but your children should still know about them. For example, when your dog needs medical attention, you shouldn’t hesitate to take your kids to the vet with you.
Work Together
When preparing your children for dog ownership, as a parent, you need to set clear rules and requirements your children need to pass to get one. You should start that process way before picking a dog, so they have some time to learn some basic responsibility. Although owning pets is indeed a great way to teach it, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t expect any from them beforehand.
In other words, it is mostly your job as a parent to get your children to be responsible for doing some chores around the house. Obviously, you will still have to take care of some aspects of owning a dog, but it is a good idea to talk about them too when discussing who takes which pet chores. For example, you can agree to wash the dog if they agree to clean the doghouse.
Teach About Equipment And Supplies
Last but not least, you should teach your children about the equipment used to handle dogs, like, for example, how to put on a harness or a muzzle correctly, or how to control the dog using a retractable leash.
Similarly, you should educate your children about what foods dogs can and cannot eat. This is crucial for pet owner parents, as kids often assume that what’s good for them is also good for their pets. However, sometimes it is not the case, as your dog should be fine after eating broccoli, but chocolate, on the other hand, can be really dangerous to your furry companion.
In Conclusion
Once you decide that your kids have grown enough to have a pet dog, you need to decide which breed to go for and whether your children are responsible enough. Next, you need to prepare your kids for taking care of a pet.
The first step would be to explain to your children what it means to have a pet, what the duties are, and so on. Then you should introduce your kids to dogs so that they get familiar with how they behave, what to expect from them, and that you can’t just put your pet aside.
After your children understand that, you can consider getting a dog. At this point, your children should have a general idea of all pet chores and what they will use for them. And as you get the right dog for your family, you can expect to have lots of quality time!
